Atelier Collection Max Mara FW 2025: Couture coats with a difference

Couture, by legal definition a French term, very occasionally finds its highest expression outside of France, like this week in Naples, when Max Mara presented its Atelier Collection for FW 2025.
A brilliant meeting of lush hybrid fabrics, French couture shapes, Italian finesse and fresh detailing — these were some of the best coats a lady will find anywhere on the planet this fall.
The collection was presented in Naples just one day before the Italian brand unveiled its latest cruise collection on Tuesday in Reggia di Caserta, the Bourbon palace often described as the Versailles of Italy.
Atelier Max Mara, instead, was shown inside Circolo Rari Nantes, a gentlemanly aquatic club magically located at the entrance to historic Santa Lucia port – the charming port smack in the centre of the Bay of Naples. This led to some great styling, with mannequins attired in bathing suits, frilly caps and flip-flops beneath this array of some 30 coats, as if they had just finished a swim off the dock of the club — rather like the icons on the mood board: '50s and '60s heroines like Maria Callas, Juliette Gréco, Nina Simone, Edith Bouvier Beale or Jackie Kennedy, the latter seen emerging from a New England beach in swimsuit and skull cap in her photo.
The brainchild of Laura Lusuardi, the septuagenarian designer who this year celebrates six decades working for Max Mara, this selection of new Atelier coats was arguably her best ever for the north Italian label.
'We wanted to mingle 90s minimalism, couture and a little grunge. All designed for women of character,' said Laura, whose mood board included, somewhat improbably, Kurt Cobain.
Like her muses, the coats referenced 50s French couture shapes, echoing designs by Balenciaga, Dior and Givenchy, but taking them somewhere new with rigorous editing, astute detailing and beautifully fresh fabrics.
One standout was an alpaca tweed redingote that swept around the torso, finished with a patent leather lapel or collar. Another was an alpaca/cashmere-blend double-breasted coat that hung perfectly, artfully complemented by wooden buttons.
Another tour de force was a jet black polyester coat, cut with a tuxedo jacket that morphed into a plissé skirt, with a leitmotif of red fabric strips or pocket flaps in the interior.
Skillfully aged collarless cabans and slimline cocoon coats with Mary Quant–high collars all looked great, worn by mannequins from whose hands dangled little 60s transistor radios.
It's hard to imagine any woman not wanting one — or perhaps even all — of these coats that blended a refined functional élan with a soupçon of stylish sizzle. 'My mother always says they are not coats to wear to mass on Sunday,' jokes Federica Lusuardi, her daughter and aide de camp.
Lusuardi is also the brainchild behind Max Mara's archive – one of the world's largest, much of it focused on French couture designers.
'We Italians are very, very good at making things, especially fashion. But when it comes to creation, Paris will always be the capital,' conceded Laura.
Lusuardi began working with Max Mara in the '60s, as a late teenager. Her brilliant career included projects in tandem for Max Mara with such Paris-based star designers as Karl Lagerfeld, Anne-Marie Beretta, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Giambattista Valli.
She has had multiple roles in the house, latterly in charge of Atelier, but also serving as a sort of interior minister of culture – regularly staging courses on great designers, with lectures by experts presented before installations of archive clothes and sketches. Focusing on legends like Saint Laurent, Kenzo, Courrèges or Chanel. Max Mara's archive boasts some 50 garments by Chanel, including one truly unique classic suit that belonged to Mademoiselle Gabrielle Chanel herself.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

LeMonde

2 hours ago

• LeMonde

Paris' iconic cauldron from the Olympic Games returns to light up summer nights

A year after it captivated crowds during the Paris Olympics, a centerpiece of the summer Games made a comeback Saturday, June 21, to light up the French capital's skyline. The iconic helium-powered balloon that attracted myriads of tourists during the summer Games has shed its Olympic branding and is now just called the "Paris Cauldron." It rose again into the air later Saturday, lifting off over the Tuileries Garden just as the sun was about to set. Despite the suffocating hot weather in Paris, around 30,000 people were expected to attend the launch, which coincided with France's annual street music festival — the Fête de la Musique, the Paris police prefecture said. And it won't be a one-time event. After Saturday's flight, the balloon will lift off into the sky each summer evening from June 21 to Sept. 14, for the next three years. The cauldron's ascent may become a new rhythm of the Parisian summer, with special flights planned for Bastille Day on July 14 and the anniversary of the 2024 opening ceremony on July 26. Gone is the official "Olympic" branding — forbidden under International Olympic Committee reuse rules — but the spectacle remains. The 30-meter (98-foot)-tall floating ring, dreamed up by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur and powered by French energy company EDF, simulates flame without fire: LED lights, mist jets and high-pressure fans create a luminous halo that hovers above the city at dusk, visible from rooftops across the capital. Though it stole the show in 2024, the cauldron was only meant to be temporary, not engineered for multi-year outdoor exposure. To transform it into a summer staple, engineers reinforced it. The aluminum ring and tether points were rebuilt with tougher components to handle rain, sun and temperature changes over several seasons. Though it's a hot-air-balloon-style, the lift comes solely from helium — no flame, no burner, just gas and engineering. The structure first dazzled during the Olympics. Over just 40 days, it drew more than 200,000 visitors, according to officials. Now anchored in the center of the drained Tuileries pond, the cauldron's return is part of French President Emmanuel Macron's effort to preserve the Games' spirit in the city, as Paris looks ahead to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Local France

3 hours ago

• Local France

French Expression of the Day: Sourire du plombier

Why do I need to know sourire du plombier ? If ever you find yourself in a supermarket or Metro when someone bends down just that little bit too far and you get a vision that you would have preferred to live without, sourire du plombier is the phrase for you. What does it mean? Sourire du plombier - pronounced as soo-rear-du-plom-be-ay - literally means 'the plumber's smile' but it also has a figurative meaning. It's that slightly embarrassing encounter between a customer and the beginning of their craftsman's buttock and is the equivalent to the English phrase 'builder's bum'. Advertisement It occurs when one person is leaning forward or squatting and the elastic has slightly gone in their trouser waistband. The French version is a little broader, however, and also refers to the sighting of underwear above trousers. In other words, almost every male teenager across the world is guilty of showing a sourire du plombier . Interestingly, a French company identified this style issue and created a line of boxer shorts specifically designed to hide your sourire. Use it like this Si tu te penches encore plus, je verrai bien plus qu'un simple sourire du plombier. If you bend over any further, I'll see a lot more than just a plumber's smile.

Fashion Network

10 hours ago

• Fashion Network

Giorgio Armani, convalescing, will absent from men's shows in Milan

Italian designer Giorgio Armani, "currently convalescing at home", will be absent from his two shows at Milan Fashion Week presenting the men's collections for spring-summer 2026, his fashion house announced on Friday. The 90-year-old designer will therefore not be present at the Emporio Armani show scheduled for Saturday and the Giorgio Armani show scheduled for Monday. "In his absence, Leo Dell 'Orco, head of design for the men's collections, will greet the public at the end of the shows," the house said in a statement. Even in his absence, Giorgio Armani, who "has worked with his usual commitment on the collections to be presented", "will closely follow every step of the shows", it stressed. An empire-builder in the luxury goods industry, "il re Giorgio" ("King Giorgio") is a visionary designer who has distinguished himself in haute couture, ready-to-wear, accessories, perfumes, jewelry, interior design and luxury hotels in cities such as Milan, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai. Rome, June 20, 2025 (AFP)