It s a wonder Antonio Marras has never chosen Peggy Guggenheim as his muse-of-the-moment before this season. But it was breakfast on the terrace of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Guggenheim s home in Venice, that caused him to make her his own. In turn, Marras chose to "play with Venice," designing a sweater sequined with a scene on the canal, a Calder-inspired floral mobile print cut into bell-sleeve dresses and rounded-shoulder toppers, and plenty of other confidently complementary separates. Most notable were a trapeze swing coat made out of a non-sticky neoprene, and a trompe l oeil tassel print done up as a blazer and wrap skirt.
Many of the pieces—including a brooch-encrusted collarless jacket in geometric brocade—were designed and manufactured at Marras laboratorio in Sardinia, where he and his wife live and work when they re not in Milan. There s something utterly romantic about Marras vision, yet it s not wistful. He is the chemist of fashion: He s able to balance colors and ideas as deftly as one balances equations.
