Marni.

Sun. 09/21/2014.





Marni.

Nigh 20 years on, Consuelo Castiglioni has carved and Indelible stamp into the world of Fashion, One that is as much Copied as it is Revered. Her Intellectual Bohemian is kind of the Spiritual Cousin of Miuccia Prada's Intellectual Anarchist. One can usually, Always turn to Marni to be Surprised and Delighted and Tickled a little. Her clothes sometimes burst with so much Joy, that it's hard not to be Captivated by the Ebullient Spirited-ness of it all!

Well, Throw all that Out the Window come Spring 2015. A Puzzler for the Ages is what could be the only explanation to this Forced, Overwrought, Maladroit, And more Apt, BIZARRE Conglomeration of Clothes. From the Opening Bell, it looked as if all the Joy had been Bled dry from the clothes, As if they were ready for Embalming. The opening piece was like one of Miuccia's Quizzical First moments, where SHE would have used it's Anodyne, Lifelessness as a Tease to something more Vibrant or even perhaps, more DISTURBING, later, Here it just felt Dead. Basically because what followed took that Clean Slate of an opening and then made it Clumsy and Over-Thought with Design eccentricities.

Angular Cuts and Inelegant Japanese style Folds made for a Jaw-Dropping moment of Disbelief! Again, AS ALWAYS, When Simpler ideas prevailed, Castiglioni Hit Home Runs. When she let the Trickery lead her by the hand, She got lost in the Thicket! There was so much just Drab Plainness going about and the most Unflattering Drapes and Tucks and Cutaways, It all got to be so Suffocating that it sank into the Maudlin. Fortunately, The Colour Loving Consuelo we Know and Love showed up to put up a Fight, One that she lost, but Valiant Effort nonetheless!

When the Marni of Ye Olde reared it's Beautiful Head, we were given a STARTLINGLY Amazing Coat in Orange and Sky Blue that looked like a Fur, but up close was Featherweight strips of Chiffon, Densely sewn together to create the Flowers and mimic the Nap of Velvet or Fur. It, in a word, was OUTSTANDING! She would repeat this later to still Monumental effect. The belted Black and White Splatter print Coat/Dress that was Appliqued with pieces of Cement Colour Jute Canvas (Or was it the other way round,,,,???) on Leila Nda was Exquisite. The Best Outfit of the Entire show...? A Impossibly Simple Tunic with a Zip Neckline that was the Colour of a Paper Bag and was Totally Stripped free of any and everything save a few Black Zippers here and there... WIN!

Otherwise, This was the biggest Shock and Surprise of the season. Castiglioni is to be applauded for wanting to move beyond her Isle of Comfort and into the Hinterlands of the Unknown and Unexplored, But this was a Move too far in the wrong direction. It didn't feel Natural, or Intuitive, It felt as if she was Fighting herself from beginning to end. Which in the end, Made this collection a Devastating Tragedy of Monstrous Proportions. Castiglioni needs to trust her Instincts more and pick a direction and follow it, rather than seeing where all roads lead, She should by now know, Instinctually, That they all lead back to Home!





That's All.





Bye4Now!