Resounding with the influence of Italy's legendary avant-garde artists, Ian Griffiths' collection was rife with surprising textures and refreshingly redesigned coats.

Fashion is perpetually entwined in a waltz with art. Perhaps&nbsp;the designer who is most attuned to that dance at the moment is Raf Simons, whose plethora of <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/calvin-klein-the-andy-warhol-foundation-partnership">art-inspired creations&nbsp;for Calvin Klein</a> now counts yet another <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/calvin-klein-jeans-andy-warhol-self-portraits-capsule-collection-t-shirts-hoodies-jeans-bags">Warhol-printed collection</a>. A worthy contender would be Gucci&#39;s Alessandro Michele, whose artistic&nbsp;collaborations have spawned <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/gucci-launches-chinese-new-year-dog-themed-collection-2018-unskilled-worker">several</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/gucci-launches-capsule-collection-with-spanish-artist-coco-capitan-tshirts-sweatshirts-bags">Instagram-worthy</a> <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/gucci-launches-new-limited-edition-guccihallucination-capsule-collection-online">collections</a>, or Dior&#39;s Maria Grazia Chiuri, whose creative approach involves referencing the works of <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion-week/dior-spring-summer-2018-runway-collection-paris-fashion-week">female</a> <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/jennifer-lawrence-goes-androgynous-for-dior-fall-2018-campaign">artists</a>.&nbsp;With his Resort 2019 collection for Max Mara, creative director Ian Griffiths&nbsp;officially put on his dancing shoes and swayed to a similar rhythm.&nbsp;

The collection was an homage to Max Mara's art-collecting founder.

Griffiths chose to hold the show&nbsp;at the Collezione Maramotti in&nbsp;Reggio Emilia,&nbsp;the building that served as Max Mara&#39;s&nbsp;first headquarters and now houses founder&nbsp;Achille Maramotti&#39;s private&nbsp;art collection.&nbsp;As a tribute to Maramotti, Griffiths&#39; collection was inspired by the artworks&nbsp;in the gallery, which&nbsp;boasts a roster of avant-garde Italian artists&nbsp;such as Piero Manzoni, Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri and&nbsp;Giovanni Anselmo. The result was a&nbsp;range of elegant coats and eveningwear pieces that echoed with a&nbsp;distinctive artistic influence,&nbsp;starting with the colours.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Throughout the collection, the neutral tones&nbsp;of&nbsp;white, grey and black&nbsp;mingled with the chalky hues of&nbsp;Pietro Novelli&#39;s Baroque paintings, including&nbsp;ultramarine, viridian and lemon. Some tailored suits even came in the shade of raw canvas. Other than nodding&nbsp;to&nbsp;the collection&#39;s influences, the muted colours&nbsp;also served another purpose: to highlight the thoughtful design details of the clothes.

The garments had a painter's palette.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Patchworks, plaits, sculptural ruches, twists, knots&nbsp;&mdash; the whole works were on display on this season&#39;s pants, bodices and blouses. They weren&#39;t random either; the intricate details of the collection were pulled straight from the textured works of Burri and Anselmo, attesting to Griffiths&#39; observant&nbsp;eye for detail.

Texture was everything...

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

You couldn&#39;t miss them; almost every other model was lugging one of the collection&#39;s&nbsp;crinkly pliss&eacute; leather bags in their arms as&nbsp;they walked down the runway. Griffiths has Piero Manzoni&#39;s&nbsp;Achrome artwork series to thank for the unusual texture of the bags, which in our opinion make&nbsp;for&nbsp;some of this season&#39;s most distinctive offerings yet.

... especially for the bags.

Scripts were stripped of their meaning and used to decorate dresses, sweaters pants, resulting in a sort of antithesis to the logos that currently pervade the runways.&nbsp;By taking cues from the works of Cy&nbsp;Twombly and&nbsp;Jannis Kounellis, Griffiths created an&nbsp;array of calligraphic prints that stand&nbsp;out against the otherwise bare-surfaced collection.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Max Mara has always been known for its exquisite outerwear, and this season was no different. There&nbsp;were reversible coats &mdash;&nbsp;cashmere on one side, textured nylon on the other &mdash; and masculine overcoats made of silk organza, but the most noteworthy of all were Griffith&#39;s reworkings&nbsp;of the brand&#39;s signature garment, the <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/inside-max-mara-coats!-2017-exhibition-in-seoul-dongdaemun-design-plaza">camel coat</a>. Presented in a black version for the opening look and a white one for the closing look, Griffiths&#39; update to the&nbsp;101801 coat featured sliced sleeves, allowing it to be worn as an elegant cape&nbsp;instead.

Max Mara Resort 2019: An Artistic Tribute

Tags

Recommended posts for you

Living

Grand Prix Season Singapore 2025 — Everything You Need to Know

Fashion

BTS Jin Finishes His Tour on a High in Gucci Looks

Beauty

CHANEL Elevates Lip Oils with this New Luxurious Sublimage Addition

Culture

Chivas Regal Toasts the Unsung Heroes of Scuderia Ferrari HP

Beauty

Exclusive! Jenna Ortega Speaks On Being the New Face of Rouge Dior

Beauty

Inside The Glossy Icon: Clarins Lip Comfort Oil Turns 10

Culture

All The Winners and Nominees of The 2025 MTV VMAs

Fashion

Tommy Hilfiger Reinvents Prep with JISOO in 'The Hilfiger Racing Club'