Italian fashion designer Ferre dies

MILAN, June 17 (Reuters) Italian fashion designer Gianfranco Ferre today died at Milan's San Raffaele hospital after suffering a brain haemorrhage, the hospital said in a statement.

Ferre, 62, had been admitted to hospital on Friday. The hospital said doctors confirmed his death at 0030 hrs IST.

The portly, bearded designer was suffering from diabetes and had already had two strokes, the first in 2003, according to Italian media.

Ferre was known for his sharp, tailored women's suits and furs. He was artistic director at prestigious French fashion house Christian Dior for some seven years from 1989.

Ferre was due to present his spring/summer 2008 menswear collection on June 24 as part of Milan's ready-to-wear menswear fashion shows.

''I ... particularly admired him for his coherence and the intellectualism and artistry upon which he based his fashion philosophy until the end,'' Giorgio Armani, the eminence gris of Italian fashion, said in a statement today.

Donatella Versace, design head of Versace whose brother Gianni was murdered 10 years ago, said he was ''a gentleman from another time'', ANSA news agency reported.

''I am so upset. Ten years after the death of my brother, I have now lost a friend as well,'' she said, according to ANSA.

Gianni Versace was gunned down outside his Miami Beach mansion by serial killer Andrew Cunanan in 1997.

Reuters KN SBA VP0300