Founded in Reggio Emilia, Italy by Achille Marimotti in 1951, MaxMara began producing a superior quality of ready-to-wear, with a specialization in high-end outerwear.
The company now has multiple brands, including Sportmax, Penny Black, Marina Rinaldi, MAX & Co and many others, all focusing on clothing and accessories.
MaxMara has always embraced and celebrated talent, even from the days before designers were called designers, but rather, clerici vagantes, who would offer their creativity to different fashion companies. Whereas most companies would simply have designers buy fashion plates from which they would draw ideas for different garments, at MaxMara a system was implemented to circulate and discuss ideas involving the entire company in order to produce pieces with a unique identity that were free of the confines of other fashion houses.
An interesting fact is that MaxMara has always first and foremost relied on the quality, of the materials, of the patterns, the designs, to achieve the brand imprint. Whereas other fashion houses attach themselves to a celebrity designer, MaxMara invites these talented designers to collaborate with their existing teams on various collections in secrecy. Only after the collection has passed do they reveal the name of the famed designer, further protecting their brand as one of quality above all else. Designers who have participated include Karl Lagerfeld (1971), Jean Charles de Castelbajac, and Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough (Proenza Schouler).
Today the company remains true to its roots as a classically modern brand where sophistication, timelessness and trend blend seamlessly together in high quality items.
Photo Credits: MaxMara Fall Winter 2008/2009
