By Windy Aulia - published
Set against the Gothic balustrade of Palazzo Ducale in Venice, Max Mara presented its latest Resort 2025 show, citing Marco Polo as the collection’s main inspiration. The rich heritage of the floating city—where Marco Polo was born, before setting sail to the Far East and back in the 14th century—is steeped in stories of wealthy merchants trading goods between Asia and Europe, making it the birthplace of luxury business.
“I started the collection in Istanbul,” shared Ian Griffiths, Max Mara’s designer of 40 years, in between pre-show fittings. Tracing back Marco Polo’s Silk Road route proved to be key to this superb collection. As models paraded at dusk amidst the murmur of Piazza San Marco’s summer crowd, the Venetian flair that Griffiths melded and moulded into the collection came to life with dramatic effect.
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The show started out strong with an opening look in the form of a double cashmere cape, nodding at the idea of a travelling troupe that the 200 lucky guests had come to witness. Silk-tasseled belts cinching voluptuous, sweeping cashmere coats, caftans and billowing dusters followed. Some of the knits, dresses and tunics were reminiscent of Bellini’s paintings with the leg-o-mutton sleeves and off-shoulder necklines. Sleeves were also Griffith’s way of showing the richness of the collection. They came either in balloon shapes, asymmetrical cuts like handkerchiefs or slender with contrasting cuffs. A few of the looks were accompanied by a hybrid of a cap and a turban, courtesy of Stephen Jones, the British milliner extraordinaire.
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A day before the show, Laura Lusuardi, Max Mara’s fashion coordinator who has been with the house since the Sixties, gave us a sneak peek of a few of the stunning coats up close. There was one made of velvet Devore in rich black and another one with Byzantine mosaic print in decadent gold jacquard. Though in true Max Mara fashion, the opulence was offset by the collection’s palette of neutrals.
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The piece de resistance, as it turned out, were the last four looks of the collection. They were taken from Griffiths’ final year project at Manchester Polytechnic 40 years ago, which coincidentally was inspired by the magnificent Doge’s Palace. “I had been on a cheap train ticket that enabled me to travel around Italy. And I became obsessed with gloomy Italian churches,” Griffiths shared before continuing, “I pulled out my sketchbook from years ago and I still have the original garment that I made, even the paper patterns. So we were able to reproduce all the prints and the garments for the final four looks of the collection. It’s like closing the circle.”
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Indeed, it was all about closing the circle. In fact, it took Marco Polo 24 years to journey around Asia before coming back to Venice and closing his own East-West trading chapter, retiring as a wealthy merchant. That provided just the perfect analogy to Max Mara’s luxurious and richly layered Resort 2025 collection. Still in reminiscing mode, Griffiths mused on Max Mara’s own definition of luxury, “It’s not about being superfluous,” he said before closing, “Max Mara suits and coats are the ones that work hard for you, so you can go about to do your ‘trade’.” What a splendid idea.