There’s certainly no lack of talent in the Marras family; Efisio, who is Antonio and Patrizia’s eldest son, seems to have inherited it in spades. After three seasons as Isola Marras’s creative director, he’s expanding the line into a more substantial and structured collection cleverly positioned at a contemporary price point; apparently, the response has so far been quite positive.
While the designer is finding his own creative voice, it’s inevitable that a few distinctive traits from his family’s artsy background are surfacing in his work; one is definitely the need of a narrative, some cinematic inspiration from which the collection takes shape. For Pre-Fall, Efisio elected Arabian Nights’s princess Scheherazade as his muse. “She’s cunning and shrewd; she’s an enchanting storyteller,” he enthused. “She can lead you anywhere with her charm. So, from the sand dunes of the desert she brings you straight to Las Vegas!” Plenty of imagination at work here.
The desert theme was translated in figurative motifs knitted on oversize multi-color sweaters, or as a printed pattern on a flowing georgette dress, depicting lovers exchanging secret messages. Yet in Marras’s mind, Scheherazade appreciates tough street style much more than evanescent romance. She favors just a touch of decorative jacquard added to an otherwise big, sturdy biker jacket in raw Japanese denim, and to travel in style, she wears a sexy black vinyl trenchcoat with brocade intarsias.
Scheherazade doesn’t lack confidence, so much so that she pairs a flimsy, see-through polo neck shirt with a hyper-feminine velvet bra-top and matching high-waisted skirt, both printed with curlicues and flowers inspired from the tiles of her alcazar. But she doesn’t dislike a well-tailored pantsuit in lamé tartan, either; it’s only that, being a bit of a contrarian character, instead of going for classic trousers, she wears a double-breasted blazer with a pair of matching basketball pants, roomy, extra-large, and cool.
