At this point, has reached “epidemic proportions”, says creative director Ian Griffiths. “It’s total silence!” jokes the designer, who is speaking on the morning of the brand’s , which has seen the fashion pack (along with Kate Hudson, Yara Shahidi, Brie Larson and Alexa Chung) decamp to Venice. This might come as something of a surprise from the man who presides over the brand acolytes look to for that staple of the quiet luxury wardrobe: the camel coat.
But reflecting now on the minimalism of the ’90s – the era Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy epitomises and that continues to hold fashion (and Instagram) in its thrall – Griffiths describes it as “one of the most boring times” for a designer. “It got to the stage where all you could do was a pencil skirt and a tunic top..
.” Could it be that this master of understated polish has grown tired of it? Not quite. The impossibly charming Griffiths simply rejects – albeit in the politest of terms – the minimalist label altogether, even though “I know that’s a word that’s used to describe us”.
“Clean lines, yes,” he clarifies. “But we’re not averse to a little detail, or a little embellishment even, every now and then.” In Max Mara’s new resort collection, unveiled on Tuesday night in the magnificent loggia of Venice’s 14th-century Palazzo Ducale as dusk fell over St Mark’s Square below, those “little details” came in the shape of rope tassel belts, inflated sleeves and – most poign.