In less than a decade, Max Mara has opened more than 400 stores in China. It’s only logical that this quintessentially Italian brand, founded in the 1950s when Italy was rapidly industrializing after the ruins of the Second World War, should now show in the world’s newest manufacturing mecca.
Monopolis (these show names are starting to sound like Stadium Rock happenings) is the collection it unveiled in Shanghai’s vast exhibition centre on Friday night. It follows the Dolce & Gabbana Alta Artigianalita show in Hong Kong two weeks earlier. Where the latter was intimate and couture, Max Mara’s was grandiose and expansive – a blend of its 2017 pre-fall collection and a specially designed capsule collaboration, conceived in collaboration with Chinese artist Liu Wei.
Max Mara's Monopolis show was grandiose and expansive - a blend of its 2017 pre-fall collection and a specially designed capsule collection
If the words exhibition centre conjure up visions of 1970s municipal low cost drabness, sweep them to one side. This extraordinarily elaborate neo-classical-meets-Soviet-pomp-meets-Russian Orthodoxy building was the USSR’s gift to the Chinese for being such loyal exponents of Communism. Flood lit (and then some) and drenched in a cascade of fuchsia beams by Max Mara, with a striking raw-industrial art installation inside, also by Liu Wei, there was nothing dreary about this inaugural Sinai-show.
Lemon yellow and sage green: the colours were vibrant at Max Mara
Max Mara has good reason to be confident. While 2016 may go down as an annus horribilis for the luxury fashion industry in general, the stealth wealth appeal of Max Mara’s classic cashmere coats and ladylike silhouettes plays well to a market that is, at its upper levels, “rapidly maturing.” (Translation: the Chinese elite is progressing from crass bling to, well, classic cashmere coats).
The stealth wealth appeal of Max Mara’s classic cashmere coats and ladylike silhouettes plays well
“It’s pretty thrilling to see women here walking around in camel coats,” observed Ian Griffiths, the British Creative Director of Max Mara when I interviewed him on the frosty Shanghai morning of the show. “Or at least some of them are Max Mara. Others are less expensive versions, but that’s great. It means there’s a customer who aspires to the ultimate Max Mara artifact. We’ll be there for her when she’s ready.”
Max Mara's white and black dresses finished with raw edges were immediately available to buy
The dependability of Max Mara is a large part of its charm, combined with Griffiths’ ability to keep enough plates spinning for there to be new interest each season. The ooh and aah moments came not from over-the-top embellishment or fur but delicate pastel combinations: a flared lemon coat over a Wedgewood-blue fitted dress, lemon with eau de nil and jade, baby blue, duck egg and sage.
Max Mara presented a Hitchcock heroine gifted with 2016 options
This was a Hitchcock heroine gifted with 2016 options - ruched tulle pencil skirts and belted, strong 1940's shoulders, cinched waists (cue wide, coloured belts) 50's style jackets, but also refined jogging pants and sturdy lace up knee boots.
The eleven piece Liu Wei/Griffiths capsule collection – slim camel, white and black dresses and coats overlaid with trompe l'oeil prints, chain stitching and finished with raw edges - was immediately available to buy. One “influencer” in the audience was already wearing a multi-textured cream coat. She was Russian. Once the Chinese influencers, whose Weibo followers can easily top seven million, start posting selfies in their Max Mara, the collection should sell out.
“It’s pretty thrilling to see women here walking around in camel coats,” observed Ian Griffiths, the British Creative Director of Max Mara, of seeing a market emerge in China
Both the Dolce and Max Mara shows contained pieces uniquely designed for their locality. It is no longer enough in the Instagram age, to take clothes already seen on the catwalks of Europe on a tour of Asia.
The dawning era of a perpetual touring fashion road show doesn’t seem to daunt Griffiths, who seemed to be a happy combination of calm and invigorated. Why not? In 2015, Max Mara’s turnover topped 1,380 million euros, most of it from clothes. While the name of this show, Monopolis, could be read as a tale of dystopian urbanization (the vast conurbation around Shanghai is home to some 60 million inhabitants), for an optimistic brand, it’s merely an excellent marketing opportunity.
source: www.telegraph.co.uk