Francesco Risso has such an impressive fashion CV that his newest employer feels like a total outlier. After completing a master's degree at Central Saint Martins under Louise Wilson, tutor to everyone from Alexander McQueen to Phoebe Philo,  Risso bounced around Milanese fashion houses until landing a role at Prada in 2006, where he would work for ten years before leading a fuzzy-sweatered and uber-colorful revamp of Marni during a decade-long reign as creative director.  

This is about as good as it gets in this industry, which made it all the more surprising when Risso announced that he was leaving Marni in June 2025to join GU, a Japanese fast fashion giant in the process of going international. On paper, that’s a big switch-up. To, Risso it’s a natural progression. 

“GU is extremely aligned with my way of thinking,” he tells me from Milan, where he and his mysterious new independent company, a “manufacturing house for objects,” called Bureau of Imagination, are based. He travels to Tokyo roughly every month and a half to work on GU and his first collection for the fast-fashion house just dropped. “When I speak to Mr. Yanai [founder of GU and UNIQLO], we share the same intentions and the same passion for not chasing trends or fashion in a banal kind of way,” Risso continues. “That's what I really appreciate about working with a Japanese company that is all about design, about timelessness.”

That timeless appeal made GU’s older sibling company UNIQLO, both owned by Japanese conglomerate Fast Retailing, a runaway success. UNIQLO’s empire spans 2,512 worldwide stores, generating 3.4005 trillion yen ($22.3 billion) in revenue last year through affordable everyday clothes produced with Japanese precision. It’s become the anti-fast fashion fast fashion brand, dedicated to perfecting basics rather than the traditional fast fashion model of copying luxury labels and running through trends. GU is UNIQLO’s younger offshoot and, as such, employs a more youthful approach. 

“GU wants to appeal to a more playful, less classic audience. It's grounded and very similar [to UNIQLO] in the sense that it can be for everyday life, but there is the need for GU to deliver a sense of expression,” says Risso. “GU has a colorful approach where UNIQLO is more pragmatic. GU is the expressive and more playful brother.”

From that perspective, GU and Risso couldn’t be more aligned. This is a man whose madcap Marni tenure included pop-art trail shoes and psychedelic puffer jackets. Playful? That’s basically Risso's middle name. But low-cost mass-market highstreet garb isn’t so much associated with Risso’s name, his approachable Marni collaborations being the only times he’s dipped his toes into such water. 

And yet, the speed at which GU pushes out collections is terribly exciting to the Italian designer. “It's a very immediate conversation that happens in the moment. You're making the collection, and then it immediately arrives in the streets and onto people. That generates a conversation [where] people eventually fall in love with something or not, which will mold our way of thinking,” says Risso. “That's the most intriguing thing and why I am so curious to learn through this new path. Imposing onto an audience isn’t mine or Mr. Yanai's way of thinking.” And the process is proving as engrossing as it was with the luxury labels. 

“I have never seen toiles [prototype garments typically made from muslin] made the way that Japanese [pattern-makers], especially at UNIQLO and GU, make toiles. Sometimes you just want to put a label on the toile and sell that,” says Risso. “It reminds me of Paris, which also has very strong artistry when it comes to making toiles. Italy is very different. It's not as strict and graphic.”

Although he’d seen how the company operated during a 2022 Marni collaboration with UNIQLO, he was still surprised by the GU team’s “incredible pride” in its product. “One of the things that mesmerizes me whenever I go is that everyone is so committed,” he says. “I'm working with a company that has incredible skills when it comes to promptly making things in an exceptional way.”

Risso’s debut GU offering, launched stateside ahead of a worldwide release, is the first fruit of that labor. Six “characters” define his Fall/Winter 2026 collection, with the minimalist wearing muted tailoring, an outdoorsy type clad in the “utility” range's militaristic cargo pants, and a "playful" archetype clad in Risso’s signature clashing florals. “This structure is in place to create very defined worlds in the stores,” says Risso. “But when we shot the campaign, one of the most fun things was to mix it all together. The people I'm looking for are people who embrace this multiplicity.”

This new GU system of affordable dress is a new way of thinking for Risso, which is something he was seeking. After leaving Marni, the designer spoke about needing time for “reflection” and to “work with a different kind of approach.” He chuckles when I ask if he got the time he needed since leaving the Milanese fashion house. “I'm still reflecting. It's not just about staying on your own and thinking,” he says. “This [new role] is allowing me to contemplate what's happening in the world and to see it from another perspective. I might be continually reflecting until I'm dead, let's see.”

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