Marchesa Notte (Q3288)
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Marchesa Notte is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Marchesa Notte |
Marchesa Notte is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Marchesa Notte’s mood board was tacked with paintings by botanical artist Margaret Mee, but the Notte customer—a woman who lives all over the world, from Florida to the Middle East—isn’t looking for just florals anymore. There were a surprising number of solid-color gowns on the fall 2020 rails, from a curve-hugging amethyst velvet number to a full-skirted turquoise gown more reminiscent of Marchesa’s couture codes. On the whole, the Notte girl wants a few cleaner, sleeker options in her arsenal. One of the best looks was in this simpler group: a V-neck bias-cut gown in raspberry crepe, with a twisted bodice and dramatic panels falling from each shoulder, like a more modern take on a cape.It’s hard to imagine a Marchesa collection without a few flowers, of course. The team’s inspiration led them to sketchier, freer-feeling rainforest motifs, spun into sequins on a few evening gowns or printed on the label’s chiffon and silk day dresses. On that note, the daywear—a newer category for Notte—felt stronger and more elevated than past showings, the standout being a long-sleeved emerald gown in a graphic leaf-printed chiffon.
26 February 2020
When a brand’s aesthetic is rooted in florals and romance, there’s no limit to the artists and artworks to reference. For Spring 2020, Georgina Chapman and her team at Marchesa Notte discovered 18th-century painter François-Hubert Drouais, known mostly for his portraits of Louis XV and other members of the royal family. It was his softer, more Rococo-style paintings that inspired this collection, though, namely the ones depicting gardens, opulent interiors, or well-dressed women. Pinned to the mood board was a printout ofPortrait of an Elegant Lady, in which a smiling woman (thought to be dancer and comedienne Marie Justine Benoîte Duronceray) is playing the harpsichord. The ruffles, ruching, and lace in her dress are intricately detailed, and the muted pale blue was lifted into the collection’s palette of dusty lavender, blush, and sapphire.That’s all familiar territory chez Marchesa, as was Drouais’s penchant for gardens. The difference in the blooms here was that they felt a bit more natural—especially the finale gown, a sheer beige “naked dress” with a tumble of 3D roses piled up at the hem—and there were new experiments in transparency. Dresses printed with hand-painted florals came with tulle overlays in the same motif, just scaled up for added depth. On the opening dress—a pink floral strapless style with smocked tulle around the skirt—the effect was of lightness and whimsy, much like one of those sweet, utterly feminine Rococo paintings.
27 September 2019
For both their Marchesa couture and “little sister” Marchesa Notte lines, Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig tend to design around a particular theme. Past collections have riffed on concepts as disparate as 17th-century Dutch oil paintings, Antoni Gaudí’s architecture, and the legend of Scheherazade inOne Thousand and One Nights. In comparison, their inspiration for Resort 2020 was utterly personal: One of the young designers on their team hails from Ireland and shared stories about growing up around its fairytale-like forests and streams, and those came to inform the deep, moody color palette and bits of shine. The label’s signature floral embroideries mostly appeared against black lace or chiffon, and the team experimented with prints on two glossy black satin dresses covered in white blooms. The effect was of stumbling upon a garden at twilight, and the fluid silhouettes were apparently a hit with buyers. Those dresses nudged Notte into daywear just slightly, lending themselves to being styled with stilettos or flat sandals alike.More literal takes on the enchanted-forest motif included a shirred A-line gown printed with a swirling watercolor to mimic a rushing stream, while other looks seemed to ignore the theme altogether, namely the caftans. One standout came in a luminous pleated champagne lamé with floor-length sleeves; another was bright marigold and trimmed with gobstopper pearls and crystals. Much like Marchesa’s couture collections, Notte is particularly popular among women in the Middle East, where caftans are a classic choice for weddings and black-tie events. That loose, unfussy silhouette is worth considering no matter where you are in the world, though, and it’s been influencing designers high and low for a few seasons. (Look no further than Pierpaolo Piccioli’s billowing Valentino caftans—and the legions of copycats they’ve inspired—for proof.)
