5 things to know about Alberta Ferretti’s Fellini-infused Resort 2024 show in Rimini

Following devastating flooding in Emilia-Romagna, Alberta Ferretti used her Resort 2024 presentation to pay tribute to the region that shaped her. Anders Christian Madsen reports from the front row in Rimini.

The show took place in Rimini following floods in the region

When the rivers of Emilia-Romagna overran this month causing devastating floods in the region, Alberta Ferretti’s first major resort show took on new importance. “We planned it before the floods. But we decided to go through with it because all the politicians of the area came to us and said, ‘It’s important to do this now,’” the designer explained. She had initially wanted to present a show in Rimini to give back to the place she comes from. Instead, her large-scale production – staged in front of the 15th century Castel Sismondo in the city centre – emerged in a light of community and resilience. For the finale, Ferretti took her bow with a group of the volunteers who have provided relief for the thousands of people affected by the floods. They wore T-shirts to be sold in aid of local charities bearing the words Io si sono: “I am here.”

The show was a gift to Ferretti’s community

“It’s interesting to involve the people who work for me in an event,” Ferretti said before the show, referring to the Aeffe conglomerate she founded in 1972. Based in Cattolica two towns over from Rimini, it comprises her eponymous brand as well as Moschino, Pollini and Philosophy – whose creative director Lorenzo Serafini attended the show – and has made Ferretti “queen of the region”, as one local put it. Through her success, she consistently gives back to her native area, injecting money into businesses, tourism and the preservation of its history. “Normally we show in Milan or New York, and the people who work for Aeffe don’t get to see anything. It’s important they get to be involved, to see the passion that goes into a big show,” Ferretti said, gesturing at the runway she had erected in front of Castel Sismondo.

It was infused with the spirit of Fellini

Before the show, guests from near and far – who had descended upon the grand hotels of the Riviera Romagnola and the medieval hilltop palazzo of the fortified burg of the nearby Montegridolfo – were treated to a tour of the Museo Fellini housed inside the Castel Sismondo. As Rimini’s proudest son, the spirit of the director had to underpin Ferretti’s first show on the stomping grounds that founded her career. “I dedicate it to the city of Fellini because Fellini was a dreamer. And, although not in the same way, so am I. Fellini was a different epoch. Now, people speak a different language. I live in the same place he lived, but as a modern woman, I travel a lot. It’s important to my job to see which way the world goes. I want to work for the women who travel and live,” she said, noting how clients from around the world had flown to Rimini for the show.

It was signature Ferretti with cinematic pizzazz

Illuminated entirely by projections of Fellini’s films, the Castel Sismondo made for an epic backdrop as Ferretti’s models traversed the fountain of the square in front on mirrored runways that gave the impression they were walking on water, with the score of Fellini’s 8 1/2 from 1963 providing a suitably cinematic soundtrack. But, the designer said, “The collection isn’t based on Fellini as a style. It’s the dream of Fellini. Rimini and this region are very romantic, very dreamy. I want to dedicate the collection to this area because the people who know this area know that there’s a way of life that’s very unusual. They’re dreamers, and they’re very generous.” Her resort proposal was signature Ferretti, painted in the colours of the sands of the region: fluid, languid dresses dramatically cloaked in glistening hooded capes, and ethereal translucent gowns adorned with elusive prints of the Castel Sismondo.

Ferretti invited guests to her own home

“It’s a very special kind of dressing. It’s very chic and sophisticated. I think it’s important now for fashion to speak about quality,” Ferretti said, summing up a collection that was initially intended to showcase the quality of her Romagna craftsmanship but became a demonstration of the quality of the area’s community spirit. “It’s a very strong region. I think it’s the best in Italy. At the moment, it’s just a different situation. But this is important for tourism,” she concluded. Soon, the beaches of the Riviera Romagnola will be studded with parasols and sunbathers, but on the day after her show, Ferretti had something closer to home planned for her Resort guests. Demonstrating the generosity and hospitality central to the Romagna mentality, she hosted a lunch in her sprawling house in San Giovanni in Marignano.