Marni
MILAN, March 4, 2003
By
Where have all the flowers gone? The fall breeze has blown the faded roses clean out of the Marni garden, leaving something sharper, shorter and chicer in their place. Consuelo Castiglioni shifted her scene this season, away from country-house antiquey fabrics toward an artsy reinterpretation of late-’60s retro.Her eclectic bohemians have forsaken their wispy layers for high brown leather boots, smart knee-length shorts and minidresses in Sonia Delaunay–esque prints. Everything Marni looks more finished—literally. Instead of raw edges, the curving inside-out seams on dresses and tweed patchwork mélanges were outlined in satin binding. The late-’60s feel came from the off-key spectrum of pinks, browns, royal blue, chrome yellow and strange greens (a color chart that is becoming standard for fall) and cute little items like bibbed pinafores.
Most strikingly, the covert luxe that has always been an undercurrent of the Marni trademark turned overt. Fox shrugs and lightweight chubbies and the cool, slightly distressed green leather jackets and coats had a glamour that put the collection in step with seasonal trend. Marni devotees—a style tribe used to wending their own alternative ways—are about to wake up and find they're in fashion. But will they miss their flowers?
see all designers ›
