Laura Lusuardi, fashion coordinator for Max Mara, worked at the company for over 60 years, and during that time, I bet she forgot about her business of beautiful clothes, not what most of us have learned. Since 2009, she has overseen Atelier, a Max Mara capsule with oversand external exterior of the Central Maxmara position, first established by founder Achille Maramotti, has built luxury women’s clothing on a hand-quality industrial scale.
While it’s very important about handicrafts, Atelier has nothing to do with scale: instead, it’s a forum for experimental forms developed by Lusuardi and her team that defines Max Mara from day one. This season, the series is adjacent to the Naples Resort Exhibition in Ian Griffiths. It seems like a pragmatic way to put these by-order samples out of the house’s core customer’s sight.
Lusuardi greets us, next to the mood boards where Diana Vreeland, Maria Callas and Jackie Kennedy live, the designers are all identified as “radical women.” Kennedy took photos while on vacation in Capri, and the installation of coated mannequins reflects: everyone wears a gorgeous modern look (but antique), a gorgeous mid-century swimming pool. The range of garments beneath them suggested that “radical” was in this instance meant as a synonym of “individualistic”: the collection broadly saw classical couture shapes from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as 1980s silhouettes, processed through a lushly minimalist filter, and then—quite surprisingly—seasoned with a soupcon of grunginess that was telegraphed by a Kurt Cobain cameo.
The fabric includes double-sided cashmere, cooked and treated wool, Zibeline-effect cashmere and beautifully weathered leather. My absolute favorite is an oversized knee-length jacket with a green wool cashmere mixture (I think) whose structural seams and bondage are pulled out of the 3-type denim jacket. An oversized hoodie wore a Zibeline-Shaggensence touch in washed cashmere, but retained a more explicit line than its Jersey prototype.
A long black coat is in gold-checked jacquard pattern to reflect the design of the Cobain shirt and injects a non-uniform spirit into this rare wear environment. A paneled pipe and dyed cut jacket and a lazy short leather jacket are all small masterpieces. “These coats are not meant to be worn in churches. They are worn every day in their own style, custom and personal ways,” Lusuardi said.
