Francesco Risso was appointed as the creative director of Marni in 2016 after a decade of designing at Prada. Since then, his tenure has encompassed years of cultivating a distinct ethos and world for the brand. Through collaborations, taking the brand to different cities around the world, and building and running a team that operates like a family, his joyful vision for Marni has reached eccentric dressers in every corner of the globe. Built on a foundation of creativity and play, he disrupts fashion norms and consistently delivers collections that feel like inhaling a breath of fresh air and exhaling hope.
During SCADstyle 2024, I had the honor of sitting down with Risso to discuss his approach to design (and life) and how he has nurtured the cosmos of Marni.
Flora Medina: I’ll start by asking, is this your first time at SCAD and in Savannah?
Francesco Risso: SCAD? Yes, absolutely.
Medina: How are you liking it so far?
Risso: It’s incredible. I mean, I’m kind of blown away. Like, I didn’t expect such a big, structured situation. So, it’s quite surprising and beautiful to see such facilities and so much available to students to really build up.
Medina: You attended several of the most renowned fashion schools in the world. How do you think that those different institutions and three different cities for school impacted your approach to design?
Risso: I think I’m super grateful that I had those three different experiences. Each one brought a different dynamic and approach. Some environments were either more creative or more technical. That combo of all of it is what made me more complete and gave me an understanding of where I wanted to go. However, I think, you know, each school enhanced an aspect of my character in those years, so I think I really treasure the fact that I was able to see more.
Medina: I feel like it’s really evident in your work, just the different influences. Especially, because I feel like FIT and Central Saint Martins have completely different vibes.
Risso: Totally opposite approach.
Medina: And you’ve traveled a lot before school, during school, and then with Marni, taking the brand to Tokyo, New York, and Paris. How have the different cities changed your designs?
Risso: I think people are what really changed the feeling and the perspective of it all, and that’s why we did it. We did it because I wanted to bring Marni to our people. Working with them, working with the people in Tokyo, we have so many friends there and so many people that we normally work with that didn’t have to travel. So, we have to go there, we have to learn the dynamics of being there. We have to learn about how to be together in that environment. So, it was a big challenge. However, that was the most beautiful thing, and each experience was a learning curve. So, you know, it’s funny because when I landed in Tokyo–I have been in Tokyo many times–in that moment, I was obsessed with discipline. As an Italian, to say that to a Japanese person, it’s like, “Come on, what are you talking about? You’re not.” But still, there’s been such a kindness and such precision in the process that has brought us a delicacy. I think we’ve been lucky for a while now. Each place has brought a lot of learning. So, I wish to do that more.
Medina: Before Marni, you were at Prada for a decade. I feel like a lot of the time with design, the approach is sort of taught–or it’s easier, in a sense–to do the big, crazy thing first, and then taper it down a bit. But, I feel like going from Prada to Marni is sort of the opposite of that process. What was that transition like?
Risso: Right. I mean, Prada was…you know, I lived there for ten years, so I’ve been in different moments working with Miuccia (Prada) on different things. And I was shocked by the first time, how this woman was incredible–incredibly, intellectually, able to dive in with so much creativity and so much grounding. And that was one of her biggest passions, to be able to deliver creativity, but also being so obsessed about having those clothes running around the streets. Marni, you know, when I started, one of the most important things was to detach from what I have lived for 10 years with another family. So, I had to kind of almost block my brain and live in a new reality with new people. Also, to start and continue to express myself more and more. The jump from Prada to Marni was not necessarily less or more creativity, but differences, many differences, in the approach. However, the beautiful thing was to grow that landscape at Marni with my own desires.
Medina: Going off that, now you’ve been at Marni for, coming up on, 10 years. I think in the past four or five years, especially, your take on Marni has become more established and is really starting to shine and be seen. What has that been like to really settle in as your own?
Risso: It’s an honor and a privilege. I think what we have there, it’s rare. I mean, my right arm can confirm it (the right arm in question being womenswear director Ileana GiannaKoura). The way we work together is a rare gem that we protect. This makes me proud because I’ve worked in many other places, and I see how the industry is actually developing, where there’s an obsession with growth and numbers. And actually, you know, it’s okay, but I think we’re all very grounded in the fact that we need to construct and develop ideas in a very instinctive way and in the most meaningful way. In the way that we have learned, in a way that we have dreamed, so we don’t want to lose that. And we are all very attached to every member of the Marni family. So that’s kind of a big strength of ours. You know, it’s not–we don’t bend to any capitalist rules. We really stick to it, and that is what makes us successful. That is what will make us grow even more. That’s what makes us bring more numbers because it’s our creativity that actually sustains it, not some other bullshit.
(Our interview was split into two sessions; our second session began with me gushing about Risso’s work, and how my own background has made his work resonate with me)
Medina: It’s pretty common, I think, to come out on the other side of that and still have, sort of, that darkness. I think especially in fashion, there’s so much of that dark beauty which I love to see. But it’s so not me, and I feel like you’re one of the only other people that has come out of a similar experience and chooses to focus on the joy and the play.
