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PHOTOGRAPHY: FRANCESCO NAZARDO WRITER: LOU STOPPARD

Francesco Risso, the newish creative director

at Marni, has brought a skittish, almost feral

eclecticism to the 24-year-old Italian house,

which suits his own boyish charm – all messy

hair, clashing prints and a big smile. Once

known for hardworking, vaguely conceptual

separates, rendered in off-beat prints and

hues – and favoured by women who

care as much about being taken seriously

as a professional as they do about looking

fashionable – Marni is now offering a more

youthful, broken-down look. Think scraggy

furs, baggy skate pants, frayed edges,

dishevelled suiting. Show sets have featured

metres and metres of scaffolding, while

invitations have come with fabric and thread.

The message? This is a work in progress.

Tellingly, Risso began his design journey

customising clothes. ‘I never liked to wear

things as they were, I had to somehow cut

a piece out of it or change it. I still do that,’

he says over coffee in Milan, where he lives. »

The play

maker

Marni’s new prince is

happily going off the rails

MARNI CREATIVE DIRECTOR

FRANCESCO RISSO MIXES

AND MATCHES AT THE

BRAND’S MILAN STORE

∑ 101

Fashion