A few months ago, I brought the Ferrari creative team to Lago di Monate (1) outside of Milan to brainstorm the next fashion show. But we weren’t just putting together mood boards; we were sharing personal stories. My father, Giuseppe, who owned a cereal producing company, taught me the importance of giving and receiving love. This picture of us from my childhood (2), taken in 1986, captures a spontaneous moment.
As a middle school student, I had a strong connection to my art teacher. She was a big collector of clothes — she’d wear Jean Paul Gaultier and Versace — and she helped me understand that I could turn fashion into a career. One day, she showed me this ring (3) she’d bought for herself. It’s got an onyx stone with a little gold sculpture of [Cupid] and Psyche. Eventually, when I decided to study fashion and then become a designer, our roles sort of reversed: I showed her how to dress. When I turned 40 earlier this year, she gave me the ring. I was so touched when I opened the box.
In the summer of 2017, after a decade at Giorgio Armani, I [spent a couple of years at the men’s wear label] Pal Zileri, where I’d been appointed creative director for the first time. Being a creative director gives me the opportunity to really express myself. The spring 2024 Ferrari collection was a turning point for me. A few years into working for the brand, I was able to focus my idea of Ferrari as fashion. This look on Anja Rubik from that collection (4) is like a couture piece. It’s leather, which is very Ferrari, with rounded shapes and clean lines; the stitching on the sleeves recalls a racing check. The title of Ferrari’s fall 2024 collection was The Body, the Energy, the Light. For me, this Purosangue black suit (5), which has a touch of red in it, represents that combination. It was inspired by a Tony Cragg sculpture (6), which I first saw, surrounded by olive trees and next to the ruins of a Greek theater, [at the Scolacium Archaeological Park] in Calabria. The mix of contemporary art with that landscape was amazing.
I spent the summer of 2022 in Los Angeles. I was there to shoot a video for Ferrari with [the director] Floria Sigismondi and decided to stay afterward to explore the city and visit Joshua Tree (7). The plants there are like pieces of art; it’s like being in a sculpture park.
Like me, the artist Mimmo Rotella (8), whose work I collect, was born in the south of Italy. He lived in Rome during the dolce vita period [in the late 1950s and early ’60s], and he’d go around the city taking movie posters off the walls and using them to make new imagery. The art of collage is important to me because I also create layers around what I do. In 2012, I visited Seminara, a Calabrian village specializing in ceramics (9). To me, craftsmanship is the realest expression of a society’s culture. The artisans there use ancient Greek techniques to create unique multicolor pieces. This picture of cats (10) was also taken in Calabria, at my villa overlooking the sea. I have a three-level garden with flowers, olive trees and cactuses. A lot of cats live in the area. I take care of them when I’m around.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
The post The Man Behind Ferrari’s Fashion Line on What Fuels His Designs appeared first on New York Times.
