Maria Turri has no interest in business as usual; she’s niche and happy to stay that way. The ideal scenario for Turri, who makes clothes by hand in Verona, Italy, would be “to go to a shop I like with a small bag and show the collection there.” The viability of that being slim, the designer brought her spring collection to Paris. (It felt like fate that she chose to present her latest collection, by appointment, close to the Musée Picasso, because with her hair piled on top of her head and her black eyes flashing, she resembles the painter’s 1900 portrait of his sister Lola.)
Since we first met in 2018, when I was on the Who Is on Next? jury (Turri was a co-recipient of the Franca Sozzani Prize), the designer has had a child and added menswear to her offering. For spring there were several dresses with back interest, one with fabric cascading down the center back, another with twisted straps that suspended an open back that extended to bumster level. Another laced-back number would require assistance to get into. Roomy dropped-waisted dresses are something of a signature, so a white sheath with vertical tucks was unexpected. As for tailoring, there was a long jacket with a single button at the neck and a chore jacket shown with pants with a dropped crotch. The most exceptional look, in my opinion, was a fitted jacket with an 18th-century-ish silhouette, made of 100-year-old hemp fabric that looked like an instant heirloom.
As she did in 2018, Turri opened this American’s eyes to a different way of understanding what “Made in Italy” can mean. While the designer uses artisanal techniques (she sews with both machine and needle and thread), the end result is not “perfect.” This is a difference of aesthetics and also of values. As Turri’s husband and translator conveyed, “She doesn’t do this in order to set growth, she does it because it’s a way to express her creativity, which is totally unrelated to the market. She does everything by hand, and she would like to keep it like this; it’s a small collection, and Maria is not looking to have too many shops, but just a few, so she can keep it very personal and have personal contact with clients.” Her aims, he continued, are not “material; the most important thing is that people can understand and enjoy every single piece and be happy.” #Goals.
