Pitti Uomo: Guest designer Marine Serre sets an example for solidarity

For her SS25 menswear collection, Marine Serre shifted her focus from the realm of Paris to Florence. As the guest designer of the menswear trade show Pitti Uomo, she showed outside of the French capital for the first time where, in addition to menswear, womenswear was also on display.

Serre brought around 50 looks, which she presented on Wednesday evening in the magnificent garden of the Villa Di Maiano, a former Renaissance-style manor house. As is typical for the designer, there was a clear focus on tailoring and upcycling. Workwear fabrics, for example, descended from reused looks of German companies. The logo of the Schlüter bakery could be discovered as a motif in the back of a jacket, while the Bonn newspaper General-Anzeiger appeared on a trench coat. A dress and a jacket, meanwhile, found their origin in old backpacks from the outdoor sector and tennis wear.

Experimenting with silhouettes and shapes played an important role throughout, with tight-fitting pieces taking on new forms through added elements at the hip or even in the lower part of a dress. Padded shoulders were further seen on jackets. For the first time, a kind of airbrush technique was also used, with which Serre multiplied her crescent moon logo on red and brown leather jackets and coats. The designer noted the she did not have a specific type of man in mind for whom she designed in menswear, it was more the energy of the people she has met that inspired her.

Inspiring location

The designer was also inspired by the location, which reminded her of the mafia film 'The Godfather'. Speaking in a press conference, Serre explained: "When I first visited this place, I was overwhelmed and I knew I couldn't just do ready-to-wear." This feeling lasted until the day of the show, so much so that she finished a piece on site the day prior. However, preparation and creation as a whole is also easier for her if she already knows the location, Serre added.

As such, in the last part of the show, the designer began to stray from the confines of prêt-à-porter, exhibiting entirely white looks symbolising peace before closing the event with a slip dress, on which messages such as "Radical call for Love" were adorned over a long train. Overall, the collection 'Sempre Legati' (in Italian: Always bound) symbolically stood for cohesion.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.DE. Translation and edit by: Rachel Douglass.