Leave it to Francesco Risso to give a much-needed jolt of quirky fun to Milan Men’s Fashion Week. But beyond his apparently bonkers manifestos and childlike sensibility, the designer’s system of thought is actually quite profound; after all, children are able to intuitively grasp the essence of things quicker than anyone engaging in analytical reasoning.
For Marni’s Spring collection, Risso turned his antennae towards the idea of sport and how it affects body image perception. It’s a mighty subject, and quite relevant today. He gave it a good conceptual and visual shake-up. “We’re here today to attend to imaginary Olympic games,” he announced backstage before the show, which was held in the cavernous underground parking lot of Torre Velasca, a residential brutalist tower built in the late ’50s in Milan’s center. Risso had the audience sitting on big bouncing gym balls. “Imagine putting on the filter ‘Dream’ and seeing a brigade of imperfect athletes, tall and short, lanky and chubby: every body type is permitted in these Olympics,” he declared. “We have mini superheroes and maxi-antiheroes. All the sports of all times are represented, long-forgotten sports and forgotten athletes; their bodies are imperfect and flawed and vulnerable like Egon Schiele’s drawings. Because tenderness is stronger than strength. And what really counts is the love and respect and awareness we feel for our body, however imperfect it could be. So now we look at these Olympics, feeling a little inebriated while drinking Gatorade Plus.”
So out came a perfectly bizarre armada of perfectly imperfect athletes, snaking along the winding catwalk in the belly of the building, looking as far as possible from muscular gym buffs. They wore perfectly quirky uniforms, analogical mash-ups of low-tech, wonky sporty pieces that might have been found in an attic and repurposed with a mischievous grace.
The sweet-looking, vulnerable-enough, and deeply human anti-athletes sported wonderful high-waist skater shorts in felted mohair that looked soft like children’s pajamas, paired with oversize rolled-up nylon windbreakers printed with blown-up digital abstract drawings by German artist Florian Hetz. The ever-utilitarian body bags were given a new lease of life, improbably morphed into wraparound zippered bombers. Humongous spongy bathrobes exuded a feminine feel, printed with delicate patterns inspired by the work of American painter Betsy Podlach. Worn with matching shower slippers, they looked as if stolen from a gym locker room by a chubby, not-so-sporty, naughty kid.
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