Max Mara celebrates its 75th anniversary by staging a Cruise 2027 show and “The Max!” exhibition in Shanghai, as well as reissuing three iconic coats

In an industry defined by restlessness and endless change, <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/rediscovering-rococo-max-mara-spring-summer-2026-collection-womenswear-fashion" title="Rediscovering Rococo with Max Mara's Spring/Summer 2026 Collection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Max Mara</a> has remained ever faithful to its narrative since 1951. Of course, it helps that the look of <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/max-mara-fall-winter-2026-milan-fashion-week-runway-looks-celebrities" title="Max Mara's Fall/Winter 2026 Show Delivers Power Dressing for Modern Women" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Max Mara</a> is one of timeless sophistication. In Shanghai for the brand’s Cruise 2027 show and its 75th anniversary “The Max!” exhibition, Max Mara Creative Director, Ian Griffiths says, “One thing that I hope will transpire from the exhibition when you see it, is... Maybe the details and the silhouettes of the clothes have changed, but the message is the same. She is a real woman, she exists in the world, she exists in a city like Shanghai. And it was always so from the very beginning.”
Presented in nine chapters, the exhibition at the Long Museum displayed <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/lee-hye-ri-max-mara-prove-that-camel-hautest-hue-fashion-outerwear-celebrity-style" title="Lee Hye-ri and Max Mara Prove that Camel is the Hautest Hue" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Max Mara</a> and Sportmax looks, documents, textiles, photographic archives and furniture, fully illustrating the brand’s forever elegance and tailoring expertise. It was in these very galleries that Max Mara’s Cruise 2027 collection — a thoroughly modern set, elevated with paillettes, stripes and cubic patterns, which also paid tribute to the host city (think a stretch merino wool qipao, a quilted silk jacket, and a poplin shirt with a pankou fastening) — was shown.

Griffiths shares that creating the pieces of this collection was a most “satisfying project”. “We made those Chinese-inspired pieces 100 per cent part of the Max Mara story. For example, one of the first exits of the show is the qipao dress knitted in a beautiful linear yarn, with just one pankou fastening in leather. So everything is elevated to the Max Mara level of design,” he says.
In celebration of its anniversary, the brand also reissued 200 pieces per style of three archival coats, the cape-inspired Meridian from 1994, the wrap-style Metric from 2015, and the iconic Millenia from 1998. “The important thing about these coats, having said they are timeless, doesn’t mean they are bland. They have distinctive characters. You can still wear them today. In fact, the coats are already completely sold out, which is why you won’t see them in the exhibition. We were meant to put them in the gift shop, for people to buy, but there are none left. It’s an indication of Max Mara’s timelessness that those coats remain so valid today,” adds Griffiths with an assured smile.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Max Mara Creative Director Ian Griffiths tells L’OFFICIEL SINGAPORE all about the brand’s Cruise 2027 collection and its 75th anniversary initiatives

Hi Ian. The Max Mara Cruise 2027 show in Shanghai marks the house’s 75th anniversary as well as the staging of “The Max!” exhibition. In the process of putting the collection together, what resonated with you for such a big three-in-one moment?
The resort shows are all designed in some way to highlight an aspect of the Max Mara personality. For example, last year in Naples, we talked about the origins of Italian fashion and the role that Max Mara played in that, and the year before, in Venice, we talked about the origins of the luxury market. This year, for the 75th anniversary, I wanted to find the true essence of Max Mara. My first thought was that Max Mara is essentially a metropolitan experience, a metropolitan phenomenon. It’s for a woman who wants to engage fully with the city, works in the city, lives in the city, and wants to enjoy the city. I found a quote from Patricia Marx, an American journalist, that says, “New York may be the city that never sleeps, but Shanghai doesn’t even sit down”. And so we chose Shanghai as a venue to show in as a location, but also as an inspiration for the whole collection, which takes in some part Chinese costume or elements like the cheongsam and pankou fastening, and renders them in a completely modern way, not only for a local market, but thinking of the global market.&nbsp;
Speaking of the woman who loves the city, how do you define the Max Mara woman?
Smart, smart, smart. Her intelligence is what makes her beautiful and attractive, and she requires elegance in every situation. One thing that I hope will transpire from the exhibition when you see it, is that the narrative that Max Mara is telling has not changed since 1951. Maybe the details and the silhouettes of the clothes have changed, but the message is the same. She is a real woman, she exists in the world, she exists in a city like Shanghai. And it was always so from the very beginning.&nbsp;
Three iconic Max Mara coats, Meridian, Metricand Millenia, have been reissued in celebration of Max Mara’s 75th anniversary…
When you think about 75 years, it is the time to reflect on the company’s timeline and achievements. I have to say that the reason why we chose these coats to reissue is not for any nostalgic reasons or that we wanted to do something retrospective, but we want to show that they are still very modern. People ask me about timeless fashion and what it is, and I think the reeditions of these coats are a perfect illustration of what timelessness is. Although the coats were designed in the late 1990s, they have a completely timeless appeal. The important thing about these coats, having said they are timeless, doesn’t mean they are bland. They have distinctive characters. You can still wear them today. In fact, the coats are already completely sold out, which is why you won’t see them in the exhibition. We were meant to put them in the gift shop, for people to buy, but there are none left. It’s an indication of Max Mara’s timelessness that those coats remain so valid today.&nbsp;

