Marni

[luckyme]

dots.........

thesatorialist.com

 

[chaneladdict]

love it!!!

 

[charps]

the striped jacket i want is sold out EVERYWHERE. if anybody sees it, could you please let me know. i have pretty much tried all the Marni stores in the US, Singapore, Tokyo and UK ... language barriers are preventing me ringing france and italy

 

[lmelanie]

i like their jewelry a lot..im thinking about getting one of those resin bracelets..

 

[luckyme]

so...pre-fall? i think i am going for the herringone jacket, it's a beauty. the shapes and tone this season are enticing.

 

[softgrey]

mmm...that coat is GORGEOUS!...

 

[adorefaith]

i wasn't sure where to post this but i read this article tonight and liked it...i kinda like this concept of 'postsex' dressing , or at least clothing that redefines what is sexy. and i laughed so hard at the comment about the mannequin looking happy in the wool skirt, even without a head..

hope you enjoy..

MARNI:
That Sexy Stuff Won’t Fly Here

By CINTRA WILSON
Published: July 14, 2009

I HALF remember an interview with Anne Hathaway: She said something to the effect that she started being recognized as a fashion icon the minute she stopped caring about looking pretty.

It’s true. To have your clothing appreciated by men, you dress a certain way (a silhouette resembling Jessica Rabbit). To be appreciated by other women, you dress differently (well-made, polished and flattering looks with less overt chicka-wah-wah). But at a certain point, to be considered truly fashion-forward, sex doesn’t just take a backseat to style — it gets thrown out of the car entirely.
Consuelo Castiglioni, the designer behind Marni, seems to be on a deliberate mission to bend fashion in a postsex direction. Men generally do not find Marni clothing sexy. This is because it really isn’t. It’s not that the Marni woman dislikes men, sexually or otherwise. It’s just that she has evolved, fashion-wise, to the point where the shapes and colors men prefer is too limiting a palette to creatively direct her wardrobe anymore.
For me, it’s hit and miss. There are always Marni pieces I like, but I tend to be largely nonplussed. This is because my default setting is to dress like an undead Moscow hooker. I feel most confident when my clothes are slightly painful, dark and a little threatening — crypto-sado-fascistic, with a subtle subconscious message, loosely translated as, “Hey, sailor!” But I recognize Marni as exceptionally smart.
The uptown boutique has been open for three months but looks, at first glance, as if the construction crew’s check bounced during the final push. “It’s the look,” the security guard assured me when he caught me staring at the half-primed drywall foyer. Unfinished walls looked edgy a few years ago. Now, to my eye, they don’t look like a daring choice but a rolling with economic punches. Then again, Marni is known to like an unfinished edge, even on formal dresses. Unfinished hems broadcast a haze of tiny threads around the line for a slightly smudgy Vermeer effect of evaporating into space.
The store reflects this, once you walk inside — no expense was spared in other areas, like design. It’s all lavender carpet, Lucite and modern extravagance. Big chrome spider legs rise up through two floors, like a fire-pole version of the Air Force Memorial. Low chrome seats are shaped like swimmer’s nose clips; the ceilings are covered in big round discs of light.
It would very difficult to make Anne Hathaway look unpretty, but Marni’s fall collection is ready to meet this challenge head-on. The runway looks are just starting to arrive, and, this season, Ms. Castiglioni seems to be reveling in the weird glitz-modern of early-1970s square: wonky plaids in lurid, oversaturated green; strange neck-concealing dickeys. My first thought: “First Lady Jan Brady.”
On second thought: If Jackie Chan was in a screwball fight sequence that took place in a wealthy retirement community and he jumped down a Salvation Army donation chute, this is the stuff he would fly out wearing. It’s senile-fabulous: sporty, loud, intentionally clashing and slightly clownish. Much of it can and should be accessorized with white golf shoes and a Phyllis Diller wig.
That said, the fall look is really cute in a quirky “Ghost World” way. Men won’t appreciate the lumpy quilted brocade jacket-dress that resembles a custom Oldsmobile seat cover ($1,200), but the ladies on the Marni staff looked snappy in matching versions of it. My saleswoman, the charming Bernadette Pascua, had paired hers with a fabulous set of false eyelashes.
I was completely smitten with some outstanding efforts in mohair: a drool-sational zipper cardigan with blue, black and white horizontal stripes ($505), which would have looked superb with the checkerboard wool drawstring skirt. (It’s already sold out, but the mannequin looks happy in it, even without a head.)
Marni’s shoes are terrifically shaped: multicolor platforms and strappy pumps that manage to pull off both uncompromising craziness and all the raw sex that is sublimated in the clothing. I lusted after a pair of three-inch sport pumps with waffle soles and a thick elastic snap band around the arch ($600; a blue suede version with a brown suede bow, $640). It’s a New York City shoe nonpareil in that you can safely book past competitors in the 50-yard taxicab dash.
I tried a pair of navy wool sweat pants with a marching-band stripe down the side in ivory ($450). They were a bit baggy in the crotch, and I felt they required more additional layers than I would be willing to wear.
The key item, I thought, was an asymmetrical pewter dress in “lightly washed taffeta.” Initially it was a little bewildering. It’s basically shapeless, with a ruffley collar that ties diagonally across the front. But once on the body, it has nice drape and balance, and it does something pretty remarkable: It’s a comfy answer to a couture question, something you can run around in at a party without worrying about sucking anything in or standing up straight ($1,170).
What I like best about Marni is that it gives a fashionable girl a creative direction if men finally dismay her past the point of no return. It provides a high-fashion shelter for those too badly scorched and shell-shocked by the battle of the sexes to return to the field. When you’ve really had it up to your push-up bra with the unfair sex, there may come a day when you stop waxing your legs and start hand-painting your car, brewing your own tattoo inks and converting your dining room into an abandoned-pet shelter — and Marni will be there for you.
Marni embodies both permission and direction by saying: Unchain yourself from that patriarchal old stump and frolic, Sister. Whup out the gin and Chex party mix and cavort in the Technicolor playgrounds of unhinged eccentricity — albeit in a polished, together kind of way.
MARNI
21 East 67th Street; (212) 257-6907.
CARNI The Marni label, already established as a right turn away from sex, delivers more candy-colored playwear for the fashionably hardy and fun-inclined with a fall collection guaranteed to delight some and perplex others.
YARNI You may think a gray cashmere cardigan is a gray cashmere cardigan. But Marni’s gray cashmere cardigan is $975. There are surely reasons for this: the rare Italian sheep are massaged by virgins and fed opals, perhaps. In any case, Marni customers seem to like them.
GARNI For jewelry, there is lots of whimsical faux-ethnic stuff: a necklace that resembles a bouquet of miniature tortoiseshell shoehorns, for example. But really, anything goes — it all makes equal sense with a side of butter and a lobster bib.

