Little sister to MaxMara, the Sportmax collection is where the Italian megabrand s design team gets to play a little. That was the plan for Spring, which took its inspiration from Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, the lively 1967 French musical starring Catherine Deneuve and Gene Kelly. The predominant silhouette, leg-baring and A-line, gave the show its mod, youthful feel; butterfly appliqués on trapeze dresses, candy-colored stripes on shifts, and eyelet in red, white, and navy blue provided the whimsy. Sprinkled here and there was fare of the more hardworking sort: a belted ivory pantsuit, a fitted dark denim dress. And because this is a company built on outerwear, there were some smart coats to choose from—tops among them a swingy khaki cotton trench.
With fashion, for the most part, feeling for the decade that came after the sixties this season, it s the timeless pieces in this collection, like that raincoat, that will have legs on the sales floor.