Risso: I had to learn. I had to learn all that; it took years. Because, I had a very, very, very complicated childhood, where I had escaped from my house. And I had overcome all these bad things that took me so long. Only after writing and rewriting and kind of diving into all these things, was I able to redivert all these very heavy stories about my past into almost fun and incredibly useful insights and learning moments of my life. So, I kind of liked the idea that that was transported then in the identity of what I make every day. Yeah, because that’s actually what saves me for real.
Medina: Me too. I tell people all the time if I wasn’t dressed like this and in bright colors every day, I would be a different person.
Risso: And my work! And my work. It’s my job. When I work with my people at the studio and we make–and sometimes you know, you face hard times because, again, commerce and market are demanding, the world is demanding, and it’s also a very hard world where right now, everything is happening. And it’s not easy to propel creativity in this landscape. But when I’m there, with them, and we’re making–everything goes away.
Medina: That’s so cool. I actually wanted to ask a little bit more about how you maintain that sense of lightness and play within the brand, especially in the past four years, when there’s been so much darkness in the world.
Risso: Yeah, absolutely. I think the big strength comes from the hands, Ileana, people who come with me on different journeys. It really comes from this pack, and the pack is strong. And it’s strong because we nurture it, and we try to maintain it strong. And this is what is keeping up with this energy. Every cycle is like a shared cycle together, in order to improve what we do, and express through what we do. A feeling that we’re doing something to connect people, to unify them. It’s not just for conversation.
Medina: I love that. So, SCAD obviously does have a very strong fashion design program, but we also have a pretty substantial fashion marketing program. I feel like Marni–and you talked about this a little bit yesterday–the creative side of Marni is what really brings the financial and business success. So, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about how you’ve been able to really cultivate that almost synergetic relationship between the business side and the creative.
Risso: I have to convince. I have to be–we had to be–so coherent and then so strong. And sometimes, as I said yesterday, risk it all completely. And not bending to that, or I’m thinking, “Okay, we’re all gonna lose our jobs tomorrow, fine.” You know, and after every time that we have been so strict around it, we have gained more and more. But when I say we have gained more and more, it’s not out of conflict. It’s more out of making those beliefs so powerful in the world, that the world was responding to it. So, it’s hard to set rules, you know, in a world where sometimes those sprinkles can actually come from really genuine making. And I think it’s interesting when you have people around you in your team that are also part of other structures that are affected. For example, the commercial or the marketing that then really understands the power of that. And that power is powered up as you do. But to do that, it took years to convince [the rest of the Marni team] that if we do hand paintings every day, we will become better at doing it. We will have more people be able to do that. We will have factories that can do that, that actually cost less than embroidery, and people recognize it almost as an embroidery. But obviously, our hand painting is not an everyday thing to wear. But it became for us, like a strategy. It became for us, a commercial strength, eventually, that powered up even our ethos.
Medina: I think taking those risks obviously does pay off in a lot of situations. But it can also be very intimidating, especially when it’s sort of your first time or you’re getting started.
Risso: Absolutely.
Medina: And I think it’s probably one of those things that gets easier the more you do it. But how did you instill that faith, or belief, in yourself when you were first doing that?
Risso: Well, I think I, you know, one important thing is that I do this because I love people. And I love making for people. And I love making. And in the moment that that is taken away from me, then I could do something else. So, I am very stable in that thinking. So that doesn’t move me; nothing can move me away from that. And then on the side of that, I’ve learned in the years how you can share, even with people that don’t necessarily get you at the first glance. How you can share in order for those people to understand you better and to propel your thinking. And we normally live in a world of conflicts because that’s an automatic kind of behavior, which is given by the fear of nonsuccess–the fear of not getting the numbers. It’s actually a world that is driven mostly by fear. So, I think for me, it has become like a learning curve. The thing to understand is, how can I make this and make other people understand and just have them believe in that? And sometimes I’m wrong, too. You know, and I have to reconsider everything. But those times that I had to reconsider everything, I also took it with a grain of salt knowing that could have brought an interesting challenge if I could still stick to my own thinking.
Medina: And my last question. I feel like the Marni brand has such a distinct consumer, and you’ve done a really great job of cultivating that sense of community. Especially, with the cosmos of Marni and all of the different collaborations that you do–that’s really evident. Do you have any advice for our design students on how to establish that sense of community with your consumers?
Risso: Yeah. Well, for me, it came naturally because I was never passionate about fashion that lives and dies on its own. But, I was always passionate [about] movements; there’s been things in the past that I’m still craving. Like, I don’t know, when Vivienne Westwood started her thing. And she was–literally–she was dressing the punks, and they were in the streets. And they were making the most interesting music at the time. To me, that was a social movement that was like, “Whoa.” I have idols myself that kind of delivered that into the world. So, maybe that obsession of wanting to share something, a common ground with people, maybe that became the reason why we do it as a community because it’s made to be shared. And because we share certain values, and we work together on it. And that’s the way I have brought in all these people from music, from art, and we all make it together. So, I haven’t been like, “Oh, I need to hire another fashion designer.” You know, it really has been like, “Why don’t we work with this composer, and maybe it’ll tell us something about clothes.” And actually, that has become an interesting way to spread the message within other lands. And I think each [land] should know we make clothes in order for those clothes to be pleasurable for people. And also, I think each one of us should be focused on: “Who are those people? Who are those people that we want to exalt?”
Interview by Flora Medina
Graphics by Eve Friday
Special thanks to Dirk Standen.