Marni’s Francesco Risso Talks Exclusively to Vogue About Taking On One of Italy’s Most Beloved Labels
February 22, 2017 6:01 AM by Mark Holgate
As you will discover during the chat that follows, Marni’s new creative director Francesco Risso, who joined from Prada, replacing founder Consuelo Castiglioni, is a movie buff. So, staying with that, and since you very likely don’t know anything about him, or even have the vaguest idea of what he looks like, let’s work though some comparisons to Italy’s cinematic greats.
Physically Risso could have been cast in a Pasolini movie, Teorema, perhaps. His wardrobe—the day I interviewed him it was a pajama-like look with a necklace fresh off Marni’s fall 2017 menswear runway, his first work for the house—could have been art directed by Visconti, all bohemian layering and luscious fabrics. And his life, gloriously colorful and free-spirited, gives you high-period Fellini. (Truth be told, one American director—Wes Anderson—could have encapsulated everything about Risso.)
The designer was in Paris for a few days during the haute couture to present his women’s Pre-Fall to buyers, attend John Galliano’s Maison Margiela Artisanal show, and tell Vogue a little about himself. His Pre-Fall won’t actually be seen until after his women’s runway show in Milan this season, and I can’t reveal too much about it (or anything, actually; I would hate to spoil the surprise) but suffice to say it’s very Marni and it’s very good. But once you see his runway collection on Sunday, February 26, you’ll know that for yourself.
Francesco, congratulations on your new role. I met you through a mutual friend years ago in Milan, but I don’t know much about you, other than you worked at Prada! Before we get to Marni, I’d love to hear about your life.
My parents had decided to live at sea, so the first four years of my life were basically spent on a sailing boat; my crib was literally tied between two masts. So I think that really gave a bit of a twisted imprint on my life from a very early age! I was actually born in a hospital in Sardinia as their boat was docked there during the winter. Then we moved to Genoa, this huge family, as both my mother and father had children from previous marriages. My brothers and sisters are all at least 10 years older than me, and there was also my maternal grandmother and my paternal grandparents living with us, as well as occasionally some family friends. It was like a big community. My paternal grandmother was extremely eccentric. After she died, we discovered she had a house in Jamaica that she used to go to every August, but she never told anybody. She would come back home with a tan and pretend she had been spending the month with her friend somewhere in Europe, but she was really in Jamaica! She was amazing, and had great taste. She had made-to-measure platforms that were taller than you would normally find in the ’70s, which she’d wear with superlong dresses. My dad was also an eccentric one: His favorite clothes were a pink cardigan with diamond buttons and a cotton suit that he made out of a mattress from the ’60s.
Was that where your interest in fashion started?
My maternal grandmother was a tailor, a very famous tailor, in Genoa, so I think some of my skills stem from her. When I was about 9, I started going into my family’s wardrobes, and would cut the sleeves off their jackets, or tear apart their pants. They would come back home to find completely ripped clothes! I’d remount the sleeves onto something else, another jacket, or cut the pants and turn them into a skirt. I sometimes still do it, with some of the pieces in my fashion archive.
What do you collect?
There was a time when I was collecting Alaïa, but I wouldn’t cut those pieces up, and not my Comme des Garçons either. I tend to get obsessions with things, which are usually fueled by eBay. One day I could buy 10 different sailor suits and the next military uniforms or cowboy shirts or dresses from the ’30s. I think I have an obsession with archetypal pieces. My archive is made up of these obsessions more than anything else.
What was the last thing you bought on eBay?
The last thing I bought was ’30s jewelry that I found from this guy in America. And some dolls, and necklaces for children, that are quite fantastic.
When did you realize it had become a collection?
At the point when I realized I couldn’t control it anymore!
That’s usually the sign!
There was a time when I used to keep it at home and the wardrobes were exploding so I started making boxes and sending it to a warehouse in Genoa. My mom used to help me put it together and store it. At a certain point, I had desperate calls from her saying the warehouse was not enough anymore and that’s when I realized I needed a proper archive.
At what point, or what age, did you start to really think about fashion as fashion?
I think I was around 13.
Did you care a lot about what you wore then?
Absolutely. I was quite obsessed with Miu Miu menswear and also Comme des Garçons and Margiela at the time. I’d also buy women’s Margiela and wear it. I’d buy things from a store in Genoa, and then when I was 16 I moved to Florence, and I used to buy from a store that I was obsessed with called Guya.
Why did you move to Florence?
I moved by myself when I was 16; that was my escape from my family! I studied at Polimoda when I was 17, and then from there I moved to New York to study at FIT when I was 18.
Do you still have any of those pieces from that time?
Yes, a Margiela coat that was like two trenches together with four sleeves. I should still have a beautiful top made out of gloves that I used to wear. Even back then I had an obsession with vintage or pieces that were one of a kind. I think that’s part of my mental state of attacking things because they become more rare and turn into an object that no one else has. Vintage can make you happy in that sense; there’s a uniqueness, a sense of history, to it.
So you were looking at labels at that point. What were some of your other points of reference in your teenage years?
Movies, particularly John Waters and Roman Polanski. One of my favorites is Polanski’s Repulsion, and I remember how obsessed I was about Catherine Deneuve being so elegant and yet so ****ed-up. Actually, there was a moment in my life that I opened a store in Genoa—I was 24—after I’d come back from living in New York and London. There was a scene in Repulsion in a beauty salon, where Catherine Deneuve worked, with a nail polish called Canasta No. 4, so I named my store after that. Alaïa was the best seller, though some of the pieces I kept because they were so beautiful and there was such technique behind them that I didn’t want to let them go!
