An appointment with Antonio Marras is always a delight, as are the designer, his wife, Patricia, and the clothes. Perhaps their son, Efisio, who just graduated from Parsons Paris School of Art & Design and helps out with appointments in New York, summed up the collection’s charm best: “When lots of things are happening at the same time and same place, it’s interesting.”
Efisio was describing the collage of fabrics in, for example, a navy and white tunic that combined a flared panel of fine pleats, lace, stripes and embroidered polka dots. “Simple shapes become elaborate in embroidered fabrics,” noted his father, as he paired a hacking jacket in a Prince of Wales plaid featuring hand-embroidered embellishments with Nineties-style full pants, detailed with an asymmetric swath of fabric across the front.
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The collection was conceived as a celebration of Peggy Guggenheim, after the couple visited her museum in Venice and was reminded of her love of clothes and jewelry. More amusing than formal — as was Guggenheim — were charming organza cardigans and T-shirts beaded with Venetian scenes. And, although Marras mixed bold floral prints, colors, embroideries and fabrics — silk, linen, satin, lace, stretch, patchwork and transparencies — he also showed restraint. Elegant, Sixties-inspired coats over matching sheaths or A-line dresses were shown in beautifully hand-embroidered brocades and silk jacquards in pink and lime yellow as well as raffia in black and white. Fanciful, yes, but the luxurious fabrics and workmanship make it abundantly clear that Marras’ overriding intention is to make beautiful clothes.