In Venice, Max Mara wants to expand the beauty of the world with an extremely relaxed cruise collection

Cruise collections for major luxury houses mainly pursue three goals: to make people dream with stories, most often taken from the past, to take us to mythical lands to show off their versatility, and in the process to sell new desirable pieces in their stores. . In this game of special fashion shows, traditionally dedicated to the months of May and June, Italian Max Mara fulfilled the contract perfectly on the evening of Tuesday 11 June. After Berlin, Ischia, Lisbon and Stockholm, the house has picked its suitcases and yacht wardrobe in tranquil Venice, one of the world’s most beautiful cities born of the sea, with its winding streets, churches, canals and palaces. water has fascinated travelers since the dawn of time.

In the footsteps of Marco Polo

To heighten the magic, the luxury brand is authorized to show its collection in St. Mark’s Square of the Doge’s Palace, a Venetian Gothic masterpiece (this is the first time that (a fashion show takes place in this impressive building). So much for a show of power. On the side of history, as a collection background illustration Welcome to the city’s most famous great traveller, Marco Polo. The Venetian, who died just 700 years ago, was one of the first to venture into the distant lands of the Far East and brought back from his wanderings a travelogue, arguably the first ever written; The slogan of the world It is also called The book of miracles. A brief summary of the great story. In the 13th century, this inspired explorer left Venice at just 17 years old, traveled the Silk Roads and traveled East to China. Then he sat for almost two decades in the court of Kubila, the grandson of Genghis Khan, the great khan of the Mongol Empire.

New roads for silk and cashmere

Luxurious fabrics, silks, brocades, cashmere, embroidered fabrics, precious stones… because the son of a Venetian merchant, Marco Polo, was amazed by the riches of the East. Seven centuries later, Ian Griffiths, creative director of Max Mara, projects this opulent vision into even more luxury. quiet and modern, aimed at travelers talking about business and affairs in the four corners of the planet. “We didn’t want to make a drama for the BBC or a historical series on Netflix,” he explains with a laugh a few hours before the parade. The collection is aimed at the modern Marco Polo-influenced woman, a business woman who, for example, goes to New York to meet with a company CEO as intimidating as the great Khan. He goes there dressed in dresses and coats that give him a sense of confidence and omnipotence.

Elegant minimalism

Of which act. On Tuesday evening, at 20.00, the guests arrive at Palazzo Ducale. Among them are Kate Hudson and Brie Larson, the super heroine Captain Marvel And Avengers: endgame. Models parade under the arches of the first floor balcony. In the background, the sun sets over the bay and St. Mark’s Square. The collection naturally starts with shades of camel, gold, white, burgundy and then moves on to more nuanced silks like the ones Marco Polo might have brought back from Constantinople. But there is nothing literal about this chic minimalist wardrobe, which offers luxurious coats (trench or robe) as always made at home in camel wool and magnificent cashmere, with luxurious silk belts and XXL pompoms.

Cuts are clean and neat, loose black or white pants are to die for, bubble dresses play off the big night without anything flashy, while mini sweater dresses and precious short Bermuda shorts show off legs with grace and ease. Sensual and carefree elegance runs through the entire collection, which blends Western and Eastern hints in the image of Venice, an open city at the crossroads of two worlds. Some models wear large turban headpieces created by milliner Stephen Jones to give them the look. Girl with a pearl earring. Others wear a long braid on the lower back, like that of Mongol warriors, dotted with white pearls.

City travelers

The magnificence of the city of Doge is very present, but subtly distilled. There are tabarriWorn by Venetian gentlemen, these cloaks, with rich woven patterns of golden scrolls or stylized floral bouquets, as well as three princely coats (a cocoon-shaped one in black devore suede, a wool and cotton jacket and another in jacquard. The mosaics echo the mosaics on the floor of Olivetti’s showroom, which were designed by renowned Venetian designer Carlo Scarpa) designed in Max Mara’s custom tailoring workshops.

These elegant travelers, more urban than nomadic, walk the flats in strappy and pointy-toed ballerinas, sometimes carrying large shopping bags with delicate designs, while ultimately most often wandering around with their hands in their pockets. They may no longer be setting out to clear unknown lands, but they continue to march boldly and proudly into a world with many battles left.