Marni AW15 at Pitti Uomo

Initial reaction:

Back on the Pitti runway as this season’s menswear guest designer – with a streamlined, polished agenda interrupted by vibrant collaged alpaca furs, contrast floral prints and fuzzy sheepskin surfaces. “We felt it was time to illustrate the collection in a show,” Consuelo Castiglioni told us before the curtain went up, sharing her excitement about returning to the menswear catwalk after a five-year break. “Pitti Immagine Uomo stands for avant-garde and experimentation, both part of the Marni DNA. And Florence is a city with an innate richness of culture.”

Artistic license:

There has always been an art-like element to Marni, with its free-spirited, off-kilter disposition and imaginative approach to fabrics and shapes, so the Florentine Museo Marino Marini was the perfect setting for the collection. Castiglioni summed it up as “an idea of easy elegance with unexpected elements” – it was a harmonious meeting of classic men’s tailoring and surprising surfaces, like a beautiful and minimalist collarless suede coat in petrol blue with hidden button closures.

How it was worn:

With a quirky ease so intrinsic to Marni: lopsided, fluffy beanies, messy hat hair, flared trousers revealing slits of slick red, oversize cow print Muppet fur bags and mismatched check suiting. Set off by oversize herringbone tweed coats with soft, round shoulders, it had an air of boys running wild in their dad’s classic wardrobe. Castigliono’s treasured fussbett or ‘ugly’ shoe – a style which she told us she loves for its chameleon-like qualities – was represented in the more grown-up shape of chunky boots with contrast mended heels.

The soundtrack to Marni AW15: