Francesco Risso has unveiled the next stop on the Marni brand’s traveling tour: the Japanese capital will host the F/W 23 collection
Marni chooses Tokyo
In September during the New York Fashion Week Francesco Risso created an incredible fashion show for the Marni spring/summer 2023 collection under the Joralemon Tunnel in Brooklyn with a soundtrack created by Dev Hynes and The String Orchestra of Brooklyn and with in the front row celebrities such as Madonna, Kendall Jenner, Doja Cat, James Harden. On this occasion, the project of the designer Risso was inaugurated, who conceived a real world tour for the Marni brand. Risso explained that there will be four traveling shows planned with the aim of returning to the catwalk in Milan in 2024, where the brand is based, when Marni will celebrate 30 years. The two intermediate stages of these “travelling fashion shows” envisaged by the maison had not yet been revealed but the intention is to explore a different city each season. “A year ago I decided to stage a series of traveling shows with our team and a troupe of musicians to bring an energy boost to different cities and return the favor to our friends and communities around the world…But I don’t it’s about replicating shows,” Risso said. But why move from Milan? Risso replied that “I’ve wanted to explore for a while…to be present in the epicenters of our communities and not in some remote or isolated place…Exploring means understanding things from a different perspective, connecting with different people. It’s a refreshing feeling, there’s also a lot to learn, and I’m ready to do it any fucking second. Since America opened its borders last December I’ve been here, I don’t know, maybe 20 times. Yet it is not really new, because everyone is somehow in another realm…” and in the same way also Renzo Rosso, founder of the Marni OTB parent company, stated that the idea is to “bring energy and be closer to local customers. Marni is a global brand, but we also want to be close to local culture and create products for specific local markets.” Francesco Risso arrived at Marni in 2016, proposing his first collection for autumn/winter 2017 and succeeding the artistic director Consuelo Castiglioni. In 2015, the Otb group took control of Marni. Risso has repeatedly expressed that he wants to meet “the quality that must last over time, and the discipline as well as the skills and patience necessary to create special objects. I think we’ve seen enough cynicism and brutalism. I’m not interested in creating products that brutalize human expression. My mission is to dress people and I don’t work with blinders, I think about our surroundings, but I also aim to create a world that is comfortable and that gives pleasure”. And so the stage of Marni’s second traveling fashion show has just been unveiled: the Far East, Japan. Marni chooses Tokyo. In fact, the Japanese capital will host the Marni autumn/winter 2023 collection show, and designer Francesco Risso is already preparing for this very important show scheduled for February 1, 2023. The show is expected to welcome almost 2,500 guests and Japan, it is one of the most important markets for Marni. CEO Barbara Calò stated that “Marni in 2022 should record a 30% year-over-year increase in sales in Japan and that in the last few days the data show that they have exceeded forecasts… The Land of the Rising Sun represents 23% of total sales of the label. Marni in 2022 is expected to record a 31% growth in global revenues compared to 2021”. Furthermore, one of the next openings of the brand’s points of sale is planned in Tokyo with a second inauguration in addition to the 28 overall points of sale in the country. Beyond the normal and obvious reasoning related to business motivations, Risso explained however that Japanese culture has always exercised a profound influence on his planning: “I finally managed to return to Japan a month ago and once again it was a very pleasant and enlightening”.
