Marni's new designer, Francesco Risso, in his second season, has tapped the brand's playful spirit. The collection is imbued with a boyish charm of purposely ill-fitting, mostly over-sized, and mismatched outfits.
"In a way, it is playful and a way to piece and put together in a very libertine way. Spiritual, too," Risso said backstage. "The nobility of coincidence. That is what I really love."
The man-boy of Risso's imagining has pieced together a wardrobe seemingly of found objects. Shirts are patch-worked together and worn in skewed layers, short over long. Everything seems to have been somehow repurposed, from an athletic cap to old racing bibs with purposely naive drawings by Los Angeles artist Magdalena Suarez.
There is an undercurrent of femininity that can be seen as part of the movement toward genderless dressing: A long tunic seems almost a mini dress, until you see the Bermuda shorts peeking out.
___
GREASE LIGHTNING
Philipp Plein is back.
After announcing he was decamping to New York last summer, Philipp Plein has brought his main line back to its native Milan after just a one season hiatus, showing a mix of looks for men and women.
The German designer maintained his sense of showmanship with a cast performing tunes from the 1970s film "Grease" followed by fire-spitting hot rods. There were bumper cars just off-stage and a barker saying something very unpresidential over the PA system.
The looks were fitting of the drag race setting, with leggings and jeans updated with swaths of crystals and studded tigers and cobras. Women's hair was teased, men's greased back.
A crop top sweater with a hissing cobra paired with leggings and a bomber jacket was the perfect look for Sandy, at summer's end, while Danny wore a hot rod T-shirt while flame motifs licked at this calves, seemingly out of his red sneakers.
Don't expect Plein to be politically correct. Models walked down the runway puffing what looked like real cigarettes, with familiar box shape rolled up in T-shirt short sleeves James Dean-style.
___
ORANGE DESERT AT ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA
Designer Alessandro Sartori's debut collection for Ermenegildo Zegna Couture was presented on the eve of Milan Fashion Week against the orange of the Tangier desert he created inside Milan's State University.
Sartori showed off his looks in the university's arcaded courtyards, where he said he used to come to read and contemplate while a student at the Marangoni Institute of fashion and design.
The collection mixed both romanticism and pragmatism. Safari jackets and anoraks had big utilitarian pockets, while retaining the brand's careful lines, while oversized sweaters had a more relaxed feel.
Pinks, pastels and worn denim gave a nostalgic touch, along with boyish stripes. But there was also a tailored salmon colored suit worn with layers of V-neck sheers.