Marni, founded by Consuelo Castiglioni in 1994, immediately resonated with women from different walks of life – gallerists, buyers, chefs. Yet critics and the broader fashion establishment often dismissed it as derivative of Prada: a kind of lost Miu Miu sister, but without the family lineage. As a result, it was rarely taken seriously as “major” fashion.

When Francesco Risso took over the brand about a decade ago, he transformed it into something closer to an art school experiment – at times strikingly on point, at others completely missing the mark with over-intellectualized gestures. Now it is Meryll Rogge’s turn to redefine Marni.

At her own eponymous label, Meryll cultivates a certain kooky, cluttered aesthetic that, on paper, seems perfectly suited to the Marni universe. Her debut felt almost expected – much closer to the brand’s 2000s image than to its more recent iterations. Which is why staging her show on the same day as Prada felt particularly unfortunate. It was Miuccia’s playbook all over again: socks with sandals, oversized paillettes on skirts, quirky, retro-tinged necklaces – only without the socio-political subtext humming in the background.

There are plenty of designers working in a kind of faux-Prada mode – from Henry Zankov to N21’s Alessandro Dell’Acqua – and Rogge’s Marni seems to fall into that same category. But perhaps that is precisely the point?

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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