Marni S/S 2018 at Milan Fashion Week
(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

Scene setting: Francesco Risso in his second season at Marni delivered a joyful, modern coolness in the middle of a scorching Milan – one of the highlights so far. Guests sat on rows of neat wooden benches with chequer-board leather seats, nestled on-top of clear inflatable pillows. The show was soundtracked with renditions of Eden Ahbez’s gentle Nature Boy by David Bowie and John Coltrane, mixed by Frédéric Sanchez Studio.
 
Mood board: The cardboard invitation included a small toy, while the show notes talked of a ‘well to do boy’ falling into a never ending vacation. Each of the models carried mismatched luggage, tied with loose bits of string or odd ties. The look of misaligned pinstripes, shrunken, unfinished knits and 1920s Maillots de bain t-shirts was random and refined, eclectic and exacting.
 
Team work: The LA artist Magdalena Suarez drew a series of shirts and bibs for S/S 2018. Though better known for her ceramic collaborations with her husband Michael Frimkess, Suarez’s sketches of faces and wild animals lent a charming narrative to the playful proportions of Risso’s clothes. From traditional ancient Greco-Roman frescos to Felix the Cat, the Venezuelan-born octogenarian has no set rules for what she chooses to illustrate on her own work. She’s not hung up on one thing, just like the Marni man.

Marni S/S 2018 at Milan Fashion Week


(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

Marni S/S 2018 at Milan Fashion Week


(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

Marni S/S 2018 at Milan Fashion Week


(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

Marni S/S 2018 at Milan Fashion Week


(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

London based writer Dal Chodha is editor-in-chief of Archivist Addendum — a publishing project that explores the gap between fashion editorial and academe. He writes for various international titles and journals on fashion, art and culture and is a contributing editor at Wallpaper*. Chodha has been working in academic institutions for more than a decade and is Stage 1 Leader of the BA Fashion Communication and Promotion course at Central Saint Martins. In 2020 he published his first book SHOW NOTES, an original hybrid of journalism, poetry and provocation.