A magical Alghero that enchanted, inspired, and "dressed" the brightest minds of Victorian London. This is the inspiration behind the new Spring/Summer 2026 collection that Antonio Marras presented at Milan Fashion Week.
The spotlight is on Giuseppe Ignazio Loi, a lifelong shepherd, a few months' actor, and a day's model. The protagonist of Riccardo Milani's film "Life Goes This Way"—which tells the true story of Ovidio Marras, the shepherd who for decades refused to sell his land to a powerful real estate group—becomes an "ambassador of beauty," representing the Sardinian charm that captivated the English intellectuals of the Bloomsbury Circle, a "society" that would produce works that influenced literature, criticism, and economics.
Cultural and aesthetic fusion, art, identity, and the ability to erase prejudices against foreigners are the ingredients of the show that the Alghero-born designer staged in the Italian fashion capital. At the center of it all is Sardinia, a crossroads of distant cultures where sensations, dreams, and fragments of thought find a home. Marras, with the imagination that is his stylistic hallmark, saw the arrival in Alghero of figures of the caliber of writers Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda von Richthofen, as well as New Zealander Katherine Mansfield, one of the most influential authors of the modernist movement.
It matters little that DH Lawrence, the brilliant author of "Lady Chatterley's Lover", had been in Sardinia (where he wrote "Sea and Sardinia") for nine days in 1921 with his wife but without visiting Alghero: "We," says Marras, "wanted to make up for this shortcoming with our imagination, inviting not only them but the entire Bloomsbury Circle, certainly capable of appreciating a magical place like Alghero."
<p>The Antonio Marras fashion show (photo courtesy of Daniele Oberrauch / Gorunway.com)</p>The Catalan city presents itself as the perfect place to transcend the labels imposed by Victorian society of the time and foster a profound nonconformism. The setting is a "literary" salt flat, filled with books, where those arriving, those staying, those staying, and those leaving parade. Alongside grand Hollywood diva robes à la Gloria Swanson, men's suits and grand soirée dresses, cocktail dresses and pajama sets, stand out original pieces of traditional Sardinian costumes, "too beautiful to be revisited, too important not to be shared. Because beauty belongs to everyone and everyone should benefit from it," explains Marras.
The colors are subdued: lilac, cadmium, pink, gold, ecri, violet, chocolate, plum, cream, powder, sand, bronze, and even faded black. Fabrics include checks, jacquard stripes, damask, lace, plaid, faux fur, polka dots, pinstripes, Prince of Wales checks, geometric patterns, pops of rose, and faded tapestries. Flowers and bouquets are everywhere, but there's no shortage of ruffles, drapes, pleats, and moulage, inlays, and patches. A grand mélange "to break the rules of much-hated etiquette, blend different traditions, and create a unique style."