Max Mara F/W 2023.24 Milan

[Drusilla_]

It’s a very solid collection. Not a drag on Max Mara. They’ve always been doing this sort of high(er)-end quality, but very middle-of-the-road and accessible fashion staples even back when Donna Karan reigned (and sadly has now been licensed off to consumer-budget suits). It's all decent, no-nonsense investment pieces that will still look good a long time from now. Just that, this level of quality standard, along with this level of design, was common 20 years ago. And that it’s something exceptional and so swooned over nowadays, truly speaks of how dire most labels are. (Imagine in 2003, saying that Max Mara would easily best Prada/Fendi/Armani some day: You’d be laughed out of existence… And here we are, in 2023, and Max Mara is leagues above Prada/Fendi/Armani.)

I agree - this is a collection with an unusual level of flourish for Max Mara, but they were never an agenda-setting label, just a 'make nice things women want to wear' one, it's just that their contemporaries who were setting that agenda fifteen years ago - Prada, arguably Marni, over in Paris Balenciaga - have fallen down on the job so a brand that's consistent ends up looking better in comparison.

 

[kasper!]

Styled by Tonne Goodman, not Carine.