Who thought that MSGM’s Massimo Giorgetti could have a sulfurous dark side? The designer’s nature is sunny side up, but dark sides are sneaky creatures manifesting themselves in multiple ways: often they come in disguise. Giorgetti relishes horror movies, the more horrific the better. His hero is Italian movie director Dario Argento: “I’ve been obsessed by his work since my teenage years,” he said. Being a practical guy who gets things done quickly, Giorgetti contacted Argento through Instagram and voilà, a friendship was born, together with a collection inspired by the director’s most famous movies. To top it off, a capsule collection of T-shirts, foulards and silk shirts printed with a medley of Argento’s movie posters also came out of the not-so-darksided relationship. “He is a maestro,” enthused Giorgetti. “I am totally in awe of him. He’s horror movie royalty.”
Argento’s ’70s oeuvre was tinged with a sleek aesthetic, where a haunted, supernatural reality was rendered in stylish undertones. His chromatic sense was one of his visual strengths: colors were saturated to an almost sexual vehemence, conveying a threatening ferocity. His most famous movie was even called Profondo Rosso (Deep Red). Giorgetti also loves color, which he abundantly proffers in MSGM’s collections. His take has nothing to do with Argento’s unsettling energy, “but I can relate to it,” he said. Finding common ground is always a good thing.
Giorgetti’s homage to Argento was without any sense of drama; MSGM is an upbeat, positive vibe-inducing label. Even if the show’s venue was immersed in a blood-red light and the Goblin (the Italian band Argento favored for his movies) played ominously on the soundtrack, the collection was resolutely cheerful. Solid colors were bright and luminous; black looked less dark than black; even the cartoonish carnivorous plant printed on oversized shirts and tees seemed to live a happy carnivorous life.
Beyond the intention of providing a narrative exploring a (not so) dark side, what was actually interesting in the collection was its grown up vibe and a great tailored outerwear repertoire of carcoats, greatcoats, duffels and trenches treated the MSGM way: oversized, playful, brimming with energy. Sportswear was reduced to big puffa jackets worn over tailored suits, or anoraks and parkas printed with mushrooms— probably of the wild hallucinogenic type. Maybe Giorgetti has a dark side after all.
