Max Mara Atelier Fall 2026: Hot Coat-ure

by · WWD
Max Mara Atelier Fall 2026 Couture Collection at Paris Fashion WeekCourtesy of Max Mara Atelier

Max Mara used Paris Haute Couture Week to make a statement, presenting its Atelier collection in the French capital for the first time and positioning the line as the pinnacle of the Italian house’s work.

Staged inside its newly revamped Avenue Montaigne flagship, the presentation highlighted where Atelier fits inside the larger brand.

“For us, Atelier is the couture of Max Mara,” said fashion director Laura Lusuardi.

This season, that vision was explored through “The Architecture of a Coat,” a collection inspired by the Brutalist, Bauhaus-influenced factory Max Mara built in Reggio Emilia in 1959.

For Lusuardi, whose father was among the brand’s first retailers and who joined the company in the 1960s, the building was more than a design reference. She spent four decades working there, making the collection a reflection of both the brand’s heritage and her own history.

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“A coat is architecture,” she said. “It has to be functional, but at the same time beautiful.”

That idea ran through every silhouette, from sharply tailored overcoats and redingotes to oversized shapes, cape coats and kimono-inspired styles. Rather than relying on embellishment, the line focused on proportion, construction and fabric.

The collection was built on shades of concrete grey, a nod to the original factory, before shifting into softer notes of rosewood, burgundy, navy blue and deep chocolatey browns. Color was less a palette than an attitude for the wearer, she said.

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The presentation also pulled back the curtain on Atelier’s design process. Sketches, patterns, toiles and fitting samples charted the journey from the designer’s first drawing to the finished garment, while a vintage Japanese kimono from the Max Mara archive was displayed center stage as one of the collection’s key references.

That translated into an obi-style tie belt on one design, which gathered its volume into what read as soft pleats on the reverse.

“Behind every coat there is always a creative idea,” Lusuardi said.

The collection also paid tribute to pioneering female architects including Gae Aulenti, Cini Boeri, Florence Knoll and Sophie Hicks. The latter is also the visionary behind the Paris store.

Their work reflects the same balance of structure, function and elegance that is the core of Max Mara, and they all had the same love of a crisp white shirt, Lusuardi said.

A symbolic red basting thread stitched through the Atelier pieces referenced the sewing school founded by Achille Maramotti’s mother, meant to link the collection to the company’s roots.

Presenting Atelier during couture week, Max Mara made the case that its signature garment should be viewed not simply as outerwear, but as a piece of craftsmanship.