"The fantasy of women is the banker with the big credit card," twinkled Roberto Rimondi as he clarified the Wall Street inspiration for the new Gianfranco Ferré menswear collection he had designed with partner Tommaso Aquilano. "A real man," Rimondi added, although millions of the recently dispossessed might disagree with that conclusion. In much the same way as they might have reservations about a wardrobe that was composed of exaggerated mid-eighties volumes in the kind of checks and stripes that once connoted the Flash Harries of our savagely flawed financial system. No faulting Aquilano and Rimondi's historical accuracy there, though they insisted they'd modernized and ironized the proposition by softening it and injecting color. Less structure, more cashmere, and some green pinstripes. The late Mr. Ferré dressed big men with big bucks, and those days are gone, taking the fortunes of his company with them. As they wait for plans for new ownership to solidify, Aquilano and Rimondi are trying to fight a valiant rearguard action.
