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Moreno
Ferrari's convertible clothes
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| A
designer, philosopher and urban observer, Moreno
Ferrari taps into the fabric of modern society and
creates clothes that morph and change to suit our
individual needs. |
 A
shawl that converts into a curtain — so that
we can cloak ourselves with our home comforts only
to become a greenhouse or even a portable privy
where we can pause from the world for a moment;
a jacket that inflates into a chair; a raincoat
that morphs into a kite so we can all be children
once more. Fantasy? Science-fiction? No, just some
of Moreno Ferrari's latest creations. 50-year-old
Ferrari is a fashion and interior designer from
La Spezia in Liguria who spent his youth amidst
swatches of fabric and material, followed by a professional
career marked by his studies in philosophy as well
as his love of cinema and literature. Carlo Rivetti
of the textile group GFT
and C.P. Company,
saw the designer's work and recognised his potential,
allowing him to experiment and create some of his
trademark pieces.
Ferrari deconstructs his clothes and redesigns them
as versatile and transformable objects. He reinvents
our concepts of home and housing in the light of
a society which increasingly demands flexibility
and change and privileges those who can mould and
adapt themselves to continual evolutions. His clothes
are like a shell, a light, manageable and flexible
structure which is an integral part of the person
wearing it - a protection - like the armadillo's
carapace - that insulates the wearer against all
instability, fear or turmoil.
In his search for a permanent centre of gravity
Ferrari discovers that the centre of things lies
in its very absence and the resulting attempts to
locate and relocate objects, places and meanings
in the quest for even partial answers. This is one
of the reasons why the designer speaks of his creations
as "fragile, light and supple architecture (…) which
correspond to a metaphysically precarious condition."
Urban uniforms
For the Ligurian designer reality is variform
and can be morphed and changed at will. Let's take
a practical example. Ferrari used the uniforms
of the recent G8
at Genoa - the white overalls, black hoods,
rainbow banners, bikers helmets, ski masks and police
uniforms - and made them his own. Ferrari was stimulated
by the contrast between the energy and flexibility
of the anti-globalisation movement and the necessary
rigidity of the uniforms. Another example of his
work is his research into environment-friendly
clothing solutions based on a close observation
of our environment and its needs. He has come up
with new ways of recycling and working with plastic
to create "spatial extensions of our bodies and
all subjective space". Ferrari has borrowed the
survival strategies used by the modern inhabitants
of our cities' substructures - the refugees, travellers
and homeless - to create jackets with built-in
notebooks and clothes that become mobile
homes.
What can we expect next?
A suitcase-cum- wardrobe in which we can
our possessions eternally to hand. Ferrari struck
on the idea in Romagna where he came across
some old cases belonging to long-gone actors. Then
browsing through wildlife books he happened on our
friend the armadillo, with that flexible body inside
its hard protective casing, which is adaptable enough
to allow it to roll into a ball - "the most mobile
and fun shape on earth".
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| by
ELENA
GUARNERI |
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Nov.
29th, 2001
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THE SURVIVOR'S 