NYTIMES

 

[luckyme]

adorefaith, thank you, i loved this article. the writer by her own admittance doesnt usually find marni appealing but at least she has an open mind to the art of dressing for oneself not for the opposite sex. marni def appeals to women [and men] who are artistic-minded and respond to unorthodox dressing, but not the progressive way CdG does it.

marni is funk for older girls...like me, senile- .

 

[gius]

thank you for the article+pic, adorefaith
i wonder if they are trying to appeal to another audience though-the more recent collections are becoming more fitted and less oversized. i think more people will try Marni out



by the way does anyone ever have problems getting on the Marni website?
I always get the unsupported browser page
but I should have all the requirements to view it...

Unsupported Browser

It seems that your browser doesn't meet the requirements to view Marni Virtual Store at its best. Maybe it depends on some settings that you can change. These are the things you can try:

• Check for cookies to be enabled
• Activate javascript
• Check that your monitor is working at its highest available resolution. Marni Virtual Store is optimized for a 1024 x 768 pixel resolution.

 

[luckyme]

i've never had a problem getting onto the site via pc or mac. just wish they would update soon...

 

[Mona13]

Thanks so much for posting this, adorefaith. I read this article earlier in the week and loved it. Like lucky mentions, the author was a good choice (not being a Marni fan, but understanding the concept) to bring an objective review.

My favorite line.... "But at a certain point, to be considered truly fashion-forward, sex doesn’t just take a backseat to style — it gets thrown out of the car entirely."

I recall shopping with my husband at Butter last fall. While I was busy drooling over the Rick Owens buy, my husband brings over a Marni pump and tells me these are the best shoes he has ever seen. He liked them because they were unique and less overtly sexy, than say a Louboutin or Manolo (nothing against these designers - as I own and wear both).

So in a sense.... is the 'sex' still there, but in a confident, cool, nonchalant way that men (and women) might not pick up right away? I think I'm getting off-topic. But this article has left me thinking about the concept of dressing. Isn't dressing for oneself (in this case Marni) essentially sexy, as you are wearing what you feel most comfortable and confident in?

 

[luckyme]

this is the skirt the author was speaking of and it is indeed a winner. i have the boxer short version and ordered the skirt since it has pockets and will look swell over tights.

some other choices now posted on marni.com

 

[luckyme]

the denim project is finally up on marni.com
two of my favorite things together, denim and marni

 

[raj]

Gilt has Marni....There are still some stuff left if anyone is interested