This year marks the 20th anniversary of Marni, one of Milan's most beloved insider brands. Over the last two decades, Consuelo Castiglioni has steered this niche, tiny business into a global powerhouse that still sings with an Indie tone. For the brand's birthday Castiglioni replayed some of her favourite shapes - boxy jackets, long, three-quarter length skirts and column dresses - but reworked them with obi belts, kimono sleeves and hybrid constructions that gave the collection a distinctive Japanese flair. The innovative platform shoes, a Marni signature, also got the Tokyo treatment in a geisha-style jogging-shoe-sandal mix that was sensationally original. As for the clothes, Castiglioni began with humble linen and cotton in neutral shades of oatmeal and cream but quickly graduated to major colour and oversized florals that exploded like a pattern bomb over leathers and fine metallic jacquards. Blooms are big in the Marni vocabulary - in fact the company also hosted a real flower market in Milan's Rotonda della Besana after the show, which was previewed by journalists and buyers and later open to the public who carried home armfuls of flowers. Castiglioni's petal covered clothes however will thankfully last a whole lot longer.
Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
