OTHERWORLDLY URBANE

Deliberate in its tailored surrealism, Max Mara’s latest collection looks to Madame De Pompadour alongside 1980s clubbing as reference for the brand’s Spring/Summer offering of contemporary womenswear. Exploring the intricacies of reality and imagination, the drama of rococo is remade minimalist and refined, highlighted within volume and shape that harks back to the women of the 80s.

Shot in an abandoned Georgian house, Kendal Walker brings to attention time's relationship with history, positioning this modern take on historic styling within bygone architecture through a concurrent view. What comes through as a result remains fresh, with its bare red walls only foregrounding the minimalism of the collection’s designs, complimenting the brand’s known refinement.

Envisioning the intellect and influence of the Madame through today’s lens, her sensibilities inhabit these otherworldly formal pieces. Walker depicts the wearer of this collection as someone graceful yet unwavering, a powerful display of femininity, outfitted accordingly. There’s a tailored confidence that comes through the collection, with a colour palette that points to a sense of maturity, though with playful forms and detailing.

Precision is displayed through a sense of stoicism, evocative of the women of the rococo era, focused more on the drama as opposed to overt ornamentalism. Such aspects create an interplay with the sharpness of 80s womenswear found in the outfits, with the heavily floral embellishments of the coat facing a different view of time to the beige pantsuit, yet both exist in the same plane.

Across full coverage outfits as well as cropped attire that lets skin be shown, there’s a confidence in how this collection can be worn, these are designs that flirt with club-readiness whilst still retaining the Max Mara identity. This collection is a look into what came before, but not one withheld by that vision, instead one that is merely informed by it. Whilst they may be designs inspired by the past; they are certainly meant for women of the now.