2 July 2019
There was a heavy coffee table book of Christopher Beane’s flower photography on display in Marchesa Notte’s showroom. Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig’s collections are never without flowers, whether it’s their main Marchesa line or Notte, the “little sister” label, but this season they were inspired by Beane’s graphic, super-zoomed-in photos of them. One of his images reveals every tiny ruffle of an iris petal, for instance; in others, the flowers become so abstract, they start to look like something else entirely.The concept inspired the precise, XXL embroidered flowers on a few A-line gowns as well as the softer, less literal watercolor print on a gleaming satin number. Beane’s ability to create texture in his photos informed the abundance of swirling, tightly pleated rosettes seen on a lagoon-blue party dress and a two-tiered crimson gown, which had major red carpet potential (though you’re more likely to see Marchesa couture at the Oscars next weekend).In recent seasons, glittering pleated Lurex dresses became something of a Notte signature and lent themselves especially well to young women shopping for weddings or prom. For fall, Chapman and Craig took a slightly more refined approach to shine: There were silver floral column gowns in embossed silk, a few simple cocktail dresses with star-dusted tulle overlays, and a standout burgundy frock with splashes of rose-gold. They felt considerably more grown-up than their Lurex cousins and will appeal to women who love a bit of shimmer at any age.
20 February 2019
At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking Olga Suvorova’s paintings were from the distant past. But the Russian artist didn’t work in the 17th century—she was born in 1966! Still, her oil paintings are a little Baroque, often depicting men and women dressed in intricate ball gowns and period costumes in opulent surroundings. What makes them modern is her use of color: bright, ultra-saturated, and expressive, with shades of turquoise and coral mixed in a way you’d never see in centuries-old art.Still, even the art buffs out there likely haven’t heard of Suvorova. Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig stumbled upon her work and drew from its rich palette for their Notte Pre-Fall collection. The lookbook even mirrors a Suvorova painting, in a way, with its enormous floral bouquets and enchanted-forest backdrop.As for the cocktail dresses and tiered gowns, Chapman and Craig swirled painterly blooms onto burnout chiffon, jacquards, and velvet. Several dresses combined multiple florals, like the opening look, a pleated halter gown in an unlikely mix of saffron and violet, while others were finished with 3-D embroideries and velvet ribbons. Other simpler, vaguely balletic dresses came in tropical yellow and coral florals shot through with tons of sparkling Lurex. They’ll be popular with young women shopping for prom or wedding season—cue the Kirakira filter!
4 January 2019
Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig took both of their Marchesa collections—the couture line and its little sister, Notte—out of the photo studio this season for the first time. They shot the dresses on the grounds of a massive estate surrounded by a lush, seemingly endless forest, so the photos look like they’ve been plucked from a fairy tale. While Marchesa’s couture gowns were mostly captured among the massive, ivy-covered trees, the Notte lineup was photographed against the ornate stone walls, marble pillars, and crumbling mosaics of the estate—perhaps to balance out the sweetness of the dresses. Watercolor florals, ruffled sleeves, giant bows, and ornate embroideries lent a youthful tone to the Notte collection, particularly the dresses in soft candy shades.It made sense to see the clothes in a natural setting, given Chapman and Craig’s loose inspiration: “serene, blooming meadows” and overgrown gardens. A few dresses had an “overgrown” sensibility in that they were whipped up in printed organza, then embroidered with floral motifs, then covered in beading for a dense, 3-D effect. The printed silk dresses will be a bit more wallet-friendly and came with new, antique-y touches like velvet ribbons and ruched bustles. The deco-pleated looks should be popular, too: A blush A-line gown with cascading pleats could pass for vaguely alternative bridal, while the girl who already has a dozen weddings and parties on her spring calendar should bookmark the lilac pleated-organza cocktail dress.
