Marni's essential fashion, MSGM's rebellious chic

With Milan Fashion Week in full swing, the surprises continue. On Friday, the collections for autumn-winter 2024/25 were the talk of the town. Francesco Risso made a big splash at Marni, surprising the audience with a stimulating and inventive show. Meanwhile, at MSGM, Massimo Giorgetti revolutionized the bourgeois wardrobe with zippers and vinyl.

For his return to the Milanese catwalk after his time in Paris last season, and as Marni celebrates its 30th anniversary, Francesco Risso has created a masterful collection in which each piece seemed designed to awaken impulsive desire. Especially the accessories, with large-framed mirror glasses or studded clown boots with stiletto heels, which are invariably worn by women or men. The clothes were as beautiful to look at as they were to touch, alternating monumental, high-impact ensembles with tighter, more delicate ensembles.

The designer says he has made a clean slate to rediscover a more authentic, almost childlike creative vein, free of imposed rules and stripped of all artifice. It is a way of approaching nature and the animal kingdom, without falling into a purely primitive discourse, nor depriving oneself of his experience as a designer. Everything is designed and built with precision, starting with primordial forms created with large linear lines and curves.

To celebrate this return to our roots, the designer imagined a cave made of crumpled white paper, a kind of igloo cave, where men and women wandered along a winding path, accompanied by hymns sung by a choir of white-robed Vestals. The first silhouettes were revealed. A series of total black looks composed of maxi skirts and triangular dresses whose angles widened widely to the sides. Some of the apron-shaped dresses opened at the front to reveal a plunging neckline.

They were worn theatrically with long welder's gloves, made of felt or leather, and with majestic fur stoles. The triangle was repeated in mini-layers, while some garments took on the protective shape of cocoons. Cloche dresses were also available in leopard-effect fawn skin.

For next winter, Francesco Risso has created a very tactile collection, playing with the softness of lambskins and the softness of worsted wool jumpsuits and sets. Without forgetting the velvety touch of the countless furs, with short or long and thick hair, that make up the collection through coats, jackets and other fur-lined jackets, as well as the grainy touch created by the thick brushstrokes of paint that are thrown about him. Rigid dresses, blouses and pants.

Fifth Avenue Socialites at MSGM

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A change of scenery at MSGM, where we find ourselves catapulted into a chic New York lounge. Before the show a cocktail was served with glasses of champagne and pastries. The perfect welcome to immerse yourself in a collection inspired by the socialites of Fifth Avenue, the glamorous 'swans' described by Truman Capote in the late 1950s.

“I imagined their nieces today stealing the dresses of these ancient aristocratic beauties, but with a dark and gothic touch, as a form of rebellion,” explains creative director Massimo Giorgetti. “The zipper symbolizes this element of rupture with this shining and cracked world. Throughout the collection, there is a hint of nostalgia for the past that has already passed, compared to the future that awaits us,” he says.

The zipper with its colored ribbon replaced the classic button closure of a suit jacket or a black flannel shirt adorned with rhinestone swans. It ran diagonally over a wool coat or acted as a braid on trouser legs.

Vinyl also played an important role in this vintage-style wardrobe, bringing together lace dresses, silver brocade suits, white silk blouses and dresses with black polka dots. The shiny fabric first appeared on small jackets and then took over the entire wardrobe, with coats, jackets, pants and straight skirts in black, but also in magnificent amaranth red and emerald green.