Normally, when it comes to Marni, you usually think about shapes, pattern + color, that contour a woman’s personality rather than her body, but for their RTW Fall 2013 collection, designer Consuelo Castiglioni took to a whole new approach. This time, texture took center stage with lots of fur, tweeds + leather. At times, some of the lines were very reminiscent of a Fifties working girl, complete with opera length gloves, skirt suits + full skirt ensembles. Yet, what set these suits apart from losing themselves in looking too retro, were their nuances like the pencil skirt suit that challenged convention with a motorcycle style jacket adorned by a fur collar (below, look6) or the strapless dress with a full skirt, bearing a hint of skin through a chiffon insert, accessorized by a neck wrapped in a fur stole (row2-look6). In some cases, the fur stole notion look was taken to another level by it seeming to look as if the fur was attached to the top of a dress bodice (above) and jacket (row2-look1), as a fur wrap or fur cape, one of the most prominent ‘soft quirks’ in the collection. Normally, attachments like an attached shirt collar to a V-neck sweater is usually considered cheesy, but in this case, it’s tongue-and-cheek approach, whether or not intended by the designer, is refreshing. The other ‘soft quirk’ was the exaggerated fur stole, which was freakishly long but very appropriate, adding high drama to such a simple look, which I didn’t mind one bit.
The style of wearing a dress over pants was present but very luxe, with the whole dress or jacket being completely made of fur (row1-look1, row2-look5). Of the small amount of prints present, there were black + white concoctions of an abstract design of white on black and a pastoral scene in the same colors whereas other pieces, were emblazoned with imagery of a painted forest (top look).
This is a collection that definitely excites me for Fall, for as much as I’ve had enough of the cold already.
(photos: Davide Maestri)
(via WWD)