14 September 2018
Scarlett Johansson worked with Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig for her “Heavenly Bodies” Met Gala dress this year. The duo created a custom wine-colored ombré tulle gown with hand-curled roses, and while it nodded subtly to the theme—the deep color was reflected in the religious art lining the galleries, and there were 80,000 red roses in the Great Hall—it certainly wasn’t the most avant-garde look of the night. But it didn’t really need to be; you knew it was Marchesa right away, because it was ethereal yet bold and unmistakably glamorous.Still, the experience may have inspired Chapman and Craig to dive a bit deeper into the world of religious art and imagery; their Marchesa Notte Resort lineup borrowed directly from Antoni Gaudí’s towering, richly decorated La Sagrada Família church in Barcelona. At times, it came through in surprisingly literal ways: The geometric lace pattern on a cherry-red midi dress was inspired by the cathedral’s stained-glass windows, for instance, and a tiered gown in stark black-and-white broderie anglaise (a low-key fabric seen in Marchesa’s main line as well) mirrored the basilica’s dizzyingly ornate facade. As for the women who loved Johansson’s ombré Met Gala gown, they’ll be drawn to the number in similar crimson-to-blush tulle with a sprinkling of floral embroidery at the waist.
28 June 2018
The stories at Marchesa and Marchesa Notte, the brand’s accessibly priced little sister label, typically overlap. In past seasons, Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig have looked to Imperial China for both collections, whipping up tasseled and embroidered couture gowns and gilded Notte cocktail frocks. More recently, they riffed on the work of Tony Duquette for both lineups, but Fall 2018 found the two labels diverging. While Marchesa proper drew on 17th-century Dutch oil paintings, Notte took its cues from the legend of Scheherazade inOne Thousand and One Nights.For the uninitiated, it goes something like this: An ancient Persian king discovers that his wife was unfaithful to him, so he sets out to marry a new woman every day—and behead the previous day’s wife, so they have no chance to be unfaithful. He then meets Scheherazade, who tricks the king into extending her life night after night by telling him exciting stories that last until the following morning. By the end of 1,001 nights, he has fallen in love and made her his queen.Marchesa has clients all over the world, including the Middle East, where this story might resonate the most. In Chapman and Craig’s hands, the desert sky became watercolor silks in sapphire, berry, and turquoise, spun into dresses with ornate flowers and feathers. There was a lot of velvet, too, a traditionally regal fabric that’s enjoyed commercial success in recent years. A shimmering navy burnout velvet gown with flutter sleeves was a timeless standout.Inspiration aside, the Notte shopper will be spoiled for choice—and will likely make a beeline for those midi dresses with dramatic 3-D petals, which felt of a piece with the red carpet gowns over in the couture showroom.
16 February 2018
If you’ve never been to Bergamo, Italy, Marchesa Notte’s pre-fall collection might give you an idea of the landscape. There’s bougainvillea everywhere in the countryside, so Georgina Chapman’s team printed the bloom on lace dresses and used its bright pink hue for a sleek, solid-colored long-sleeved gown. Elsewhere, Bergamo’s lush roses became a bit otherworldly rendered in bright blues and purples, while ombré sequined dresses in emerald, sapphire, and lapis evoked the medieval city’s night sky.The Notte customer likely won’t register any of that, of course; a collection’s inspiration is rarely communicated on the sales floor. What she’ll be drawn to are the cleaner, simpler silhouettes, like a sculptural LBD with a built-in jeweled bralette and a black slipdress printed with giant roses. Notte fans will also be surprised to find so many casual pieces; pre-fall marks the label’s expansion into daywear, following Marchesa couture’s debut of the category for pre-fall 2019. Women who love florals but rarely need a sequined dress or lamé gown will appreciate the wear-anywhere cotton shirtdresses, particularly the one with flared sleeves and a vibrant, multicolored botanical print.
