70 Years of Max Mara Told by Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti and Ian Griffiths
Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti, third generation of the family, and Ian Griffiths, creative director of the house, recount 70 years of creation by Max Mara.
A great "Made in Italy" brand; Max Mara was founded in 1951 in Reggio Emilia by Achille Maramotti. In 1925, her mother opened a sewing and pattern-making school in the city, having inherited her passion for fashion from her grandmother, who had run a workshop in a downtown alley since 1850.
Understanding that the destiny of clothing was destined to change after the war, the young man turned to America, to the efficiency of industrial processes which he wished to graft onto the know-how of Italian craftsmanship and laid the foundations of transalpine ready-to-wear.
Then Max Mara grew and developed abroad: Real clothes for real women. While Parisian couturiers create for the great ladies of the nascent jet-set, the Italian brand is aimed at the wives of notaries, doctors and lawyers. Women not yet freed from the traditional family scheme, but who – thanks also to these elegant and quality looks – are gradually conquering their place in the world.
The absolute emblem of Max Mara is the coat, another intuition of Maramotti, who was named Cavaliere del Lavoro (Knight of the Order of Labor Merit) in 1983 by the then President of the Republic, Sandro Pertini.
Ludmilla, Manuela, Teddy Bear and 101801, the absolute best-seller, designed by French designer Anne-Marie Beretta for the brand in 1981: These are the most significant models, all stemming from the idea of giving women a coat inspired by male models. It's as if the founder understood their need to leave the house with something that not only protects them from the cold, but above all gives them more security and assurance, what today we would call empowerment.
To pay tribute to Max Mara's 70th birthday, L'Officiel asked Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti and Ian Griffiths to tell us about the brand.
L'OFFICIEL: What kind of effect does Max Mara's 70th birthday have on you?
Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti: For a company, 70 years is a long time, and in the case of a fashion company, the passage is even more significant. It seems to me that it is because it is a sector in constant evolution which has further accelerated over the past twenty years. There are a number of houses that have lasted this long, but not all of them have maintained the same importance over time. I think of our history and see a significant legacy. I deliberately chose the word “heritage” because it evokes the ability to bring what came before into the present. Max Mara has been around for 70 years because it has always been a company able to connect with the present, far from any nostalgic approach.
Ian Griffiths: I think it's important to reflect on the fact that Max Mara has always followed Maria Giulia's grandfather's brilliant idea: Real clothes for real women. A very simple formula that we still apply today because it is the key to being in tune with the here and now.
L'O: What were the brand's other winning intuitions?
IG: I always felt that Max Mara transmitted a form of undeclared feminism. When I joined the company in the early '80s, we didn't talk about it because it was too politically related, but over time we realized how much Max Mara spread the values of female emancipation. I would call it pragmatic feminism because it was never about burning bras, but the message given to women was always to do the best they could for themselves. I think it comes from the mind of Chevalier Maramotti's mother, who wanted to send her son to university and create a school of model making. You only have to look at the pamphlets she wrote to understand how much she was actually teaching women how to live more consciously, how to improve themselves.
MGPM: Yes, my great-grandmother was a feminist ante litteram! I would also add that she never wanted a superstar designer, a logical choice because my grandfather was not a great designer. Many important designers have collaborated with the brand, but the only real protagonist has always been the woman who wears Max Mara.
L'O: What is luxury by Max Mara?
IG: The brand is often described as a luxury product and I challenge that because, for me, luxury is something that is expensive and unnecessary. Max Mara isn't cheap, but it's a kind of gear for life. She dresses those who want to go their own way with a wardrobe that helps them get where they want to go. Our clothes are clothes that make you stronger, the opposite of luxury.
MGPM: We are associated with luxury on a commercial level, but for us, the issue is value, not price.
L'O: It is impossible to celebrate this anniversary without thinking of the founder of the brand, about whom we actually know very little. Do you have a memory of him that you would like to share with readers?
MGPM: I could talk for hours about my grandfather. I was very close to him and family was of extraordinary value to him. He was a very open man, with his children as with his grandchildren. When I was little, my mother took me to the company canteen, not without going through my grandfather's office. He was there with his cigar and his paintings. He exuded incredible energy, curiosity and love for the life that he, I think, lived with great depth. And then he was a very concrete man.
IG: I had only been in the business for a few days and I saw this gentleman walking down the halls in a white coat, like everyone else, but there was something different about him. He was really charismatic. Often he would bang his fist on the table while he was working and I, young as I was, was almost shaking, but I always saw in his eyes alight of great kindness and generosity.
L'O: Have any of his teachings been particularly dear to you?
MGPM: I recognize myself a lot in his love of life. My grandfather was truly unique, and yet, what's crazy is that, even though we all missed him all the time, after he passed away, the company was able to adopt the attitude of business as usual. I think that's his most extraordinary legacy.
IG: To me, it taught me the importance of decision. He often said that if you don't make a decision, you are sure to be wrong. It is important to be convinced of your choices.
L'O: Is there a new audience that Max Mara wants to address?
MGPM: For a brand, the risk is to remain fixed on the generation it targeted at the time of its birth. It happens that one is modern at a certain time, then that one remains a prisoner of this idea of modernity. Until the digital revolution, the aesthetic archetypes and the value archetypes remained quite similar, but afterwards, we saw a strong discontinuity in the generational transition. Women between the ages of 18 and 25 have grown up with completely different tools compared to those who came before them, and in their imagination, we are important, as an iconic image. Today, we have to pay a lot of attention to the language through which we communicate with them.
IG: In a world where there are so many worthless products, I think Max Mara is a bit like a rock in the ocean, which is why it attracts the curiosity of young people.
L'O: Alongside the quality of the brand, is there room for surprise?
IG: It would be a mistake to make a move just to surprise. Everything we show is based on genuine motivations, think for example of the Fall/Winter 2017-18 show where Halima Aden wore a hijab on our catwalk. We didn't want to shock, just depict the Max Mara world in its multiplicity.
MGPM: Provocation, I understand it with some of our competitors because it's their style, but it's not part of us. On the contrary, we must open our doors more and make ourselves known. There was a time in history when choosing discretion paid off, but today I think it's important for the world to know more about who we are and what we do.
L'O: What is your favourite Max Mara piece?
MGPM: The Manuela coat is the one that looks the most to me. This is one of our favourite models, perhaps the simplest and least celebrated. I like it because it is minimal and substantial.
IG: For me, it's the one that hasn't been drawn yet. Of course, a success like that of the Teddy Bear (created by Griffiths in 2013, editor's note) does not happen every year, but I work on a type of shape that is missing from our essentials.
L'O: What does being part of the Max Mara family mean to you?
MGPM: It's the continuation of my private life. In fact, there is no distinction between the two. At home, we always talked about work in a transparent way, it's part of me.
IG: I remember Maria Giulia when she came with her mother. She was walking around the office, looking at the sketches, trying out the pencils. She grew up with us, she always knew what a designer was, how a style office worked. Max Mara is a family within the company, which means relationships of great trust. I work with people I knew twenty or thirty years ago: between us, we can be honest.
Translation by Hélène Guillon
