What is a fashion brand outside of the hands of its founder? It is a question to which our era knows how to give only implicit answers, dictated by the entirely modern necessity to move forward, invent, and innovate at all costs. More than in other fields, in that of fashion, the problem of denaturing is central: how to continue the style set by a founder while also manifesting your own? The problem of successors is one of the thorniest and, over the years, has produced as many disasters as triumphs. Among the triumphs is that of Francesco Risso, who eight years ago took the reins of Marni as the heir of a much-loved designer, Consuelo Castiglioni, succeeding in the complex task of making a brand, which had become a cult thanks to its eccentricity, his own, and projecting it towards an immense international horizon today. «I worked at Prada for many years, and even before working at Prada, I was a fan of Marni,» says the designer. «The image that always comes to mind is that of the Castiglioni family in the 90s in Formentera, all dressed in canvas like a small cult. They were a bit in this kind of mystery bubble that made them even more fascinating.» What fueled the brand's intense mystique, however, was its «being completely against the current compared to the normal trend of fashion, yet deeply existing with great content. For example, they made incredible stores in the 90s that were completely disruptive. There was this delicacy in the making of objects that seemed very naïve but always remained very material.»

And it is precisely matter and its manipulation that remains Risso's passion, who, at the slightest question, is ready to rattle off a staggering number of techniques and processes that, in his years spent in Marni's ateliers, he has put into practice, expanding the boundaries of the brand's identity. A visible work especially in the texture that comes from afar: «Marni has always had this sensoriality already with Consuelo Castiglioni, it was one of the things that perhaps fascinated me most about her work.» But the sensoriality of the clothes, which Risso has brought back to the center of the conversation by launching the mohair trend a few years ago, is not just about the brand's archives but a personal pleasure of the designer, who explains, «the sensoriality connects me more both with myself and with others. A sensorial object intrigues more than one that is completely cold, voiceless.» The issue is not of secondary importance since Marni is precisely a brand that, in the increasingly commercial ecosystem of fashion, manages to balance in a unique way wild experimentation with excellent sales success. A delicate balance that Risso defends «with all my nails, all my teeth» and that even patron Renzo Rosso is interested in maintaining. «Not in all brands, even those I've known in my past experiences, do experimentation and commerciality have the same osmosis,» explains Risso. «Here, experimentation has brought a fire, as well as big numbers, so the people who come here expect great creative warmth – even the customers themselves.» An approach that is both methodological and conceptual, as the creative director explains: «Together, we have all believed in the profound humanity of this experience. Because making objects in this way gives the object itself a strong expression. The more we are authentic in our creativity and experimentation, the more everything can become immediately translatable even in the market.»

The creative process at Marni is described by Risso as something similar to that of an artistic collective, where interaction with various teams and collaborators is fundamental. «Ours is a fairly evolutionary process and depends a lot on the moment we are living. We often sit at the table, we are many, even with the kids from other teams, but also with the people who work for Marni more occasionally, like the people who walk in our show who compose the music. We sit at the table and try to understand, first of all, what is happening around us. That is, let's say, the base, on which then a whole series of real flights evolve. The creative act itself is born from that base and evolves depending on what we have to bring to execution.» This collaborative method not only fuels creativity but also allows Marni's work to remain in tune with the changes and challenges of the contemporary world. The stories that Risso tells about this are numerous and, above all, go very much against the trend compared to the more formalized approach of other brands. A particular memory is that of the SS22 collection, perhaps one of the brand's most avant-garde presentations. After the lockdown, recalls Risso, «one of the most important things was to seek out a sensoriality that is an integral part of our work. We had to carry out an important physical gesture, so we covered all the walls of our studio with canvas, and for almost two weeks, we all painted together. We made billions of paintings in those days. But in the end, that pictorial act became the basic notion of the entire process of the show: we understood that the simple gesture of a line represented for us a symbol of unity and uniformity. That line became the central idea of the whole show, until we even invited, dressed, and even painted the entire audience in stripes. We wanted to say, 'Let's get physical,' let's unite our intents again in this sensoriality that belongs to us deeply, and we translate it in all possible ways.»

