The camel-hair coat is an icon for MaxMara; the foundation upon which one of Italy s most successful family fashion empire was built. The exercise each fall is to find new context in which to frame that timeless piece. This season s version is a creamy, floorsweeping topper flying loose over tight, high-waisted velvet pants and a turtleneck.
MaxMara acts as a percolator for current trends, making them accessible to a city woman who spends her money on wearable investments but likes to nod to fashion. For fall, she ll find that in an Alaïa-influenced flounced skirt with a matching bomber jacket, a 70s pants suit with a neat blazer, an ethnic fur-lined gilet, or the quintessential retro brown stacked-heel knee boot. Last fall s Art Nouveau mood reappears as Klimt-influenced prints, and peacock feathers made into capelets, jackets or as decoration on dresses and blouses. That s just enough to show a general awareness of the direction of fashion but not overpower the house s classic values, which are rooted as much in the pleasure of cashmere, velvet and suede as in the practicalities of a busy woman s everyday life.
