BERLIN RENDEZVOUS

Apart from displaying sartorial excellence on the runway, Max Mara shines light on cultural icons that continuously define its legacy.

- Terence Poh

THE MAX MARA GROUP has always been a leader in the fashion industry since its advent in 1951 and remains prominent in the business today. Known best for creating the cult-status 101801 coat and the immensely popular Teddy Bear coat, the Italian fashion house currently has a diverse range of 35 labels in its stable. However, in a world preoccupied with the latest fads, scant recognition is given to the brand’s history of power-dressing women and pioneer status in industrial tailoring processes. For Max Mara Resort 2020, the fashion powerhouse brought its name to Berlin and spotlights the people and things that have shaped its cultural presence throughout the years.

Since establishing the Max Mara Group in 1951, the late founder Achille Maramotti has paved the way to mass produce luxury clothing during a time when fashion in Italy was still widely a handmade craft. By virtue of foresight, Maramotti became one of few who saw then that people in the future would clamour for the latest designer pieces off the racks. By revolutionising the production line, Maramotti also sought to clothe a rising group of empowered women — “the doctor’s wife”, a term he had coined to describe the emerging and empowered middle class women who demanded understated luxury garments.