Max Mara celebrated its 75th anniversary on June 16 with a Resort 2027 show at the Long Museum in Shanghai. The collection, titled “The Max!,” brought together modernist motifs, traditional Chinese influences, and updates of the Italian house’s iconic overcoats in a presentation that bridged two cultures and seven decades of design history.
The show drew a front row of Chinese actresses, fashion editors, and Max Mara’s top Asian-market clients. The brand’s strategy in China relies heavily on local celebrity partnerships and exclusive store events, and the Shanghai show served both marketing and relationship-building functions.
The choice of Shanghai was deliberate. China has become Max Mara’s fastest-growing market, and the brand’s traveling resort format — which has previously touched down in Lisbon, St. Moritz, and Palm Beach — benefits from the kinetic energy of the city’s skyline as seen through the Long Museum’s floor-to-ceiling windows on the Huangpu River.
Max Mara’s ability to maintain a consistent aesthetic across seven decades is rare in fashion. The resort collection, by its nature a commercial driver, could easily fall into the trap of being merely pretty. Griffiths avoided that, infusing the show with a seriousness of purpose befitting a 75-year milestone.
Creative Director Ian Griffiths approached the anniversary with a sense of accumulation rather than nostalgia. The collection referenced archival Max Mara silhouettes — the 101801 iconic coat, the teddy-bear fabric first introduced in 2013 — but rendered them in lighter weights and unexpected color combinations suitable for the warmer-climate resort customer.
Traditional Chinese textile techniques appeared in several key pieces. Silk faille was embroidered with patterns that referenced both Italian Renaissance motifs and Ming dynasty ceramics. The layering was cultural as much as it was sartorial.
