RIDING ON: Max & Co. presented its latest &Co.llaboration capsule during Milan Fashion Week.
Called “Pony Ride,” it was created in collaboration with Efisio Rocco Marras and represented a very personal project for the designer, who is passionate about horses and is himself a keen rider.
The creative director of I’m Isola Marras and son of designer Antonio Marras, he brought his love of prints and colors to the collection, and was inspired by photographer Perry Ogden’s 1999 book “Pony Kids,” which documented members of the Irish Traveller traditionally peripatetic community with their horses.
“This was a really interesting project for me, I was given carte blanche by the company and had so much fun,” enthused the designer.
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He carefully researched the Max & Co. archives and took classic, functional suits and disrupted them with a playful spirit. He inserted tartan and Prince of Wales patterns into the fabric of rustic, masculine coats.
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Jackets had built-in vests and Marras said he enjoyed playing with women’s and men’s elements, pairing a checkered miniskirt with a traditional sartorial jacket. He lit up earthy colors with unexpected jolts of fuchsia and acid green.
A fan of knitwear, he started from this category, he said, offering a delectable selection of cardigans and sweaters with Irish motifs, but then grew the collection into a total look.
A ’60s A-line dress in a pink brocade pattern and two maxi bows reflected his mantra: “You must have a clear identity and differentiate yourself,” he observed.
The “Pony Ride” collection will be available online and in store starting from September.
Max & Co. is controlled by the Italian Max Mara Fashion Group, which kicked off the &Co.llaborations last September with a co-branded capsule for spring 2022 created with Margherita Maccapani Missoni. The capsules are aimed at linking with creative friends of the brand tasked with reinterpreting the house codes.