{"id":87760,"date":"2024-02-23T14:16:34","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T03:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&p=247862"},"modified":"2024-02-23T14:20:18","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T03:20:18","slug":"mfw-max-mara-fw24-ian-griffiths-interview","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/mfw-max-mara-fw24-ian-griffiths-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"MFW: Max Mara Looks To Belle \u00c9poque French Author Colette For A Masterclass On Subtle Seduction"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Throughout his tenure for the heritage, Italian luxuriate, Max Mara, creative director Ian Griffiths has lionised an often unsung heroine<\/a> whom history\u2019s lexicon may have omitted. For Fall\/Winter 2024,<\/a> this attitude was softened slightly, as Griffiths himself rejected my hypothesis from backstage after the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy inspiration this season is definitely a heroine, but not unsung because Colette has been acknowledged as being one of the pinnacles of French, feminist and world literature,\u201d Griffiths maintained in reference to the nexus of his new season panoply. Known by her mononymous sobriquet, Colette was a prolific French author operating during the turn-of-the-century period since referred to as Belle \u00c9poque. But over a century later and in Milan, her world view, complete with her sapphic dalliances own sartorial musings, found a home off the page on Max Mara\u2019s runway.<\/p>\n

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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAlthough she was a rebel,\u201d Griffiths mused in a voice note sent to this GRAZIA writer after the show about her mainstream sexual fluidity and pillaging of her personal life for content, \u201cshe was totally accepted by the establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was drawn to her because I\u2019ve always loved Colette and it was 150 years since she was born,\u201d Griffiths continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a very flimsy reason to base a collection on a person, I guess there is something about the style of Colette and her world that struck me as something that we could interpret, to produce something modern.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To modernise the past without feeling kitsch or camp is an especially prudent undertaking, but one Griffiths has proved he\u2019s more than capable of throughout his tenure at the helm of Max Mara. Though a recent haute couture show demonstrated an appetite for the Belle \u00c9poque\u2019s return, Griffiths looked to this revered Parissianne\u2019s wares with a gentle elegance. \u201cThere is something about the Belle \u00c9poque, the proportions and the silhouettes that I felt could become modern for today.\u201d<\/p>\n

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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Without conjecture, Griffiths streamlined the rigid shapes with fluidity. Employing knitwear as the collection\u2019s primary textile offered a softer, more subtle slant to refinement while keeping the garments close to the body. Throwing out the corsets and bustles, Max Mara introduced languid layering across hues of charcoal black, midnight navy, pewter and gunmetal grey and creamy sands. (Yes, Max Mara adherents will immediately recognise the absence of the house\u2019s signature shade, camel.)<\/p>\n

In this sumptuous fabric, Griffiths draped, flipped and coated models in relaxed shirting, soft peacoats and scooped sweaters with leniency. The mood board heavily referenced Colette\u2019s daywear\u2013both the agile sports jerseys for the streets and loose dressing gowns for her private salon\u2013with aplomb. But the trained eye might discern something more personal: an intimate photo of one of Griffiths\u2019 earliest creations dating back to 1985.<\/p>\n

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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Touching on this perspective, the designer explained how the sources are constantly evolving. \u201cMy mood board is only a synthesis of the things that inspire me. There are hundreds of images that spend some time on the mood board and get taken off.<\/p>\n

“But as a genre, I tend to be quite focused and the images on my mood board are photographs of Colette, other fashionable women in the wider Bois de Boulogne by Lartigue and just one photograph of two looks that I made when I was a student in 1985 that were part of my final degree collection, which was partly inspired by the same inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Max Mara Fall\/Winter 2024 mood board. Credit: Supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Upon retrospect, ideating on the same period almost 40 years apart is an almost unspoken allegiance to fashion\u2019s trend cycle and our appetite for referencing the past. But more accurately, and as Griffiths puts it, this self-reference \u201cclearly represents the spirit of the collection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though these pieces in their wrapped, kimono-esque form weren\u2019t immediately identifiable as pieces of Griffiths\u2019 personal history, he explained that they are the utmost resolute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe piece with the bull backs are special because those are the pieces I developed in college. Those meant a lot to me personally, but everything you develop for a collection in some way means something personally and I always think about every look in the collection as being like a baby.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This tender approach to meticulously craft each garment seen on the runway with care has become Griffiths\u2019 trademark<\/a>\u2014and his forte. For instance, his resurgence of the Teddy Coat<\/a> in 2013, a style that was originally designed in the 80s, was revived with a sense of modernity. A divisive act of enriching the codes of the house with the future permanently in mind. This was seen again in this collection, particularly in Australian model Gemma Ward\u2019s closing look as the silhouette was rendered not in the cozy fabric, but in an austere navy styled with the buttons open.<\/p>\n

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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yes, Griffiths can look back with ease but never wavers from what\u2019s ahead. The next season is still months away, but we can always count on the British designer to deliver contemporary staples appropriate to the tone of the times. He might never divulge his secret formula, but if the past informs the present, we can\u2019t wait to see what lies ahead. Onward bound, and bravo.<\/p>\n

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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Max Mara Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"author":42674,"featured_media":87761,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[17,16],"yoast_head":"\nMax Mara Designer Ian Griffiths On The Luxuriate's FW24 Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Max Mara creative director Ian Griffiths speaks to GRAZIA after the brand's FW24 show at MFW about inspiration and execution.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/mfw-max-mara-fw24-ian-griffiths-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EXCLUSIVE: Max Mara's Creative Director Speaks To GRAZIA About 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