Francesco Risso is leaving Marni. Here's who could take his job
Could this be one of the few brands that replaces their male creative director with a woman?
AFTER 10 YEARS of working as the creative director of Marni, Francesco Risso is leaving the brand.
“I will always be grateful to Renzo [Renzo Rosso is the founder of Diesel and president of OTB Group, which owns Marni] for believing in me, for giving me the front seat on a journey that became more than I could have imagined,” says Risso.
“Marni has been a studio, a stage, a dream. It carried colour, instinct, care and gave space for people to be themselves. It taught me how to build with feeling, and how powerful true collaboration can be.
“Thank you to the whole Marni team, and to all the friends who joined along the way, and here’s to more extraordinary journeys ahead!”
Risso joined the brand in 2016, brought in by Rosso, despite a relative lack of experience as a creative lead.
Despite that, Risso has kept the brand’s reputation for eclecticism and colour alive while showcasing collections through innovative and contemporary show concepts – for his spring/summer ’22 collection, for example, he dressed every guest in upcycled Marni and showcased a spoken word performance in lieu of a traditional runway.
He played an instrumental part in developing the brand’s menswear, too.
Marni’s founder Consuelo Castiglioni – who created the brand in 1994 alongside the family fur business, naming it for his stepsister Marina’s nickname – stepped down as creative director shortly after OTP acquired the brand in 2015.
Castiglioni is credited with defining the cooky, colourful aesthetic we’ve come to know Marni for – one further affirmed by Risso’s eccentric vision.
While there have been plenty of conversations about the new hires that various fashion house’s are making right now, there’s also talk about how male dominated the space has become.
Could Marni be one of the only fashion houses to revert back to having a female figurehead?
Virginie Viard (previously of Chanel) and Maria Churia Grazia (previously of Dior) are two designers currently without a fashion house to their name, but neither feel like quite the right fit.
Lucie and Luke Meier left OTP-owned Jil Sander earlier this year and arguably are a more viable option, despite being known for their meticulous tailoring and minimalist silhouette. We’ve seen other corps move their talent to different brands within the business, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that could happen here.
Much like how Risso was picked from the Prada design team to lead Marni a decade ago, it would be fitting for a lesser-known talent to take the reigns. Them identifying as a woman would be fitting to the brand’s history and their ethos; while the majority of brands opt for men, Marni would continue to go against the mainstream.
This story originally appeared on Esquire UK.
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