Alberta Ferretti
About
the designers
Alberta Ferretti was born in Cattolica, Italy. Her mother was a successful dressmaker with 18 seamstresses working for her to supply tourists of the 50's and 60's.
Alberta opened her own designer clothes shop in 1968, when she was only 18 years old. It was in Rimini and she called it the Jolly Shop and filled it with clothes from Armani, Krizia and Versace.
In 1974 she launched her own label. In 1980 she and her brother Massimo started the manufacturing facility Aeffe, and both her Alberta Ferretti and Philosophy lines are made here. Ferretti helped restore and partially owns the Montegridolfo resort. Her showroom is in Milan but her vast studio in the Aeffe building, is on the outskirts of Cattolica, her home town on Italy's Adriatic coast.
She lives in the Castello di Montegridolfo, an ancient castle dating back to the Middle Ages.
Ferretti designs for many fashion designers, among them Jean-Paul Gaultier, Rifat Ozbek, Narciso Rodriguez and Moschino.
Ferretti brought out her Tech collection in 2000.
The Look
The Ferretti style is not one of old-fashioned prettiness. Her vision is a delicate one, developing an appreciation for textiles, daintily beaded or embroidered chiffons and sari silks. She is known for her super-sweet dresses and she kept with tradition and displayed floaty baby doll frocks adorned with ribbons gently tumbling down the side.
Who Wears It
Uma Therman; Tina Fey, Salma Hayek, Kerry Washington, Tang Wei, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lopez, Natalie Portman, Antonia Liskova, Paola Cortellesi, Devon Aoki, Mischa Barton, Victoria Hopper, Bar Rafaeli, Christina Ricci, David Di Donatello, Alessia Marcuzzi, Scarlett Johansson (Oscar Night February 2004)