In December 2016, the multimedia Chinese artist Liu Wei, renowned for his intricate cityscapes formed from piles of school books, created a metropolis-inspired runway set for Max Mara’s Pre Fall 2017 show, held inside the domed foyer of the Shanghai Exhibition Center. His collaboration was not simply a catwalk accompaniment, as the Italian label’s longtime creative director Ian Griffiths, also enlisted Wei to create a capsule collection imagined in the house’s neural hues.
Liu Wei
Inside Wei’s imagined metropolis, formed from mirrored, copper and gold columns and naturalistic orbs (installations that evoked Wei’s 2015 ‘Colors’ exhibition at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing), models walked wearing elegant shift dresses, sweeping cardigans and bomber jackets. These designs were imagined in a spectrum of browns and beiges and layered with aerial sketches of a fantasy city, or laser-cut with abstract topographical shapes. ‘[Liu Wei and I] produced something that has given me, as a designer, a new direction that I can incorporate now as part of the Max Mara identity,’ Griffiths told Vogue of the collaboration. Just like the hydraulic lifts which raised the roof of Wei’s city-centric catwalk installation, so the Chinese-Italian partnership bought new heights to the camel coat specialist’s DNA.
Ian Griffiths
INFORMATION
-
Highlights from the transporting Cruise 2026 showsThe Cruise 2026 season began yesterday with a Chanel show at Lake Como, heralding the start of a series of jet-setting, destination runway shows from fashion’s biggest houses
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to knowDesigning the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spotHeritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
The story behind Max Mara’s sensual Lisbon resort showDrawing inspiration from the author, intellectual and activist Natália Correia, Ian Griffiths tells Wallpaper* the story behind his sensually minded Max Mara Resort 2023 collection, shown last night in the gardens of Lisbon’s Calouste Gulbenkian Collection
-
Milan Fashion Week A/W 2021: designers riff on romp and relaxationMilan Fashion Week offered a wardrobe for life after lockdown, by brands including Fendi, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Valentino and Giorgio Armani
-
Max Mara A/W 2020 Milan Fashion Week Women's -
Max Mara S/S 2020 Milan Fashion Week Women's -
Chanel’s Mademoiselle Privé exhibition touches down in Shanghai -
Max Mara A/W 2019 Milan Fashion Week Women's -
Gucci and Maurizio Cattelan explore the power of appropriation in Shanghai show -
Max Mara S/S 2019 Milan Fashion Week Women's
