Antonio Marras has something of a fashion polymath about him; he’s moved by a restless curiosity. It feeds his effusive, almost urgent flux of artistic self-expression, which, combined with a penchant for poetic irreverence and a theatrical talent for storytelling, gives shape to his singular aesthetic. Marras is a whirlwind of creative energy; clearly, fashion alone isn’t able to encompass his interests. This is where art comes to the rescue. He’s an accomplished painter, sketching and sculpting with almost obsessive verve. He has amassed a huge body of work, which is now being celebrated in an exhibition at Milan’s Triennale. Its erudite title quotes the ancient Roman naturalist and philosopher Pliny the Elder: “Nulla dies sine linea,” which, translated from Latin, reads “Not a day without a line.” Pliny the Elder attributes it to the Hellenistic Greek painter Apelles, who worked every single day of his life with unrelenting dedication; Marras could easily be one of his favorite disciples.
Every collection adds another chapter to the designer’s narrative, and Pre-Fall was no exception. He took inspiration from Lady Chatterley’s Lover, the erotic novel by D. H. Lawrence published in 1928, whose unexpurgated version was not available in the U.K. until the ’60s. “At that time the book sounded as a political manifesto and was shrouded in a fog of scandal,” explained the designer, introducing the collection in his atelier. “When I read it, I was completely bewitched by its subversive subject, that inescapable, devastating attraction between an aristocratic woman and a working-class man.” To translate this spirit of doomed, provocative romanticism, Marras added a surreal twist of cinematic glamour, referencing David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, whose arcane and spooky atmosphere was captured in the lighting and set design of the lookbook, shot by his son Efisio. As if all those references weren’t enough, images of Vita Sackville-West strolling in the lush Sissinghurst Castle Garden and of the late actress Sylvia Kristel languidly reclining in the ’70s soft-porn movie Emmanuelle were thrown into the already quite congested mix.
The collection was a medley of fabrics, textures, and embroideries, played against each other with gusto. Country-inspired tapestry jacquards were mixed with leopard prints; tartan wools were first oxidized and then almost perversely twinned with delicate floral prints; macramé lace was cut into stripes and then re-assembled and encrusted with velvet appliqués. Sumptuous brocades and velvets, fitting for a lady to the manor born, set off masculine pinstriped wools or thick shearlings with slashed edges, suggesting the rough sex appeal of Oliver Mellors, Lady Chatterley’s handsome gamekeeper. The high-low riffing found a modern edge in the sportswear vibe, which infused shapes and volumes for a lineup of eccentric yet wearable hybrids. Case in point was a voluminous coat/parka number, whose zippered front was made of checkered wool, while the sleeves were padded in black techno nylon, the back an explosion of cinched floral silk brocade, its hood lined with leopard-print velvet. It looked like a charming, crazy blend of a luxe opera coat, a practical puffa jacket, and a costume fit for a fairy-tale character. Very Marras, indeed.
