Max Mara Holds 75th Anniversary Show in Shanghai Featuring Chinese-Inspired Designs

Max Mara held its 75th anniversary catwalk show at Shanghai’s Long Museum, presenting garments that incorporated knotted silk pankou buttons, cheongsam dresses and side-fastening jackets with standing collars. British designer Ian Griffiths, who created the collection, said the designs were developed after multiple conversations with Chinese partners.

“We know that it isn’t good enough just to say that we didn’t intend to cause offence, so we had lots of conversations and consultations in advance about the designs,” he stated.

The show’s casting was almost exclusively made up of local models. Chinese-American Olympic skier Eileen Gu attended as a front-row guest. Max Mara has operated stores in China for 33 years and maintains 27 boutiques in Shanghai alone.

Chinese consumers account for about a quarter of the world’s luxury spending. Griffiths described the brand’s approach to the market. “Max Mara is a product for metropolitan women, and it would be patronising to assume that a metropolitan wardrobe should be western-centric,” he said.

The designer also addressed perceptions of the label. “There was a moment when people might have said Max Mara is safe and dependable, but maybe a bit dusty and boring. But hopefully we’ve left that behind,” Griffiths stated.

Camel coats, a signature of the house, appeared on the runway spiked with red, a colour Griffiths linked to joy and luck in China. He declined to present red as a seasonal directive. “There are no trends any more.

Fashion doesn’t dictate any more. Everyone chooses their own look,” he said. Max Mara recently supplied wardrobing for a Chinese production of the play Prima Facie.