Max Mara’s Resort 2023 collection was about two things: passion and power. Taking to the lush gardens of Lisbon’s Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Italian fashion house presented a romantic, sensual collection of evening wear featuring neutral tones, below-the-knee hemlines and soft necklines. Naturally, Max Mara also showed a dreamy offering of its trademark coats. When the evening turns chilly, what else are you going to turn to?
Dubbed ‘Vai lenço feliz’, the collection took inspiration from an artwork of the 20th Century intellectual, poet and social activist Natália Correia, by the artist Nikias Skapinakis.
“Just as Max Mara has formulated its own brand of feminism, so did Correia,” the show notes read.
“Counter to the politically correct format of the movement, she argued for sensuality and passionate femininity. Correia’s “Antologia de Poesia Portuguesa Erótica e Satírica” was considered otré by the authorities against whom she campaigned; to Max Mara it suggests a more voluptuous, curvier silhouette with an occasional nod to the gathered skirts of traditional dress. Max Mara presents below-the-knee sexy, sultry sheaths that are perfect for parties, like the highbrow soirées at which Correia was photographed.”
Love motifs — inspired by the Portuguese ‘handkerchiefs of love’ tradition — were present throughout the collection, with hearts, flowers and doves woven into prints and crystal brooches.
Peek-a-boo fishnet tights were a nod to the after dark, sophistication of the collection, while a coat adorned with seahorse embellishments were a particular stand out.
It also included the oversized white shirt of our dreams, with sleeves trailing long beyond the model’s wrists.
“There’s no doubt because of the world the Max Mara woman lives in she’s part of the bourgeois, but she always kicks against it every season,” Creative Director Ian Griffiths told marie claire Australia in 2021.
“Especially since the pandemic we want to do things on our own terms and I wanted to show that. More than ever she’s expressing her rebellious side.”