20 December 2019
The racks overflowed at Marchesa Notte’s studio this afternoon. Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig showed a dazzling surfeit of gowns and dresses in shocking pinks, blues, and emerald greens. It was like walking into a psychedelic fairy-tale dreamland, one filled with tutus and lots of sparkle. This is what the designers do best, not only with their red carpet–favorite main line, but also with the more affordable Notte. In fact, the majority of the designs for Notte were based on couture eveningwear from the runways. There’s never any real separate inspiration story for the Notte collections, but they sure are fun to see and probably, thanks to big ball skirts and tiered fringing, fun to wear as well.Aside from the signature embellished pieces for Spring, the blush pink tulle dress with a low V-neck was particularly striking, as was a baby blue and pink gown with ruffled sleeves. 3-D flower embroidery decorated much of the collection, and it might be nice to see Chapman and Craig take a breather from that technique to focus on softer, more delicate details like their tiny pearl adornments or their draped silhouettes. But the customer wants what the customer wants, and these women know she’s always right.
21 September 2017
Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig may be dreamers when it comes to their Marchesa main line, but at the end of the day, they’re business women. They created a range of caftans for their Middle Eastern clientele, dresses with short capes for modest women who invest in their clothes, a slew of bags and shoes, and a more affordable, approachable collection for a customer who may not have the means to purchase a red carpet–worthy custom gown. Behind all of the crystals and layers of tulle, there’s a Marchesa piece for every woman.Nowhere is this savvy more apparent than in the Notte line, and this season, it’s a clear extension of their main line. Inspired by interiors icon Tony Duquette, Notte Resort offers eye-popping colors and intricate embroideries. Storybook motifs and leopard decorate most of the organza and guipure low-V-neck gowns. There are nice cocktail dresses too, detailed with multi-colored 3-D floral embroideries and small velvet bows at the waist. Like the couture, this was beautifully crafted and thoughtful—here, though, in both design and mass appeal.
15 June 2017
It was a busy morning at the Marchesa studio. Two shoots were happening, visitors were arriving for appointments, and the team was readying for Oscar madness in a couple of weeks. Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig came rushing in to present their Fall collection for Notte, exasperated but genuinely excited about this season’s offering.As they did for their core label, the designers said that they drew their inspiration from the bold colors and ornate embellishments of Imperial China. While some pieces, like a crimson floral jacquard minidress with bell sleeves, nodded to the Far East, the majority of the lineup didn’t totally mesh with the reference. However, Notte’s offering for Fall was diverse, covetable, and beautifully made for its not-so-high price tags. The dotted tulle gown with cold-shoulder bishop sleeves was particularly striking, as was the gold and black metallic brocade gown with organza and a fluttered hem.Chapman and Craig know how to please their embellishment-loving customer, and they seem to have done it again. In short, it was another strong and romantic collection for this successful secondary line.
25 February 2017
There’s nothing second tier about Marchesa’s sibling line Marchesa Notte. While there may be a lower price tag attached, the brand’s dedication to scene-stealing flourishes is still represented in these party girl pieces. Designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig really ran with the idea of all-night-dancing attire for Pre-Fall, showing shoulder cut-outs, mini dresses with 3-D embellishments, high slits, and body-hugging dresses with lingerie-inspired corsets. One can imagine the fun of twirling around in the emerald green number adorned with fringe and a baroque-style sequined bodice. For more formal events, Chapman and Craig peppered the collection with their all-too-familiar, drama-filled gowns boasting guipure lace, pleated tulle, and one particularly covetable creation featuring silver embroidered stars throughout.Pre-Fall ’17 stayed true to the Marchesa Notte norm—still pretty, still attainable, and still made with a noteworthy attention to detail.
