
Francesco Risso.Photo: Nacho Alegre, Vogue, June 2017
Francesco Risso is to exit Marni after almost 10 years as creative director. The news was shared with Vogue Business this morning by OTB, Marni’s parent company.
Risso, who was born on a sailing boat, was appointed captain of the house at a high-stakes moment back in 2016. Despite his initial inexperience as a creative lead, he navigated a fierce initial squall of negative criticism to successfully steer one of Italian fashion’s most quixotically creative labels into a new phase of cultural relevance and success.
Renzo Rosso, chair of OTB Group, who promoted Risso to the top job at Marni, said: “Francesco has embraced the spirit and the values of the house, and together with the team brought them to new grounds, building the foundations for a new and exciting chapter of Marni. Francesco is a unique designer and an artist at heart, and I wish him only the best for the future.”
Risso said: “I will always be grateful to Renzo for believing in me, for giving me the front seat on a journey that became more than I could have imagined. Marni has been a studio, a stage, a dream. It carried color, instinct, care, and gave space for people to be themselves. It taught me how to build with feeling and how powerful true collaboration can be. Thank you to the whole Marni team, and to all the friends who joined along the way, and here’s to more extraordinary journeys ahead!”
Risso’s successor was not revealed by OTB. Whenever that appointment is made, it will complete a triple-pronged creative refresh within the group following Simone Bellotti’s introduction at Jil Sander, and Glenn Martens’s new role leading Maison Margiela alongside his existing creative directorship of OTB’s chief economic driver, Diesel.
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