The most significant accessory for a woman is undoubtedly her safety, that happy awareness of her own femininity that illuminates the body beyond any possible physical convention, transfiguring appearances and highlighting a rich and special beauty that is the sum of charm, charisma, personality. Get out of the established canons to finally be fully themselves, unique and unrepeatable: this is the dogma that has always animated Marina Rinaldi’s design. Lynne Webber, Managing Brand Director, traces the path of a brand that raises the banner of Italian excellence in the world, becoming an unwavering spokesperson for a fashion revolution that draws the soft lines of a woman, mistress of the future, with style and class.
Marina Rinaldi was born in 1980, dedicated to the great-grandmother of the founder Achille Maramotti. Those were the years in which fashion did take much interest in the comfortable sizes: so is the brand a tribute to the past, but ushering in a revolutionary look?
Marina Rinaldi was born from a happy, simple intuition: all women love fashion, all women deserve to dress with elegance and quality, but this is not always possible for all. In 1980 fashion ignored women, who in 2017 are commonly referred to as curvy, and who in many countries represent a significant majority of the female universe.
With great foresight, Achille Maramotti applied Max Mara’s know how to this slice of the market, transporting the identifying elements – tailoring, quality, desirability – into a new and unexplored dimension. The brand bases its philosophy on the idea of a woman whose physicality is her strong point.
Fashion is not a factor of size: how did you manage to convey this message, both in communication and in your way of making clothes?
We build our collections on the basis of a precise modeling, starting from a size 50, but gives the Marina Rinaldi garments a perfect fit on more sinuous silhouettes.
In terms of communication, however, especially in recent years, we have chosen to rely on both image and words to clearly express the brand’s mission. The face of beautiful and confident testimonials, able to transform their so-called weaknesses into seductive ingredients – such as Patricia Arquette, Alessandra Garcia or, for three seasons, top model and influencer Ashley Graham – combined with claim and hashtag as “women are back” or #womenarethefuture gave our institutional campaigns a particular impact.
What does diversity mean for the Marina Rinaldi brand?
It is above all a value, as an expression of individuality and authenticity. In the last few years your typical clientele has changed, becoming more transversal.
Is it an evolution of the brand or a cultural change that has affected the woman?
The company is certainly going through a change to which MR responds promptly, having, in a certain sense, anticipated the times.
Despite deeply-rooted stereotypes about women that persist, today women are freer to express themselves and be themselves, also in terms of physicality: an
attitude of respect, acceptance and love for one’s body is now much more widespread than in the past, even among the new generation.
Hence, in part, MR’s choice is to turn to younger consumers, expanding their offer and communicating with them in their own language.
