As he prepares to show his S/S18 collection, we reveal the creative director of Marni’s love of vintage teddy bears
“I’ve been collecting vintage teddy bears for many years – there’s something about them that really attracts me. They have a human side without being human, and when they start perishing they develop imperfections, these signs of the past, this diversity. I get them everywhere: eBay, vintage stores… There’s an incredible shop here in Milan called L’Oro dei Farlocchi, where you can find everything from African masks to 15th-century teapots, and sometimes the owner has teddy bears that are 200 years old. My first one was from the 1930s: it’s a teddy bear in the shape of an elephant that I found on eBay. I thought it was quite uncommon. You might think that a teddy bear in the shape of an elephant is an easy thing to find, but this one – with that character, with those shapes, those colours… it made me think there’s a whole world out there to discover.”
When Francesco Risso was appointed Consuelo Castiglioni’s successor as creative director of Marni in 2016, he evolved the free-spirited language of the house into a kaleidoscopic world of eclecticism which, this season, clearly pays tribute to his teddy bear obsession. Coats made from sheep fur were brushed and sprayed to appear strangely matted rather than perfectly luxurious; fuzzy two-piece suits came in newly hatched pastels; patent boots sprouted tufts from their insides. “I like to think of Marni as a mystery box, a temple of playfulness where many different things can happen,” he says. Such tender irreverence has proved as curious as it has compelling.
Grooming Erica Peschiera at Aura Photo Agency using Marc Jacobs Beauty; Styling assistants Rebecca Perlmutar, Roberta Astarita, Sunnie Fraser. Production AND Production and Industry Art; Post-production Labyrinth Photographic, Hempstead May.
The Autumn/Winter 2017 issue of AnOther Magazine is on sale now.
