Meryll Rogge’s
Free Spirit
Anders Christian Madsen reviews the Meryll Rogge Spring/Summer 2026 collection.
“As you might have heard, I have a lot of things going on…” Meryll Rogge smiled at the beginning of a preview on Monday afternoon. In July, the Belgian designer was appointed Creative Director of Marni, following in the successful footsteps ofFrancesco Risso. On Tuesday evening, as she closed Paris Fashion Week with her eponymous collection, you could easily see why OTB — which owns the Italian house — is betting on Rogge. Presented in the Hôtel de Soubise, her collection was a voyage through eras and subcultures invigorated by the designer’s knack for storytelling through clothes and the textural languages she excels in.
“It’s been super wonderful because now I feel less frustration in the sense that I have different creative outlets for different things that I want to express,” Rogge said, listing a repertoire that now includes her eponymous brand, her knitwear line B.B. Wallace, and Marni. “I’ve always been jealous of musicians who have different bands, like Dave Grohl or Damon Albarn.” The opportunities created by her new appointment had given Rogge a sense of liberty in her own line. “We felt way freer than ever here at Meryll to kind of go for it,” she said.
MERYLL ROGGE
She mirrored her feeling of freedom in the cult classic Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black. Written by Cookie Mueller, the book chronicles the author’s experiences in the 1970s and ’80s New York City art scene, and her meeting with John Waters, whose films she would eventually star in. “She was an actress, stripper, art critic, poet, writer…” Rogge said. “But the collection is not about her. It’s about her free-spiritedness: a multi-layering of occupations and locations; following your instincts; independent thinking. A punkish avant-garde spirit.”
The premise fueled a free approach to clothing genres and dress codes expressed in looks that exuded character and stories. Watching the show, you wanted to know who these people were; what were their stories. Layered silk and lace slips were beautifully overlaid with embroidered translucent filters for intrigue, and worn under big trench coats as if they were going somewhere. Shirts were asymmetrically structured from panels or embellished with double collars and cuffs. Some skirts looked like quilted blankets fashioned into clothing, and a pair of long shorts had migrated into a romper.
The knitwear Rogge masters came in puffy, lightweight wool-cashmere sweaters or dry, crisp knits that could almost be molded on the body. Jackets — like every other piece in the collection — were delectably aged in appearance, imbuing them with a kind of soul that spoke volumes in the storytelling department. Ditto the aged boat shoes she also turned into fisherman’s boots. Turning up the attitude, Rogge collaborated with the Belgian jewelers Wouters & Hendrix on punkish chokers, belts, and bracelets in chain mail with encrusted spheres that evoked studs in a new way.
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