Max Mara’s Fall/Winter 2024 collection sits at the nexus between the urbane and the sensual. Inspired by Colette, the pen name of French novelist and actress Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (known for her works Gigi, Claudine and Chéri), the line reflects a distinct equilibrium between creative flow and defined structure.
There is an androgyny in the shapes – tailored blazers, longline coats, neutral leathers and wools – inspired by their muse, Colette, who often dressed in menswear. Yet, it doesn’t steer too far from the romance and seductiveness of the golden era in Europe, known as the Belle Époque.
Romance is written into the collection, much like how Colette wrote it into her manuscripts. The collection ran alongside a single quote from Sleepless Nights in her Collected Stories, “Are you asleep? No, if I put my cheek against yours, I feel your eyelashes flutter like the wings of a captive fly. […] All my body yields itself up to sleep, relaxed, and my neck weighs heavily on your gentle shoulder; but our thoughts unite in love discreetly across this blue dawn, so soon increasing.”
This intimacy and quietness is signified throughout the collection, with drapery softening skirts and blazers, and thin belts on waists conveying an essence of femininity. Max Mara explains this vision, “The fullness of lips, napes of necks, eyelashes; they feature a lot in Colette’s [body of work].”
Yet, the palette remains reserved, metropolitan, where inky black, deepest navy and utilitarian camel mix in an array of greyscale.
The neutral palette is also born of the collection’s muse, who said, “There are connoisseurs of blue just as there are connoisseurs of wine.” While Colette’s spirit sits at the forefront of this collection, there is a distinct ‘Max Mara’ fingerprint across the whole line, with authoritative over coats, impeccable tailoring and powerful jackets underpinning their exploration.
It’s safe to say that Max Mara has declared that black is back (or at least, still very much at the fore). In the same vein, while the collection did hero some trousers with lovely silhouettes, skirting is front of mind – including both mini and maxi lengths.
As Colette’s characters embrace numerous accessories (the perfect outfit, a dab of lipstick or tap of powder) so does this collection, with calfskin bags, thin strap belts and glistening embellishments a highlight.
It’s sophisticated, intelligent, sensual and self-assured.
Much like how Colette’s work has withstood the test of time due to its universal relatability (“Love, the bread and butter of my pen,” she wrote), the classic lines and silhouettes of this collection are designed to be a life-long love.
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