Marni Spring/Summer 2021 Vol. 1

This Marni collection has been created under quite extreme, and extremely unexpected, external conditions that prompted a conscious creative process of conceptual simplification and amplification of meaning. The stylistic action has been stripped back to reality, bringing further a thought process that has been in the mind of Francesco Risso for a few seasons: a processual approach that is constantly in fieri. In this process of retrovolution, the rich history of Marni is clashed with its present, creating new hybrids and new forms that are both faithful to the roots and expressive of this moment, pointing towards the future. The idea is to celebrate the essence of what Marni stands for, in progressive ways.

The collection expresses an idea of joyful liberation: clashes of naive prints on dresses and outerwear, further clashing with the mohair stripes of grunge-y jumpers. Prints of lips capture sensuality and joy on dresses that fall askew, while volumes are always unexpected. The approach to deconstruction is quintessentially Marni, as is the formality tainted with bohemia and a collision of sport and tailoring. Beauty makes a pair with rebellion. Shirts, jumpers, cardigans, asymmetric dresses, boxy tailoring, mega tank dresses, dada tracksuits, graphic blocks are the elements of the repertoire.

The process of stripping back to reality calls in the audience: the community Marni speaks to. A cross generational section of free spirits has been actively involved in the photographic document that depicts the collection, created by Jack Davison and photographed through FaceTime. Clothes have been sent directly to the subjects, who styled them by themselves after being fitted via video calls. The result further highlights the sense of joyful liberation.

From this season onwards, Marni is applying the same realistic approach to the way collections are named and dropped in stores. Stemming from one single creative process, each season will be simply divided in vol.1 and vol.2, coinciding with distinct moments in both presentation and delivery to stores. This straightforward decision strongly underlines and amplifies the meaning of the endeavor.