Meryll Rogge's second Marni collection is about deciding what to keep, which I think is a harder job than starting over. "We definitely wanted to have a sense of continuity," she said. "We want to establish the language, and we've also been thinking a lot about what to add to the language, what to take away." Marni has always been a little awkward, artistic and allergic to obvious sex appeal.

Rogge keeps that and makes it drier, with an industrial, urban edge. A sixties influence crept in almost by accident, she said, and the wider conversation runs through the late nineties and early two thousands.

She treats the archive like a box of things worth stealing. Sack dresses come in raw calfskin, which turns a sweet shape tough, with modernist embroidery on top. A jeweled appliqué is lifted from one garment and stuck onto another, more like a found object than an ornament.

"It's like a decoration on the decoration," she said, and I love that. Scale is the other trick. Buckles go enormous, then tiny. Marni's elastic is blown up. Small buttons become big ones on leather and wool. The triple stitch is visible everywhere, and linings show on the outside. Even a bra outline is built into a garment.

The colors come from hair: grays, brunettes, blacks and blondes, a nod to different stages of life. Rogge described the result as "sexy, but absolutely not sexy," which may be the most Marni sentence there is. There is skin, but nothing is trying to seduce you.

In the photos, the feet tell the story. Nearly two thirds of the looks wear an open sandal or flip-flop, often with knee socks or a knee-high boot, which show up on about a third. Shorts appear on a handful of looks and fur on just a few. A bag shows up on half.

Even the set followed the idea. Rogge and Formafantasma kept the same layout and panels as last season, stripped away the layers underneath, and pulped the old set materials into handmade paper, which became paper airplanes for the invitations. It is a very literal way of moving forward without burning anything down, and I find it charming.

"We want to make sure that we bring our best Marni forward," she said. If I were starting with one piece, it would be a flat sandal worn with a knee sock and something slightly too formal on top. That is the house in one outfit.