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Antonio Marras shows eclectic post-punk collection, relaunches menswear
On Friday, Antonio Marras dazzled his Milan Fashion Week audience, showing a rich, eclectic collection, brimming with details, decorations and wonderful fabrics. It was also the opportunity for the Sardinian designer, together with his son Efisio, to relaunch his label’s menswear line in refreshed, relaxed fashion, and to introduce for the first time denim, revamped the Marras way.
Last season, Marras drew inspiration from Japan, and this time he decided to delve into the history of another island nation, one equally far from his own world: Great Britain, seen through a 1980s perspective, hovering between a post-punk mood and new romanticism. “I was inspired by memories of a trip to London in my youth, and I blended that period’s wave of cheerful vitality with the ancient, primitive culture of my native Sardinia,” he told FashionNetwork.com backstage.
Using his talent as a storyteller, Marras imagined one of his magically skilful seamstresses travelling to London and falling in love with a very British sewing-machine manufacturer. Back in Sardinia, and having little familiarity with the infernal machines, the seamstress is completely overwhelmed, going crazy with stitches that twist, turn and zigzag all over the clothes she works on.
The result is a lavish Fall/Winter 2020-21 collection that blends unselfconsciously all kinds of influences, creating finely crafted patchwork garments and notably drawing on the label’s archives of military-style fabrics and clothes. Off-the-shoulder dresses in flowery silk satin are worn with woollen check shirts. The pockets of a khaki canvas parka are inlaid on a tweed jacket. A damask overcoat slips over a pair of jeans.
Eco-goat fur and curly eco-shearling take over the oversize collars and the sleeves of some overcoats. They are also used to enhance jackets, and are layered over straight skirts, giving them more heft. As usual for Antonio Marras, knitwear plays a big part, with jacquard sweaters and panel-decorated cardigans.
The men's looks have a more everyday, easy-to-wear feel, with their baggy trousers and denim jackets. But the hoodie is cut from tweed cloth, and all the items are decorated and embroidered, like the flannel check shirt embellished with Swarovski crystals.
The designer’s touch is evident also in the harmonious lace compositions, in the poetic patterns gracing some t-shirts and shirts, in the sumptuous removable collars which cover the shoulders and add volume to the garments, and in the Sardinian slogans hand-painted on sweatshirts and sport jackets.
“With menswear and denim, we’re also launching a footwear line with a new licensed partner, Gianni Gallucci,” said Efisio Marras, who is in charge of the I’M Isola Marras line, targeting a younger demographic and now available at 240 multibrand clients worldwide.
The main line, Antonio Marras, is instead distributed chiefly in Italy and Russia, through franchised monobrand stores with the Bosco di Ciliegi group. The label also recently inked a deal with Neiman Marcus for the USA.
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