Sophomore collections are hard to do, maybe even harder than the first collection a designer gets to present for a house that isn’t their own. In the case of Belgian Meryll Rogge, her first show was a complete Marni U-turn, bypassing nearly ten years of Francesco Risso’s creative madness — or genius, depending on who you ask. There was a lot of OG Marni, with some influences from her namesake label thrown in. So now, for Rogge’s second collection, we would have hoped for a clearer message on who she declares the Marni woman to be after her deep dive into the archive. More intriguingly, we were keen to see who the Marni woman, finally again designed by a woman in 2026, is. The answer? We’re still looking for it. What we can say for now is: She looks good, she’s quirky, she prefers a rather straight, column-like silhouette and is not afraid of an almost unflattering hemline placement or atypical proportions. Oh, and she has a knack for eclectic print mixes — duh.

Same goes for the Marni man, with an even more heightened Marni sensibility: captivating layering, as in super-tight leggings cut off mid-shin and worn under roomy capri shorts or boxer shorts. There was also the knitwear that seemed to dissolve towards the back, essentially becoming halter necks for men, which were an eye-catcher, while the sportswear-meets-tailoring looks added a sense of mystery to the whole lineup of who these Marni men could be.

What seeped through now, the second time around, was more playfulness. But not in the obvious, vibrant, colorful, fuzzy or embellished way one might expect from Marni, not to say it wasn’t there. But instead, it came through as a sophisticated and subtly sarcastic sexiness: a Mary Quant silhouette translated into all kinds of column dresses with peephole cleavage details, or made from sturdy leather during the show finale. Those kinky knee-high sneaker-boot mashups with a bondage edge, and lots of bra details and brassière outlines on women’s tops and dresses, all communicated Rogge’s arrival. However, all this subtle perversion is still the type of intelligent sexy we’re normally only used to from the other five-letter Italian brand — and suddenly, the similarities become hard to ignore.