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Simona Marziali’s ultra-chic collection for MRZ passes the test
Italian designer Simona Marziali is no rookie. Yet, she struggled to hide her emotion as her first Milanese catwalk show drew to a close. The slender silhouettes of Marziali’s minimalist-chic tennis player looks, with an emphasis on her speciality, knitwear, were an instant success with the audience, which warmly applauded her on Wednesday.
Black and white are the predominant colours in MRZ’s Spring/Summer 2020 collection, featured in striped motifs, contrasting types of fabric and weaves of black and white thread. The models, their long hair gathered beneath a headband, sauntered elegantly down the runway, wearing uber-long, flared knitted trousers or loose knitwear dresses.
Marziali has given an inventive twist to layering. A black bra with long twirling ribbons slips over a white dress, and vice versa. Knitted tops trimmed with stripes open at the sides, their sleeves draped over an ample white shirt, or are gathered at the waist like a sarong. A sleeveless jacquard sweater is worn simply poised over the shoulders, its sides wide open. T-shirts stretch out into extensive fringes of various lengths.
Marziali excelled in the creation of superb openwork dresses with lace-like patterns. Another model, knitted in a broad mesh, looks like a net in which the body is caught and can be glimpsed. Some tops are woven like carpets.
“The collection was inspired by Berber culture, following a fascinating journey I made to Morocco,” said Marziali, talking to FashionNetwork.com backstage. Her favourite moment in a collection’s development is “when the machine delivers the result of my creative work. The knit isn’t a fabric, it’s matter being transformed,” she said.
Marziali, 41, hails from Fermo, in Italy's Marche region, and has been working for 20 years in the world of fashion, her enduring passion. She graduated from the Accademia di Alta Moda e del Costume Koefia in Rome, then specialised in knitwear, with a master’s course in Florence, before plunging headlong into fashion. Marziali notably spent 11 years at Iceberg, and collaborated with Diesel and Max Mara, while also working for her family's knitwear manufacturing company Tomas, with her parents.
In 2012, backed by her family, which takes care of production, Marziali launched her own women’s ready-to-wear label MRZ, targeting “independent, dynamic women who are attracted by all things contemporary and direct,” with an urban style that blends couture and sophisticated sportswear.
She quickly caught the industry’s eye, and in 2018 she won the ‘Who Is On Next’ emerging designer competition sponsored by Vogue Italie and Altaroma. Since 2016, MRZ is distributed by Tomorrow Ltd, and has 180 multibrand clients across Asia and Russia, while in Paris the label is available at Le Bon Marché.
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