Marni's man isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. Or at least, he's not afraid to look like he does. Inspired by functional workwear, this season's collection took elements of a workman's uniform and transformed them into something the cool Marni guy can throw on any day of the week. One curious subtext in Milan was the name-checking of Wall Street-style corporate sharks as style inspirations, but designer Consuelo Castiglioni looked to their exact opposite : the salt-of-the-earth blue-collar joes. These were clothes at their most utilitarian, cut from heavy and hard-wearing fabrics like gab, felt, fleece, and a cotton/nylon blend. It was a good season for Marni to launch a denim line. The fabric was originally created for just such a worker's jacket and generously cut jeans. The workwear inspirations were clear, yet not overt : mostly evident in the sturdiness of the fabrics and the functional nature of the pieces. As always Marni menswear straddles the space between formal and informal, taking elements from one and injecting them into the other -never too much of either, always with an underlying nonchalance. For this season, it meant the little details count : shirttail lining peeping out from the bottom of a coat, ribbed wool inserts on a cropped jacket, subdued prints made for layering, corduroy pants cut at a different direction from the knee, creating a sheen-like contrast. And the must-have centrepiece of the workwear aesthetics ? A pair of slouchy overalls -a cool, modern interpretation of the boiler suit that deceptively looks like a jacket-and-pants combo from the front, but was undeniably a one-piece from the back. Plain dark navy shirts were sweetened up with tone-on-tone prints : flowers, hearts, polka dots. A multi-pocketed jacket in washed leather was given extra movement with wool ribbing. And there was a sizzling jolt of red -which is rapidly emerging as the season's favorite accent— in a mohair crewneck. Solid shoes looked fit for the factory floor. Besides, there were astrakhan hats and scarves, and a collaboration with Borsalino yielded some dandy trilbies. It was surely the directness of the inspiration that made this one of the strongest Marni men's outings in a while, and the collection was scarcely all work and no play. Good news : Marni has just designed a colorful mini-collection for H&M that will be sold on March 8, 2012.