For Risso, sensoriality is a key element of Marni's work. As mentioned earlier, the brand has singularly relaunched the success of mohair (Risso proudly declares: «Marni is texture, without a shadow of a doubt, through and through»), but the thread that connects the different techniques and experiments on the product lies in an artistic interest in the matter. «We are very material because we work a lot with our hands, myself included.» The way the atelier functions as a collective, driven both by a search for expressive immediacy and by a need to adhere not so much to reality but to the present, makes the Marni universe something unique: «We really enjoy making things with our hands and letting ourselves go to instinct. I believe this energy was present from the first day I started. We do everything here, from jewelry to bags, even some shoes. So sometimes you see things forming that in other places, with incredible assets, you don't see because maybe the factories are scattered around Italy, while here there is a little jewel from which everything is born in a very artisanal, very instinctive, and non-traditional way. Renzo [Rosso, ed.] especially loves this thing about Marni.» A tactile world that is present even when searching for pure geometric abstractions, as in the case of the latest FW24 collection, where «the sensoriality instead was almost reversed.» For this show, Risso wanted «to find the essence of everything we do. The collection was practically black from start to finish, almost cold in the way it was made, but in reality, its process was born precisely from the desire to isolate an entire room, to see objects through a light, and so again it is always and only because all the tactility connects deeply. The surfaces exploded at the end of the show, but the entire first part responded to the need to remove everything, any kind of information, to activate another kind of sensoriality, which is visual and instinctive.»

Risso's desire to know through deconstruction comes from an early age. Raised in a large and noisy family, since childhood, he has found in creating objects a way to express himself. «I have five brothers and sisters. I lived with my mom, my dad, and other families, grandparents, brothers, brothers from other families. It was really a kind of commune. My dad was a very eclectic character, and every day at home, there were waves of people. And I was very small and always remained a bit in this position of observer. My need to express myself and to speak turned into the need to make objects or make things until at a certain point, I started making my own clothes with everything I found around the house, making my family angry.» A lively environment nourished his creativity, leading him to experiment from a young age with his family's clothes, but also pushing him to travel the world very young. At sixteen, he was in Florence, already immersed in the clubbing world, specifically at the historic Tenax club, «and then at seventeen, I went to New York. I met a lot of people who became a bit like my family in those years – there was an incredible culture.» And it was there that young Risso decided he would become a designer, though only after robust training in art. «Before falling into fashion, I studied art. It was the period in my adolescence when I hadn't yet realized I wanted to make clothes and thought I would become an artist or director or something like that.» A moment that provided indelible lessons: «Here we don't feel like artists; on the contrary, we somewhat reject this thing because I am deeply attached to the fact that the clothes and objects we make are objects that converge towards a sense of pleasure for the people who wear them. A very different approach from art. In terms of how we produce things, sometimes it feels like being in an artist's studio. And maybe, like artists, we also reject the thought of being one.»

Looking to the future, Risso hopes to maintain an authentic connection with the public and to continue exploring new creative possibilities. «We are very fortunate because what keeps us particularly united, alive, and fiery in doing is the fact that we always arrive through a process in which all of us want to learn something. This keeps us tied in a circular, equal sense.» His vision is that of fashion that not only reflects society but actively participates in it, creating a continuous and stimulating dialogue. Despite the geopolitical, cultural, and economic problems that the luxury industry is going through: «I think we are in a moment of great doubts, and everyone is in the same difficulties. This comes from the fact that we have moved from a time when fashion was made for niches and very specific audiences to one where fashion has wanted to conquer the whole world, not just numerically but also in presence. And if you want to be everywhere in the world, you have to start pleasing everyone: you also have to be careful how you speak, how you communicate.» But for the designer, the sense of optimism does not collapse because this is: «a moment of great opportunity because we hope to reconnect a little more. I often tell the people I work with: when we become self-referential or start to disconnect from reality, give me a slap. I don’t make things because I want them to be locked in the showcase of a museum, but because I want those things to exist in a social movement. I think everyone is struggling because they feel disconnected from the moment. There's a lot of fatigue. This perhaps comes from an excess of zeal.»

Whether or not it is an excess of zeal, Risso remains very active both at work and outside. «I do a lot of activities, including playing the cello. I do a lot of sports, I have a lot of fun exploring. I’m like a sort of child, I can’t believe I’m forty-one years old.» And all this volcanic activity has led, after a season in which the brand presented its collections in the main capitals of world fashion, before returning to Milan, to a new and important step: the opening of Milan Fashion Week – an opening strongly desired by Risso and which found the support of the Camera della Moda. «In the last three years, we have traveled and done many shows abroad, sometimes completely disconnected from the calendar. They have become very special moments because they were detached from the stress that unfortunately everyone feels since these weeks have become extremely intense for everyone, us included. My choice to open was dictated by the fact that for me it is very important, for the next collection, to breathe a sense of lightness that I hope the audience, how to say, can breathe in the same way we do.»

CREDITS:

Interview Lorenzo Salamone

Photographer Giuseppe Triscari
Photographer Ass. Ana Loffehardt
MUAH Andrea Severino Sailis