The practical consideration of Pre-Fall is that the clothes are going to linger longer in stores than any other season of the year. But how to anticipate shelf life? It's almost an invitation to play it safe. Consuelo Castiglioni opted for elegant elongation, a longer silhouette than usual for Marni and cinched for emphasis. And she showed a fluid bell-bottom trouser style, also new for the label. It dovetailed with the '70s redux theme that's rattling around fashion yet again. So far, so straightforward.
But Marni is usually about color and texture, and, to a surprising and reassuring degree, Castiglioni let herself go with drifts of alpaca, intarsia-ed into a gilet and a jacket, and the fairy-tale fuzz of a sheepskin skirt that was attached to a fitted suede bolero. The prints that are a house signature were dark but no less graphic than usual. The interplay of feminine and masculine elements was subtle but forceful: from the simplicity of a shirt cuff on a windowpane shift and shirttails on a plain navy tunic to the complex mixed message of a dress adorned with heavy paillettes in sturdy khaki melton topped by an elongated version of something that in another life would have been a quilted hunting vest.
The jewelry was, as usual, absolutely spectacular, with earrings and brooches in spherical, sculpted '70s shapes that mimicked the geometries of the prints.