Courtesy of Max Mara

How do you convince a woman who already owns that perfect Max Mara coat to get another one?
Well people have two houses, and have two cars, so why not have two coats? It’s an investment and a coat is an important item in the wardrobe that you build a relationship with. If you have two, it’s better, because you can alternate them. And if you have three, better still. It’s the same reason that people have a house in the city, a house in a rural location or by the beach. And people can have a family car, and a sporty car. So you can have two coats too, each with a slightly different character, for different aspects of your personality.&nbsp;
Back to the Cruise 2027 collection, how did you incorporate the Chinese elements into the collection?
It was about reducing everything to the essence, and removing decorative features, making everything work in a linear way so that the garment becomes modern and international, but with the Chinese influence and origin. We made those Chinese-inspired pieces 100 per cent part of the Max Mara story. For example, one of the first exits of the show is the qipao dress knitted in a beautiful linear yarn, with just one pankou fastening in leather. So everything is elevated to the Max Mara level of design. It was a very satisfying project, and I wanted to demonstrate that an international product can be locally inspired.&nbsp;
How did Chinese elegance inspire you?
I notice in Shanghai, which is a city that I’ve visited many times in the past few years, a lot of young people who are showing a revived interest in traditional costume and culture. When I first came here 15 years ago, there was less interest and knowledge in historical costumes. Now you see people wearing more and more historical costumes. There is a great elegance to the dresses that I wanted to express in the collection. I wanted to put this through the Max Mara machine and produce something totally modern. We left out the embroidery, the jacquards, the shiny satin fabrics, and made everything modern.&nbsp;

Coincidentally, the headline we gave our interview story in 2020 was “To The Max”, and you spoke about designing not for the runway or for social media, but for real women. Five years later, are there any changes to your creative process?
Every season is like the first season in some sense. Sometimes I lie awake at night and think, "Shall we do this or that?" Difficulties are different each time around. At the same time, that’s the guiding principle on which the company was founded: real clothes for real women. When we stick to that, everything works. But it’s not so easy to do that because every season is different and we encounter different problems every time. The ultimate objective is to design real clothes for real women. And maybe the inspiration and the intellectual framework behind the clothes is important to me, but the important thing in the end is that the clothes communicate with the consumer and the woman who wears them without her having to know anything about the intellectual framework. That’s just for us to know and to talk about. The clothes have to be absolutely immediate and have to communicate with her on a visceral level.
What continues to set Max Mara apart 75 years on?
Max Mara comes from a position of respect for the woman or man who wears it. We’re talking about men now too because we are showing three in the show this evening, because more and more men are wearing Max Mara. I think that the consumer discerns the respect that Max Mara has for women. There’s a kind of contract of trust between Max Mara and our customer. We will interpret fashion in a way that will always make her look her best. We talk about empowerment. For me, clothes that make you feel good enable you to do your job. Clothes that you can trust are what characterises Max Mara. But maybe I’m not the one to ask and you’ll have to ask the woman on the street. Even people who aren’t our customers tend to say they love Max Mara because of that respect that shows through.&nbsp;
Max Mara has been inspired by Bauhaus style over the years…
It was the intention of our founder, Achille Maramotti to establish Max Mara as the Bauhaus of fashion. His objective when he founded the company was to found a fashion brand that is about quality, not just the idea of material quality and the quality of manufacture, but the quality of design itself. And with an element of attainability — it is within reach of society. Not simply in economic terms, but the idea itself. It is something you can imagine yourself owning and wearing. What makes Max Mara work is the realness of it. It is like holding a mirror. And I want everyone to think: “I could be that person”. It seems like an obvious thing to say, but so much of fashion doesn’t do that. You can trust Max Mara to make you look and feel your best.&nbsp;

Heart Evangelista. (Courtesy of Max Mara)

Eileen Gu. (Courtesy of Max Mara)

Ming Xi. (Courtesy of Max Mara)

When you visited Singapore in 2020, you spoke about the streetwear movement and millennials wearing Max Mara coats with more casual things like sneakers. What is your attitude towards Gen Z, and how they are defined by gender fluid styling and nostalgic revivals?
I think gender fluid dressing has found us rather than we found it because you see more and more boys and men wearing Max Mara now, especially here in Asia. Today, we’ll be showing three boys on the runway. They will be wearing coats in their size. So they are a larger size that we normally have in our shops. They’re not styles specifically developed for men. We’re respecting that trend, which found us. Gen Z is present in its gender fluidity even within this collection. Max Mara has no intention to produce specific men’s collections, but one thing that has never happened in the history of fashion is men borrowing from women’s wardrobes. It was always the other way around. If you talk about unisex clothing, it was always about a men’s jacket or men’s trousers. But now men are borrowing back, so it has come full circle.&nbsp;
It has been 39 years since you joined the brand. You really feel and understand the house’s heritage. Is there a rule that you still swear by at Max Mara?
I never think: “I’ll do this because it will sell in large quantities”. That’s for another kind of person, for a merchandising person. It so happens I have this touch, I suppose, that people respond to. This is Max Mara, and it’s a winning formula.&nbsp;

Exclusive Interview! Ian Griffiths Delivers Maximum Impact for Max Mara's Cruise 2027 Show

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