13 December 2016
Between the see-now-buy-now shows, supersize celebrity fashion events, and more Instagram and Snapchat stories than you can count, this season has revolved around creating excitement for the customer.Georgina ChapmanandKeren Craighave been doing that in their own way since 2007, when they launched Marchesa Notte, their “little sister” label that packs all the drama ofMarchesaproper with a friendlier price point. (Notte often retails for less than $1,000.)Instead of designing two wildly different collections, Chapman and Craig draw through-lines between the two offerings. While Notte’s silhouettes tend to be more conventional—think A-line, fit-and-flare, and high-low (which didn’t feel too fresh this time around)—this outing had the same sunset color palette, petal appliqués, and iridescent shimmer as the gowns we saw at New York Fashion Week earlier this month. The embroidered, body-skimming gowns resonated the most, like a peachy, short-sleeved column stitched with birds and vines. Another standout was surprisingly minimal: a bright, citron-color high-neck gown with modest cut-outs. That highlighter color is trending on the Spring runways, and we’re betting it out-performs the fluff and frippery elsewhere in Notte’s lineup.
29 September 2016
For some, Slim Aarons, 1960s chronicler of the jet set, is synonymous with a sophisticated take on vacation dressing. There are certain colors that seem to occur only in Aarons’s poolside photographs from Palm Springs, the South of France, and Capri: richly warm oranges, quixotic blues, perfectly tanned skin, crisp optic white. When it comes to looking for inspiration for Resort (a jet-set–minded season), you could do a whole lot worse than Aarons, or his old stomping grounds of Palm Springs. Only, forMarchesa Notte’sKeren CraigandGeorgina Chapman, this meant less of Babe Paley and C.Z. Guest, and more of the scantily clad party-ready youths who descend on the Coachella Valley for the music festival. Coachella is where Chapman recently celebrated her birthday and is, when you think about it, likely much more representative of a glamorous getaway for the Snapchat generation than hanging out poolside an hour or so away.And so when it came to the clothes, that free spirit became two different tea-length frocks swarmed with butterfly appliqués, a confusing acid-toned take on animal print, unduly romantic diamanté netting reminiscent of swoon-worthy Valentino a few seasons back, sheer T-shirt dresses with modesty-protecting embroidery, and fluffy floral numbers in soft balletic tones of ivory and pink. There were cascading hems and mermaid skirts and metallic lace, illusion net backs and lots of tulle, and one very winning white column gown with a high slit and embroidered neck. While it’s unlikely that these frocks will replace a favored pair of jean shorts and a crop top in a desert valley anytime soon, for the right girl, they will certainly provide the escapism inherent to the season—and a new party dress.
9 June 2016
A return to nature was the theme at Marchesa Notte this season, mirroring the lush, three-dimensional florals on the runway atMarchesaproper just a few days ago. For Notte, also known as Marchesa’s “little sister” label, designersGeorgina ChapmanandKeren Craigenvisioned their girl strolling through London’s royal Kew Gardens—the largest collection of living plants in the world—and plucked inspiration from the butterflies, greenery, sunsets, and, of course, the gorgeous flowers.The ethereal inspiration gave the designers an excuse to go all-out with embroideries and embellishments, from sheer tulle gowns covered in hand-stitched blooms to party dresses with full, draped skirts that looked like giant flower petals. New to the lineup were pops of metallics, like a carnation pink gown with streaks of gold, and a few slim, swishy column gowns with rows of fringe. Chapman and Craig could have done without the stretchy, body-conscious cocktail frocks, though; they didn’t feel particularly modern or elevated. The more successful dresses were the ones with a little less structure and a lot more charm.
