Max Mara Spring 2027: Make Yourself Useful

by · WWD
Max Mara Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection at Milan Fashion WeekGiovanni Giannoni/WWD

Quiet luxury? Yawn.

“Utility lux!” Ian Griffiths chirped at 9:10 on Thursday morning, just ahead of a Max Mara show hinged on useful, functional garments like safari jackets, cargo vests and trench coats — even if the wearer never opens the bellows pockets, or fastens the storm flap.

“Tokens of a busy woman who’s got a busy life” was how the designer characterized such garments. “They make you feel like you’re equipped for your day.”

One of fashion’s longest serving creative directors — he’s been with the company nearly 40 years — Griffiths has been down the utility lane before, as the ’90s Max Mara ads tacked to his mood board attested, Carolyn Murphy looking resplendent in her safari suit of yore.

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Murphy shared the mood board with such adventurous, globe-trotting types as Amelia Earhart, Beryl Markham, Freya Stark and Osa Johnson, whose 1930s spirit could be felt in the pin curls, glacier glasses and jaunty Bermudas.

Here was another smooth, confident Max Mara show, free of gimmicks, overstatement and obvious trends. (There was only one visible bra, the most ubiquitous top this Milan season.)

And so you focused on the finesse of garments in such meaty linens and lustrous gabardines you could swear sometimes it was leather — and the slinky knit dresses, which were sexy without being too tight, too sheer or too revealing.

Cutout backs and halter necklines, perhaps not so functional, added some spice — as did a flight suit and a pair of cargo pants in black organza.

In Griffiths’ mind, the benchmark of utility in clothing comes down to empowering the wearer with timeless style and seamless wearability.

“Equipment for living,” he said, noting that he tests all his clothing designs on the women who work in his office to ensure they can be donned, and then forgotten.

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“I always say to anyone who wants my advice: If you put something on in the morning, or whatever time of the day, and you don’t feel comfortable, take it off straight away,” he said. “Wear something else because that feeling will only get worse throughout the day.”