Antonio Marras took a deeply invigorating breath this season. Instead of the cavernous venues he has increasingly favored since receiving majority investment in 2022 from Calzedonia Group, he returned to the characterful, intimate showroom and store that has been his Milan base since 2004. Rather than showing his usual 100-ish looks, he distilled this collection into 50. And instead of basing that collection around an elaborate narrative, he focused on sensuality, slowness, and romance. Marras’s show even started as early as I have ever known it to.
These economies in space, product, rhetoric and time all served to amplify and concentrate his message of beautiful self-possession. The runway was defined by a pathway of flaked golden leaf, while the supporting pillars of his showroom were encircled by rambling roses heavily freighted with blooms. Every song on the soundtrack was rose related, and many of the models wore make-up that intricately and impressively continued the theme.
The clothes were wild yet clearly cultivated according to the Marras signature. As his central motif, the rose rioted across almost the full expanse of this collection, first in a 1940s silhouette skirt suit and drop-shoulder puff-sleeve tulip shaped sheath dress. In short order Marras’s instinct for maximalist collage kicked in, seeing him layer brocade over embroidery over print in kimono dresses and lace-hemmed drop-waist gowns. He dug patchwork rose embroideries into panels of check sewn into menswear tailoring. He applied rose patchwork into a waisted denim jacket and ruffle-fronted full skirt.
Not every look in Marras’s garden was rosy. Leather biker suits worn over mid-calf sneakers and camp collar skirts were flower-free highlights. Ditto the very fun leopard sleeved and epauletted field coat also patched with prince of wales check over its olive foundation. Marras’s new bag, named the Caragol, featured occasional rose embellishment but was more notable for its distinctively coiled handle design. These punctuation marks further complemented the collection’s excellent arrangement.
