Another potential successor to Francesco Risso at Marni has emerged: Meryll Rogge.
In the wake of her ANDAM Grand Prize win on June 30, the Belgian designer’s name has been circulated as a contender for the top creative role at the Italian brand, owned by the OTB Group.
The company declined to comment.
In the past 12 months, the Ghent, Belgium-based designer has been garnering much attention.
Related Articles
In addition to the ANDAM prize, she was named designer of the year at the 2024 Belgian Fashion Awards and was a 2025 Woolmark Prize finalist.
You May Also Like
Her designs were spotted on the likes of Dua Lipa, Chloé Sévigny and Rihanna and some have been recently acquired by MoMu Antwerp, Brussels’ Fashion & Lace Museum and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
A 2008 graduate of Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts who dreamed of being an illustrator as a child, Rogge swapped paint for textile swatches when moving to New York. After working her way up to lead designer at Marc Jacobs over seven years, she was back in Antwerp working for Dries Van Noten as head of women’s design in 2014 before going solo in 2020.
She has held presentations for her eponymous collections in Paris since 2021 and staged her first runway show in March, showing a collection inspired by vintage wallpaper prints and destroyed art that read as fun and hopeful.
A handful of candidates have emerged since Marni said in June it was parting ways with Francesco Risso, who held the role of creative director since 2016.
Swedish designer Ellen Hodakova Larsson, who won the 2024 edition of the LVMH Prize for Young Designers for her upcycled creations, is another name thrown in the ring.
The brand is now led by Stefano Rosso, who was named chief executive officer in May last year.
He is the son of Renzo Rosso, the founder and chairman of OTB, which also controls the Diesel, Jil Sander, Maison Margiela, and Viktor & Rolf brands, production arms Staff International and Brave Kid, and holds a stake in the Amiri brand.
Several changes have been taking place within the OTB Group over the last year and in early 2025.
Following the exit of John Galliano, Glenn Martens made his debut as creative director of Maison Margiela with an Artisanal collection honoring the house’s legacy of provocative, avant-garde fashions while also sticking an unwashed thumb in the eye of the numbing quiet luxury juggernaut. He will also continue to design Diesel.
In February, former Fendi chairman and CEO Serge Brunschwig was named CEO of Jil Sander, succeeding Luca Lo Curzio, who exited the brand last November to join K-Way as CEO. Brunschwig was also appointed chief strategy officer of OTB. Also, in March, Simone Bellotti succeeded Luke and Lucie Meier as creative director of Jil Sander, joining from Bally.
Last year, while Diesel, Maison Margiela and the direct-to-consumer channel all reported growth, the slowdown in China and a 15 percent decrease in the group’s wholesale channel impacted OTB’s turnover, which decreased 5.2 percent to 1.8 billion euros, compared with 1.9 billion euros in 2023.
The group does not break out sales by brand.