Milan Fashion Week kicked off on Wednesday in molto sexy style: 200,000 Durex condoms on set at the Diesel show, Donatella Versace sat front row at Fendi, and a Roberto Cavalli collection to close that went long on the brand’s signature animal prints and positively dripped in diamanté leather and faux fur.
Max Mara kicked day two off in altogether more conservative fashion with a show that stayed true to the mantra of its founder Achille Maramotti: to create “real clothes for real women”.
It’s a guiding principle that Ian Griffiths, the British designer who has been at the helm of the label for more than three decades, has remained loyal to, and in so doing has steered Max Mara to become a brand with annual sales reported to be more than £1bn.
Wednesday’s show (February 22) opened with a chorus in camel, centring on the chic cashmere coats that have become the brand’s bread and butter. A floor-swishing hooded teddy coat and a cashmere maxi skirt with matching cropped cashmere jacket were standout.
Griffiths has been inspired by Émilie du Châtelet; the free-spirited French natural philosopher and mathematician whose work — alongside her lover Voltaire — did much to change the course of rational thinking during the Enlightenment. Brocades, bustiers, and crisp white shirts with popped collars nodded to his 18th-century muse, but felt modern paired with chunky biker boots, shiny leather Obi belts, and polo necks.
Back-of-the-neck-to-floor flowing swathes of fabric seen on court dresses of the period reappeared on a military coat and a dinky little cocktail dress — and every model’s hair was tied notary-style, in a low ponytail tied with a black ribbon.
Coats were global warming-friendly, with inbuilt leather straps that allowed them to be worn jauntily over one shoulder. Eveningwear was practical and all-black — a velvet bustier with wide-leg jacquard trousers and boots; a velvet mini skirt with flowing train and cashmere opera gloves.
Not a TikTok-baiting look in sight; in Max Mara’s world, it’s cashmere that sells, not condoms.