20 February 2016
Marchesa Notte has always been the more approachable offshoot ofKeren CraigandGeorgina Chapman’s growing Marchesa empire: Not a daughter or a distant cousin, they assert, but more of a sister—cocktail frocks are sold for around $800, gowns for a little north of $1,000. For Pre-Fall, they looked to their roots, and then further back, to the roots of the planet, specifically as illustrated in one of the most prized natural history books of all time, Albertus Seba’sCabinet of Natural Curiosities. Coral patterns and floral embroideries sprawled across bodices in gold and peppy shades of fuchsia and lime green, blush, and black. Cocktail frocks frilled out into A-line silhouettes, and gowns stayed lean and long with illusion necklines (as well as the occasional midriff-baring panel) and embroidered accents to draw the eye up to the décolletage, the face, and, presumably, the Marchesa jewelry. Skirts were often slit and gathered above the hip to show a flash of leg—“We love that,” said Chapman—and while some of the shorter cocktail dresses felt dated, there was a lot here for a sister to love.
16 December 2015
As any department store shopper can attest, the biggest problem with designers’ lower-priced labels is that many fail to capture the magic you see on the runway of their main line. For Marchesa Notte, the sister collection ofMarchesa, that usually isn't the case.Georgina ChapmanandKeren Craiglaunched Notte back in 2007 to give their couture customers slightly less-fantastical options for garden parties, weddings, and other non–red carpet affairs. With a more approachable price point to match—dresses range from $800 to $1,000—Notte has also become a go-to for high school proms. Girls who are still dreaming about the bird-inspired, Jordan almond–colored fairy-tale gowns that hit the Marchesa runway a few days ago will delight in the fact that Notte pulled inspiration from the same places.The big difference was in the silhouettes, which were just a bit simpler. They lent themselves equally well to Marchesa proper’s rose gold embroideries, petal appliqués, and tasteful cutouts. An added bonus: Most of these dresses were relatively ageless, save for a blush A-line minidress with tulle overlay and life-size flower embellishments, which would look particularly sweet on younger girls with sneakers or gladiator sandals.
18 September 2015
With their sister line, Marchesa Notte, Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig take the theme of the season and diffuse it to reflect a more palatable price point. (Cocktail dresses hover around $800, long gowns clock in at just over $1,000.) This season, their big idea danced around Morocco and Islamic tiling. That meant a blue-and-white floral-printed frock pulled together with an eyelet-lace leather belt; rose-garden embroidery on a long-sleeved, waisted gown; and a strapless number covered in a punched-out white tile print that was finely threaded with gold. Some of the short dresses—like the one in crosshatch organza—felt a little cutesy when compared with the rest of the collection. But all in all, this was a nice effort.
19 June 2015
How many high school girls have pinned Marchesa dresses to their prom inspiration boards this year? Probably quite a few. Perhaps we have awards shows to thank for making Marchesa a household name: Karolina Kurkova and Rita Ora both wore it to the Oscars last weekend. Of course, few women actually own Marchesa in real life. A four-figure ball gown with tulle overlay isn't really the stuff of investment purchases. Plus, it's rare for women to actually need something that extravagant in their closets, since full-on glitz and glamour seem to be waning these days.For those few special occasions, though, die-hard fans have Marchesa Notte, Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig's little-sister line of dresses that look distinctly Marchesa but cost a fraction of the price. Sold at department stores like Neiman Marcus and Saks, they're merchandised specifically for proms, weddings, galas, and any kind of black-tie affair. Notte was launched in 2007, but Chapman and Craig have been paying especially close attention to it lately—and making some improvements. There was nothing particularly groundbreaking in the new Fall '15 collection, but the dresses did feel special, thanks to lots of lace, intricate embroidery, and sculptural silhouettes. In the past, the designers showed more crepes and chiffons, which can quickly look cheap.It was hard not to see some pieces as watered-down versions of the main line: There were hints of Marchesa Spring '15 (gypsy florals) and Fall '15 (inspired by an "opium dream") throughout the collection. It was the shorter, more youthful pieces that felt original. Standouts included a playful embroidered shirtdress, a slightly Spanish crimson lace mini, and a preppy tartan tea-length number. But even the less-inspired gowns had instant hanger appeal; they'll no doubt distract women from the more minimal offerings on the sales floor.
21 February 2015