As seen in a previous post, during Milan Fashion Week Miuccia Prada expressed her concerns about our planet on her S/S 20 runway with a minimalist collection.
Yesterday, on the day of a global event to fight climate change that saw millions of people marching all over the world inspired by the indomitable teen activist Greta Thunberg, Marni showcased in Milan a collection with some links to the environmental protests.
The set for the show was actually directly linked to Marni Men's S/S 20 runway: the audience sat on compressed cardboard seats and was surrounded by plastic (repurposed from the plastic props on the men's runway) jungle fronds, leaves and trees made of wood pulp and old clothes.
Creative Director Francesco Risso also created a tropical story to go with the set: the collection was inspired by an anti-infective fantasy drug - Tachitropirina - capable, according to the show notes, of treating a variety of "disorders", including Fauvism and tropical hypersensitivity, an illness that could leave its victims dizzy and trap them into a deliriously colourful state.
Mind you, if such a drug had existed, it wouldn't have managed to treat Risso's colour fever: the show opened with cotton puff-sleeve tops casually matched with wrap skirts knotted at the front or with full-skirts (at times paired with aprons for that touch of peasant style) covered in abstract brushstroke floral prints in an imaginative colour palette or in jewel tones.
The abstract florals in the Fauvinist style (created by Risso and his team) covered the dresses with energetic splashes of paint that at times seemed to have dripped on the flip-flops.
Fitted soft leather skirts were juxtaposed to boxy jackets and coats with ample shoulders and large lapels that were also covered in hand-painted flowers.
The silhouettes were borrowed from the Haute Couture lexicon, but they were remixed, slashed and cut with edges that were left raw and unhemmed.
Asymmetrical knits were for example ripped and torn around the shoulders and seemed to unravel on the runway, while crocheted dresses with large appliqued flowers may have been reassembled from pre-existing clothes or yarns, after all Risso used for this collection upcycled textiles, organic cotton and recycled leather.
Models had flowers and leaves sprouting from their mud covered hair, carried large basket or bucket-like bags and walked on shoes with upside down soles and bamboo heels.
In this exploration and explosion of colours and patterns the white underskirts peeking from the hems of the dresses provided a touch of muted elegance and serenity.
There were no trousers in the collection but there was still a lot to take in and to choose from in this mix of silhouttes and prints that seemed to be a clash between Natalia Goncharova's peasants' styles and the palette in Paul Gaugin's post-Impressionist Tahitian paintings.
And while you could claim that some of these silhouettes weren't entirely new and that Risso (like all modern designers) isn't offering us a definitive solution about the sustainability issue in fashion (but he is raising awareness about plastic waste), this collection tried to provide an arty uniform for environmental protests, reminding us that we may still be able to reverse the apocalypse and we could do so wrapped up in euphorically joyous canvases.
Comments