Gianfranco Ferré Mink and Fox Fur Coat (c. 2000s)

This garment is in outstanding condition with no or minimal signs of wear. Any flaws present are negligible and do not detract from the overall appearance or integrity of the piece.

Gianfranco Ferré was born in Legnano, near Milan, in 1944 and graduated as an architect from the Politecnico di Milano. His first job was in furniture design, but his fashion career began when accessories he made for a girlfriend were noticed by boutique owners in Portofino. He launched his own label in 1978 and over the following decade won the Occhio d'Oro Award for best Italian designer six times. Women's Wear Daily dubbed him the Frank Lloyd Wright of Italian fashion. His signature was the white shirt, which he reinterpreted season after season. In 1989 he was appointed artistic director of Christian Dior, becoming the first designer from outside France to hold that position, and produced fifteen haute couture collections for the house over seven years. He also designed the Lady Dior handbag in 1994, which Bernadette Chirac gave to Princess Diana, and was posthumously renamed in her honour. He left Dior in 1997 and returned to his own label until his death in 2007.