It’s amazing what a flash of colour can do: wake you up, shake things up and even change the way you see what comes next. Ian Griffiths, creative director of Max Mara, deftly wielded that power for the Italian brand’s AW19 collection. He started the show with a triumvirate of models dressed in matching looks, each one resplendent in their own tone-on-tone technicolour version. Cyan, cerulean and corn yellow: power, energy and passion.
As the colour-clad models strode down the catwalk, even the assembled fashion industry audience felt a jolt – sitting up straighter, taking note and raising their smartphones in order to capture and share this fashion moment in real time.
That bold use of colour was an adept move by Max Mara, whose collections are usually cocooned in a soft power palette of caramel, biscuit, toffee and honey shades. This one was no exception, as colour segued into cafe au lait, albeit imparted with a new dynamism by those opening looks.
In turn soft and strong, dynamic and demure, Griffiths’ use of those stealth-wealth shades has helped cement Max Mara as a label for a quietly confident woman, one who wants her clothing to amplify her message, rather than speak for her. But – the designer has posited through his collections of late – does that woman not deserve a bit of vibrancy too, some future-is-bright optimism in equally good taste?
That attitude is fitting for Max Mara, a brand that has a history of allowing actions to speak louder than words when it comes to celebrating women. Since 2005, the brand has collaborated with the Whitechapel Gallery to award the Max Mara Art Prize for Women to emerging female artists, while its Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future award has been presented to Emily Blunt, Zoe Saldana and Rose Byrne among others since it was established in 2006.
By casting Halima Aden for its AW17 show in February 2017, Max Mara became one of the first mainstream fashion brands to feature a hijab-wearing model on the catwalk. Considering how recent the date, it’s somewhat shocking to admit, but that was a huge leap for the fashion industry. It was just one small step, though, for a company that has had the empowerment of women at its core since it was founded in 1951.
In post-war Italy, Achille Maramotti’s concept for a ready-to-wear clothing company that used industrialised processes was considered radical. This was a time when a woman’s clothes were handmade either professionally by a dressmaker if she had the means, or at home if she did not. Maramotti identified not only that the technology was there to mass produce, but that as women’s career opportunities emerged and grew, so too would their ability and confidence to dress as they wished.
The fact that ready-to-wear clothing has now become the norm around the world indicates quite how tuned-in to the needs of women Maramotti was, a legacy that he passed on to his children along with a thriving family business.
One factor in the brand’s success is the design 101801 Icon coat, a camel coat created in 1981 and kept in production for nearly 40 years. As sustainability shapes fashion choices as never before, and the idea of trends shifting season to season suddenly seems absurd, it’s hard to beat a relevancy rate nearing four decades.
That success isn’t an anomaly though. In fact, Max Mara’s teddy bear coat, introduced in 2013, was another instant hit, and has remained a sellout with dusky pink, crimson and now a whole range of colour pop versions added to the original camel.
It is this colourful approach to comforting classics that defines the future of Max Mara; the marrying of established ideas with an energy that speaks to how women want to dress now. It’s especially true when you look at the over-the-top party wear that monopolises the fashion conversation elsewhere as the end of the year looms ever closer.
Do the bright thing: the new Christmas style rules
What is it about Christmas that can so often lead one to see a stranger staring back from the mirror, adrift in a sea of sequins, or trussed up like a turkey?
It’s time to say no more, to rewrite the rules of dressing for the festive season and the future beyond it. A bold pop of colour is the bright choice this holiday season – better to wake up, shake things up and allow the wearer to shine.
Colour is key when it comes to gifting too, with Max Mara’s Bearing Gifts collection adding a touch of optimism to the occasion – think mittens in cyan that are impossible to misplace, the softest cerulean scarf to keep out the chill, or a bumbag in cobalt fuzz that can’t help but raise a smile. And what could be a better gift than that?
To learn more about Max Mara’s bright and beautiful vision for the holiday season and beyond, visit maxmara.com
