Puffer genius Dingyun Zhang is woefully underrepresented in fashion, having only dished a handful of crossover collaborations in the past several years, so whenever he gets another opportunity to serve a high-powered team-up, my ears perk up. Or puff up, in his case.
And there may be no better partner for Zhang's mastery than Marni, the uber-whimsical Italian luxury label known for extreme color clash and pattern interplay. The world of Marni is fun, fun, fun, and Dingyun Zhang's power puffers are a perfect match.
The collaboration was quietly revealed earlier this year via Marnis' Fall/Winter 2023 presentation in Tokyo but it's rolling out just ahead of cooler weather with a suitably star-studded campaign. Hello, Quavo!
Available on Marni's website and select flagship stores for $1,450 to $3,800 apiece, the Dingyun Zhang x Marni collection is everything that makes both partners so great, distilled to five sublime statement pieces.
There are several cocooning down jackets with enormous collars, a surreal polka-dotted puffer sweater hand-knitted from a mohair blend, and it's older brother, a giant knitted coat that looks like a down jacket designed for the world of Alice in Wonderland.
Dingyun Zhang, a YEEZY alum, has carved out a niche offering ingenious garments that explode puffer jacket tenets to XXXXL proportions, yielding warped, blown-out torsos and head-swallowing hoods. Zhang has created clothes for former boss Kanye "Ye" West, who only just tapped Marni creative director Francesco Risso for a custom London Fashion Week look, so there's a connection right there.
Not that there needs to be any further justification to bring together a puffer pioneer and the luxury label most synonymous with exuberant, all-out whimsy. Really, it's a match made in Peter-Max-meets-Lewis-Carroll heaven.
