Beauty from speed

One barely concealable emotion a driver has when closing the door of a Ferrari, settling into the driver’s seat and pushing the start button is the idea that what is about to take place is going to be thrilling. The moment before that accelerator is pushed and the roar of a V12 engine sounds is heavy with potential – and it is that feeling which pervades the latest Ferrari fashion show coming to Milan this weekend. 

The Ferrari Fall/Winter collection for 2023 was displayed on a beautiful morning in Milan, taking place at the recently renovated Palazzo Citterio, a building that dates back to the 1700s that is an artistic landmark in the city. The show marks the first time an official event has ever been held at the venue, which afterwards will become a permanent exhibition space for art and photography. 

Watch as the Ferrari Fashion collection for Fall/Winter 2023 is displayed on the runway at the beautiful Palazzo Citterio

The collection, put together once more under the guide of Ferrari’s Creative Director Rocco Iannone, reflects the aforementioned idea of the pleasure of possibility.

As he explains: “Beauty is the pleasure that derives from speed, captured in its initial burst, in its full symbolic and design potential. It is the movement that stems from an idea, the aesthetic that captures the uniqueness of the transient, the sign of what is about to take place”.

That sentiment is certainly present in the show, as artistic graffiti appears on silk digital prints and jacquard weavings as processes never fully completed, using mixtures of colours in progress, before the colour reaches its full strength.

And the automotive excellence of Ferrari dictates the entirety of the collection with denims for example treated with spray painting techniques echoing those used during car assembly and the ‘Made in Italy’ craftsmanship ethos is ever present in the quality of manufacturing and materials. 

Some outfits from the Fall/Winter 2023 fashion collection shown in Milan, put together under the guidance of Creative Director Rocco Iannone

The clothes on display include the likes of bomber jackets, coats and a suit made from recycled satin, a fabric that actually transforms waste tyres into pyrolysis oil, which can be used as a substitute for fossil fuels. Meanwhile knitwear plays with the norm by breaking up the Ferrari logo into individual threads not embroidered, but arranged by high-speed computer processing. 

Elsewhere, outerwear in the collection includes a car coat in a super-soft wool and nylon fabric and double-layered jackets made from matt, rubberised lambskin. There are also tote bags and wallets in new colours and sizes that feature a remixed Ferrari signature printed at high-frequency onto leather and fabrics. 

All eyes were certainly fixed on the runway as Iannone’s vision came to life, a vision that simply sums up change and possibility; that emotion-laden feeling of “I wonder what will happen next?”