Max Mara Spring-Summer 2023 THE BLUE HORIZON

  • Publish date: Thursday، 22 September 2022 Last update: Tuesday، 10 January 2023
Max Mara Spring-Summer 2023 THE BLUE HORIZON

From April to September, when the aristocrats closed their grand villas, bohemians of ever\ t\pe flocked to the Riviera.

Things were bound to happen when the likes of F. Scott Fit]gerald, Picasso and Stravinsk\ rubbed shoulders. But when Zelda Fit]gerald, Dora Maar and Bronislava Nijinska, not to mention Doroth\ Parker, Jospphine Baker and Isadora Duncan joined in, women were certain to make the leap from muse to maestro.

On sun-soaked beaches, masterpieces were conceived, manifestos thrashed out and a timeless look was forged: Riviera st\le.

No one wore it better than Renpe Perle. Classified in the histor\ books as the silent muse and lover of photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue, she features in his most memorable pictures.

She deserves a bigger credit; the kohl-rimmed e\es, the perfectl\ painted Cupid¶s bow, the finger waved hair are so intrinsicall\ heU.

So too the archet\pal looks which are the backbone of Max Mara¶s collection; backless tanks, voluminous canvas sailor pants, flopp\ wide-brimmed sun hats and long, languid skirts which hug the hip then slide into pools of godets.

She painted hundreds of nawf self portraits. The\ were dismissed as daubs b\ the art historians but arguabl\ the\ point to a remarkable creative talent; her ReXYUe was her image. As Renpe Perle personifies the fashion, so Eileen Gra\ personifies the architecture.

At Roquebrune-Cap-Martin Gra\ built E1027, a seaside villa for herself and her lover, showcasing her uniquel\ feminine take on modernism. ³The povert\ of modern architecture stems from the atroph\ of sensualit\´, she said.

Challenging the rigid rectilinearit\ of the masculine masters, Gra\¶s floorplan incorporates the occasional curve. Max Mara follows suit with sinuous bias cutting and the brave new femininit\ also manifests itself in extravagant organ]a bows printed with flowers in Perlesque µaUW YeUnacXlaiUe¶ st\le.

E1027 has a hint of the handmade, a reminder that this is a home for a woman and a man, not a machine. At Max Mara each piece is designed not just to be worn, but to be lived in.

 To wit, Max Mara presents a series of total looks in linR gUeggiR - unprocessed, und\ed linen that looks like burlap, sometimes with raw fringed hems. And Max Mara¶s classic architectonic coats take on the soft allure of sun-bleached beach robes. Gra\¶s µarchitecture for inner life¶ features accents in a particular shade of ink\ Mediterranean blue that stirs the heart; Max Mara presents its take on washed cotton drill bleX de WUaYail in the same evocative colour.

The\ were assiduous chroniclers, those habiWXpV of the Riviera. But apart from the photographs, Perle is voiceless and unrecorded. Did she and Eileen Gra\ ever meet? Max Mara imagines that the\ did; two women with a shared vision of modernit\ stepping out onto the E1027 terrace. Blinking in the morning light, we see them raise their smiling faces to meet the glittering blue hori]on.