Francesco Risso Leaves the Creative Direction of Marni

After nearly a decade of transformation, Francesco Risso is stepping down as creative director of Marni, marking the end of a bold and emotionally charged era for the Italian fashion house. Since taking over from Consuelo Castiglioni in 2016, Risso has led Marni through a period of reinvention, pushing the brand into a realm of maximalist expression, artistic risk-taking, and experimental collaborations that resonated with a new wave of creative youth.

Under his leadership, Marni became a kind of conceptual playground, shedding its minimalist roots in favor of a raw, unfiltered aesthetic that celebrated individuality and emotionally-driven design. Risso reimagined the label as a living laboratory, where fashion could be both tactile and theatrical, deeply intimate yet fearlessly avant-garde.

His exit comes amid a wider shake-up within the OTB group, which has recently seen Glenn Martens take over at Maison Margiela, and Simone Bellotti step in at Jil Sander, following the exit of Lucie and Luke Meier. While the fashion world speculates about Risso’s potential successor, with whispers of names like Virginie Viard and Martine Rose, Marni stands at a crossroads — poised between its rich past and an uncertain, but undeniably intriguing, future.