“What is beauty, really?” asked Francesco Risso during a Zoom conversation about his new Marni resort collection. “My concept of beauty is always linked to the idea of rebellion. On one hand, there’s a profound appreciation for a classic sense of beauty, but on the other I feel compelled to rebel against it and dissociate it from stereotypes. I always feel the urge to express this dynamic in my work.” He continued: “At Marni we want to break free and liberate ourselves from this stereotypical idea of beauty. The label’s fundamentals have always revolved around the celebration of a multidimensional idea of beauty, more open and extended.”
A diversity-embracing approach notwithstanding, Risso recently found himself entangled in controversy, when images from Marni’s fall advertising campaign were heavily criticized by the internet community, with accusations of racism and cultural appropriation. The photos were consequently taken down and the designer issued an apology on his Instagram account in which he acknowledged that the learning process brought about by this experience was as necessary as it was painful. “Diversity has always been part of my experience; my personal life is testament to that. I fully embrace diversity—it’s just the way I’ve lived my life and the way I am,” said Risso, who’s in a 12-year relationship with the Black designer Lawrence Steele.
A multilayered idea of beauty is central to the new collection. The look book was shot via FaceTime during quarantine by British photographer Jack Davison on a wide-ranging cast of young models and friends who were sent samples that they styled themselves. “Their individual reaction and their imaginative attitude has proved extremely energizing, and truly rewarding for me,” said Risso. From a creative standpoint, he worked at “passionately blending Marni’s past, present, and future,” as he explained. “Designing this collection, we’ve instinctively ventured into the definition of our essence. Instead of reverting to external conceptual or visual inspirations, we decided to look inward, to extract and distill our very own most expressive qualities, stripped down to their Marni reality. It felt like a joyful liberation.”
All the Marni signifiers were here: the delirious pattern-clash of floral prints (more naive and less conceptual than usual); the play on extravagant deconstructed volumes and silhouettes; the bohemian-grunge feel colliding with the formality of tailoring and with the ease of retro-sporty references.
The collection’s unfussy immediacy was apparent in the virtual showroom visit I was granted via Zoom. Three different rooms were reproduced exactly like Marni’s IRL workspaces, with each look able to be explored from different angles. In fact, the collection was actually designed with this new virtual medium in mind. “It isn’t less bold in the least,” pointed out Risso. “It’s just that the point of view is clearer and sharper.”
