Boom!, directed by Joseph Losey, was filmed in Sardinia in 1967 when Antonio Marras was six years old. He still recalls the glamorous chaos of Hollywood’s arrival in Alghero, from the stars’ yacht lying offshore to the gossip and attempted kidnappings that marked the production. Marras did not, however, mention the standout detail, claimed on Wikipedia, that “during filming [Elizabeth] Taylor’s pet monkey stole a $1,600 jewel case and was missing for a year.”
Today’s show was set up as if on a soundstage for a movie, where a cast led by the fabulous Marisa Berenson punctuated the runway action by performing for various cameras: They were riffing on a docu-film named A Summer With Joe, Liz and Richard by Sergio Naitza that looked back at Boom!’s explosive creation. That chaos was faithfully re-created, somewhat to the detriment of the fashion-show element of the proceedings: There was a long section that oddly centered around the arrangement of some grapes on a living-room table, and after the entertaining opening scene, the drama tailed off. Having various photographers, videographers, and actors milling here and there around the runway, seemingly at random, as the models walked through the stage all served to drag the onlooker’s eye from the real star of this show: Marras’s clothes.
Storytelling, however, has always been central to Marras’s process: Now that he has his well-deserved investment from Calzedonia, he is giving that process free rein. Satisfyingly, the garments that impulse served—when you were watching them—also seemed magnified. All the core elements of this designer’s work were present and correct, with an unsurprising emphasis on hosiery. The vintage military spliced with formal tailoring and overlaid with embroidery; the plethora of mid-century shapes in mousseline and tulle layered with paillettes or Marras watercolors and other illustrations; the occasional diversion into contemporary jersey; and the closing lace dress embroidered with an illustration of the Sardinian cliffs from the original Losey film: all well in his wheelhouse. What seemed newer was an emphasis on slouchy-cut leather separates and a significant cast of bags.
Not unlike KidSuper’s show for Louis Vuitton menswear back in January, this valiantly ambitious presentation attempted to break too many walls to work as a fashion show: It was something else. The collection, however, was excellent.
