Using as little real fur as possible was Simonetta Ravizza’s mantra for pre-fall. Coming from a family of Italian furriers, whose clients included Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve, and every Italian starlet under the ’70s sun, she’s had to adjust to fashion’s sea change on fur consumption, but Ravizza is resourceful. She’s switched her status from furrier to ready-to-wear designer, and houndstooth is her new sable.
This season she worked on a good outerwear offer, with plenty of masculine coats cut linearly and clean in high-quality materials and natural fibers. Practical and unfussy, they look made for real life. Minks and sables were mostly ditched in favor of shearling, proposed in as many iterations as possible. It was sliced and assembled in contrasting stripes on a cozy wrap coat, printed with folk motifs on a shirt-coat, and cut into an ample trapeze coat with a shawl collar. As a substitute for real fur, Ravizza also introduced natural wool woven into a furry texture; rendered into an egg-shaped short jacket, it looked comfy and soft, like a teddy bear.