Was music also important to you?
Yes, it’s always been a part of my life. I’d develop obsessions with seeing every film a particular director had made, and that happened with music too, with the Smashing Pumpkins or Nirvana. I really loved Kurt Cobain.
What was it like in New York when you lived there?
It was late ’90s; I had a supercute apartment above a Greek restaurant at Bedford and 7th Avenue. It did feel strange, because I felt so young. I hadn't visited New York once before I moved there, so I wasn’t sure at first if I even liked it. I didn’t really know anyone, so I was hanging out by myself every night. But then I started meeting people, and that was wonderful, because that’s a side of New York that can just happen to you. After a few months I had a lot of friends and it became a joyful and fantastic experience.
Were you paying much attention to American fashion?
Marc Jacobs was a really amazing reference to me; he’s one of the most talented designers who ever existed, so I bow down to him. But I don’t really identify fashion in those geographical terms as being American, or English, or French. . . . After FIT, I took a master’s degree at Central Saint Martins in London, so I had three different experiences—Polimoda, FIT, CSM—and each one had a different approach. In the States, I remember that learning the technicalities of how to make things was really important, and on the creative side, I had the most beautiful experience at Central Saint Martins. There is something very fascinating about the process there. It asks you not to just take references from fashion necessarily, but to be open to analyzing what you want to see and really go in deep when you design.
Then you went back to Italy?
Yes, because I was called by Anna Molinari. I had almost two years there and I am very grateful because she gave me a great job and I was really young and so I had to learn to run. I had a really great time; it wasn’t easy, but I really liked to work with her. Then Alessandro Dell’Acqua hired me, and I opened the store around the same time.
So you were simultaneously designing and buying for your store?
Yes, which was a great experience because after working on his show, I would go to Paris and do the buying. It gave me a strong experience and point of reference on how the sales side of things works.
How long did the store last?
Four years, then I started at Prada and it couldn’t be done anymore. Prada was very demanding and I wanted to be very focused there. It was my choice to close it. I had a good offer from Gucci for the space, so I said let’s do it and onto the next.
What were you hired to do at Prada?
The knitwear. Mr. Bertelli had a great vision and he was completely right; he wanted to separate the knitwear from the main collection and develop it into a separate department, much as the accessories were. It added such huge growth to the company. So that was my first role at Prada. In the meantime, I was also working with Mrs. Prada on the shows, doing the knitwear, and then as I started to grow in the company, I began focusing more on what she needed in terms of the show and the image of the company. Then I moved into her world basically, which was great because it allowed me to be open to any kind of project we needed to do.
So you saw the business from every angle?
Yes, absolutely. That was fantastic because Mrs. Prada allowed me to do that by giving me a lot of various and diverse types of projects to work on.
What’s the thing you’re most proud of having worked on at Prada?
The whole process was incredible to me. The work I did for her was really like surfing the mind! The processes would change each season. You might start from a very deep, very conceptual brief, but the next season you might start from a very naïve thing, so that was the beauty of working with Mrs. Prada. I remember days and days and days she would spend brainstorming and then suddenly when you need to do the clothes, you do them, but it was such an incredible process to get to that point, and that’s the most beautiful thing that I remember about being there.
How long were you at Prada?
Almost 10 years. Nine years and a bit, yeah.
During those years, what was your perception of Marni?
Well, Marni has always been a passion for me. Consuelo [Castiglioni] was incredible because she was anti-stereotyping. With the men’s and women’s wardrobes, she unleashed these anti-stereotypes into the world. It was fascinating to me because with Marni there were no rules. It was like a free-spirited philosophy of making clothes.
Were there any collections over the years that you particularly loved?
Hmm, yeah, the collection with huge fur gloves—that was one of my favorite ones, from Fall 2009. And so many of the very early ones.
When you were asked if you were interested about coming to Marni, what were your thoughts?
Well, extreme excitement, of course. I immediately thought it was a great match because I feel connected with that sort of philosophy of putting things together in an odd way and being completely comfortable about it. For me, with this first women’s collection, for Pre-Fall, I started thinking about mystery boxes, because to me Marni is like a mystery box filled with infinite possibilities and surprises. That’s what informed all the layering I’ve done with the Pre-Fall collection.
It’s interesting because Marni also always felt like a bit of an outsider. When I started going to the label’s shows years ago, it wasn’t even on the official calendar, it always stood apart a bit.
Absolutely. Nowadays I think it’s really difficult to be that way because you get devoured from such a large amount of attention out there every minute of the day. Still, I think it’s a nice philosophy to keep in mind when you do things or when you think about how to present things.
The other thing that’s interesting, which we sometimes forget, is Marni also really came from a very strong background of initially making very luxurious furs.
Yeah, absolutely. They were very high quality, but they were amazing because they treated the fur in an irreverent way—making them easy somehow; Marni took the same approach to making a calico dress as it would a fur.
In a way, that’s quite a similar approach to Prada.
Yes, it is. I think it’s in this Milanese tradition of women being so irreverent, being anti and non-anti at the same time. As a Genoese, I kind of have that in me too, and I lived off that experience with my family. That’s probably why this new role and I are a good match, because that attitude has been as much of a passion for Prada as it was for Marni.
