Key facts about the Italian designer Gianfranco Ferre

Ferre launched his own-label line in 1978 and made his name with smart tailoring and a penchant for furs.

Following are some key facts about Ferre:

* Ferre is known for his smartly tailored womenswear, which regularly features a variation on the classic white shirt, and his fourrures furs line.

He was big in Italian fashion in size as well as standing. The portly, bearded and bespectacled designer wore trademark three-piece suits — a world away from the older Giorgio Armani’s clean-shaven, trim looks and T-shirt and jeans image.

* He was born on Aug. 15, 1944, in Legnano, near Milan. He graduated in architecture from Milan Polytechnic Institute in 1969. One of his first jobs was making raincoats in Genoa.

He launched his first own-label womenswear line in 1978 and in the same year founded the Gianfranco Ferre company. In 1982 he sent his first menswear collection down the runway and in 1987 he unfurled Gianfranco Ferre fourrures.

Ferre then branched out into fragrances, jewelry, children’s wear and a spa venture with British company ESPA.

* In 1989 he became artistic director of one of France’s most prestigious fashion houses, Christian Dior, at the request of owner Bernard Arnault. He left after seven years and the spring 1997 collection was his last for the French label.

* Ferre’s company is owned by IT Holding , which also owns the Malo fashion line and is quoted on the Milan bourse. IT Holding is worth about 475 million euros ($632.6 million) and had net profit of 6.1 million euros in the first quarter of 2007, up from 5.0 million a year ago, and sales of 192 million euros.

* Ferre’s Milan workspace was in the Bohemian Brera district, in a converted 1902 shipping factory called the Gondrand building. The designer also owned a luxury villa on the side of Lake Maggiore, just north of Milan.

* At his last womenswear show in February, 2007, the singer Skin modelled the dazzling finale of a diamond-studded spider web top. Skin, who used to sing with the band Skunk Anansie, also performed a concert in the Ferre headquarters. (sources: official Web site at www.gianfrancoferre.com, Reuters data)

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