Last night, Max Mara held a fashion show for the first time at the Collezione Maramotti; fifteen years after its founder Achille Maramotti founded the Reggio Emilia-based art museum. The space, which houses over 200 paintings, sculptures and installations from 1954 to present day, by artists including including Francis Bacon, Basquiat and Giuseppe Penone, was originally designed by architects Antonio Pastorini and Eugenio Salvarini in 1957. Prior to this, the location was home to Max Mara’s original headquarters and factory.
The Italian brand has long maintained a commitment to the arts: take the Max Mara Art Prize for Women which was established in 2005, its continued collaboration with artists on limited-edition sunglasses, or its Seoul-based exhibition ‘Coats!’ which opened last November, and featured an archive-inspired commission by London-based Korean artist Yiyun Kang.
For Max Mara’s Resort 2019 collection – imagined in a range of elemental colours, from midnight blue to zinc white, and featuring crinkly plissé dresses, androgynous tailoring and an innovative celebration of the brand’s signature sleek outerwear – creative director Ian Griffiths looked to early acquisitions housed in the Collezione Maramotti’s permanent collection. It is housed in 43 rooms, spanning the upper two floors of the museum. Manzoni’s china-clay on canvas ‘Achrome’ (1958) inspired folded textures, Twombly’s fascination with script was evoked in calligraphy knits, and Anselmo’s twisted iron and fustian sculpture 'Torsione' (1968), inspired coiled dress straps and shoes with intertwining ribbons.
The Collezione Maramotti also houses temporary exhibitions in its ground-floor spaces, which focus largely on 21st-century artworks. On view until Dec 2018 is ‘The Garden,’ by Swiss artist duo Lutz & Guggisberg. The exhibition, spanning five rooms, features photographs of sheds, tables, coloured plastic tubs, and rubber tubing piled up in abandon, and assemblages of found objects, like blocks of wood, bright plastic refuse and perspex boxes.
Just as Max Mara’s Resort 2019 show was the first held by the brand at the Collezione Maramotti, ‘The Garden’ marks Lutz & Guggisberg's debut Italian exhibition. Its pieces, made up of a near violent composition of throwaway abandoned items, provided a textural counterpoint to the double-faced cashmere, gauzy silk organza and camelhair wadded creations debuted in the rooms above.
Max Mara held its Resort 2019 show in the upper floor rooms of the Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, the space which houses the museum's permanent collection
Max Mara Resort 2019
Max Mara Resort 2019
'The Garden' by Lutz & Guggisberg, exhibition view at the Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, April 2018
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Max Mara website and the Collezione Maramotti website
-
Viviane Sassen considers fine art, fashion photography and fragility in ItalyViviane Sassen’s exhibition, 'This Body Made of Stardus' at Collezione Maramotti, spans two decades off Sassen's career
-
Ghanaian cuisine has a story to tell at Washington, DC restaurant ElminaThe new restaurant is chef Eric Adjepong’s colourful ode to the recipes he grew up loving
-
Pedro y Juana's take on architecture: 'We want to level the playing field’Mexico City-based architects Padro y Juana bring their transdisciplinary, participatory approach to the Mexico pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025; find out more
-
Celine Saint Honoré is dedicated to Hedi Slimane’s feats of savoir-faire and craftThe Celine store on Rue Saint-Honoré is designed to capture the spirit of Paris, showcasing the house’s most precious offering. Here, Wallpaper* captures Celine’s couture, Haute Maroquinerie and Haute Parfumerie collections in the luxurious space
-
Exhibition to explore the Bloomsbury Group through fashionSupported by Dior, Charleston’s ‘Bring No Clothes’ explores the Bloomsbury Group’s use of – and influence on – fashion, featuring works by Dior, Fendi, Comme des Garçons and more, alongside original clothing and ephemera
-
Summer games, from pétanque to pool floats, get a fashionable spinFrom a luxurious pétanque set to pool floats and playing cards, summer games and toys from the world’s best-known fashion houses
-
Canada Goose and Central Saint Martins celebrate next-generation changemakers in new London exhibition‘Keeping the Planet Cold’ – running from 17-21 February 2023 at London’s Lethaby Gallery – celebrates exceptional BA and MA fashion students in the field of sustainable and purpose-driven design
-
Mud pits to giant flowers, the best runway sets of S/S 2023The most transporting show sets of the S/S 2023 season, from Demna’s pit of mud at Balenciaga to a giant fibreglass anthurium flower at Loewe
-
New short film takes you behind the scenes at Margaret HowellA Working Space provides a behind-the-scenes look at 34 Wigmore Street, Margaret Howell’s London headquarters, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year
-
Samuel Ross announces fourth chapter of Black British Artist Grant ProgrammeAwarding Black British talent across design disciplines, this week designer Samuel Ross of A-Cold-Wall* launches the latest edition of his artist grant programme which is accepting applications now
-
In Memoriam: Issey Miyake (1938 – 2022)We remember fashion designer Issey Miyake, who has died aged 84
