75
Years of Future.
Years rooted in tailoring expertise, technology, and innovation.
Years anticipating need and interpreting moods.
Years of timeless elegance.
Years, and counting.
The spaces of Shanghai's Long Museum open their doors to the discovery of the Max Mara living archive through "The Max!", an exhibition curated by Olivier Saillard and with Gaël Mamine as associate curator. Celebrating the brand’s 75th anniversary, the exhibition will be open to the public from June 17th to 28th, 2026.
THE MAX!
Conceived as a living archive, "The Max!" takes its name from the founder's intuitive choice of a word signifying the maximum—the very best—to name the brand. The exhibition recreates the vibrant atmosphere of BAI – Biblioteca e Archivio d’Impresa. Founded in 2003 in Reggio Emilia, this institution collects, organizes, and preserves Max Mara’s historical heritage.
"The Max!" is more than an exhibition;
it is a privileged journey into the archives of a brand that, for over seven decades, has turned the profound sentiment of creation into a universal garment.
Entering an archive means exploring a space that is immediate and constantly evolving.
Inspired by the precision of archival vaults, 'The Max!' echoes the visionary conservation centres established by Max Mara in Reggio Emilia.
The exhibition space invites to explore and discover Max Mara's heritage in a unstructured and dynamic way.
Walking amongst the shelves, the visitor passes through key principles deeply rooted in the house's heritage. At its core, the origins ('A Tailoring School') and the first collections ('Dressing the Era'), live near Max Mara's present ('Resort 2027', presenting the latest collection). The house's legendary pieces ('Timeless Icons') and its rigorous approach ('The Art of Cutting'), bear witness to a key concept in Max Mara's vision: that of permanence.
Instead of fleeting trends, Max Mara offers a wardrobe designed for the long term, a collection meant to accompany a lifetime ('Beyond Ephemeral'; 'Clothing for Life'; 'Authority of Style'; Wardrobe Vocabulary'). Alongside its impeccability and modern classicism, Max Mara has also a playful spirit (Playing with Appearance'), that finds expression in the colorful collections of Color Pop, Sportmax and Teddy Coat variations.
Measuring the body, studying its anatomy, tracing its contours in simple lines on paper and beige canvas; pinning abstract shapes, assembling volumes of fabric, and bringing a garment to life—these are the ambitions of fashion sciences. It is also an Art when, through repeated practice and instruction, the acquired technique elevates the garment into a work of style and creation. From reality turned into a dream, Max Mara has nurtured this connivance since the founding figures, his aunt and mother, Marina Rinaldi and Giulia Fontanesi Maramotti, established a tailoring school and published fashion manuals. This scholarly heritage was transformed in 1951 by Achille Maramotti into a fashion label: Max Mara, a brand defined by a timeless and exacting narrative.
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In the early 1950s, a brand-new building in Reggio Emilia, Italy, came into being. Its glass façade and bold transparency generously invited the light within. This became the headquarters for the manufacture and design studios that Achille Maramotti fervently desired for the development of Max Mara’s collections. Guided by his mother’s tailoring traditions, Achille created the workshops where clothing collections are now brought to life. Although he admired Parisian haute couture, he sought to approach fashion through the principles of the nascent democratization of ready-to-wear. Priority is given to noble materials and refined shapes that accompany elegance rather than governing it.
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In the second half of the 20th century and the first decades of the next, Max Mara solidified an undisputed savoir-faire in the creation of coats. Using the finest wools, camel hair, cashmere, and alpaca, Max Mara has never ceased refining its style. The renewal of forms is guided by continuity and timeless clarity. Beyond passing fads that vanish, Max Mara coats confidently pursue the path of eternal elegance. Models that have become emblematic through repeated success—the 101801, the Ludmilla, the Manuela, and the "Teddys"—have earned their distinction through the discreet chic they cultivate for all women and all styles. Camel is sovereign, beiges assert themselves naturally, and the red present since the very first collections unfolds like the fil rouge upon which future garments are built.
Just as piano notes act upon unchanged keys yet compose ever-new melodies, the Max Mara feminine wardrobe operates with the same balance and constant reinvention. Within this paradox, the label has built lasting benchmarks that today confirm a relationship with fashion based on respect and longevity. Decade after decade, faithful to the terminology of an elegance that reveals itself best without making a sound, Max Mara garments associate with the greatest calm, like the shadows of those who wear them. Year after year, because one cannot do without them regardless of passing trends, they act as the "melodies in blue" of the daily lives they traverse.
Since its creation in 1951, the ready-to-wear garments born from Max Mara collections have dressed everyone, without exception. They interrogate the body and its movements, accompanying gestures with empathy and tenderness. Reassuring colors, occasionally punctuated by red, embrace beiges, camels, and blues with a distinction that transcends the ordinary. The coats, the jackets, and the dresses blend together in a single community of spirit—a commitment to lines and volumes that always dominate unnecessary artifice. To the short-lived bursts of fashion, Max Mara garments prefer the "long game" and the nobility of the everyday as their mission.
Amidst the unstable appearances where fashion delights in redefining terms to the point of contradiction, Max Mara has proven its commitment to creating garments that present themselves with sincerity. Materials and fabrics seem barely diverted in their destiny by forms directed only by the anatomy of function and appearance. Colors, faithful to the palette imposed by nature, are not instruments of superficiality. Whether in daywear or eveningwear such as long gowns, Max Mara draws from the artifice of an authentic, unadorned elegance. Draped, knotted, buttoned, or belted, the vast vocabulary of garments that Max Mara supports with conviction does not exclude whimsy, provided it stands the test of time
Across the decades since the 1950s, Max Mara has established itself through the authority of a style that never contradicts past proposals with those yet to come. The rigor of the cuts caresses silhouettes that are soothed by washes of monochrome color. Max Mara’s fashion arguments are timeless, following the lines of femininity without ever overpowering them. Like a prevailing, complicit wardrobe, Max Mara garments establish a lasting presence, occasionally oscillating between masculine tailoring and feminine dressing, embodying modern classics to keep forever.
The creation of a jacket concentrates the techniques and knowledge of the tailoring craft. From lapels, to the lined interiors, the coats and the jackets are a true encyclopedia of knowledge — featuring hidden, precious details invisible to the naked eye. This silent virtuosity has been maintained by Max Mara across decades. From this structure of constraints and rigorous practices, Max Mara has achieved a stylistic translation where masculine and feminine aesthetic traits remain invariant, working toward a stable wardrobe—an effigy of the personalities it highlights, whether dressed in understated suits or refined gowns.
Alongside the signature colors that built the wardrobe’s recognition, Max Mara also anchors other hues to its lexicon. Since 1965, Sportmax has lent itself to this game, evoking vibrant and "pop" nuances within a pioneering wardrobe. Vivid greens, sharp yellows, and azure blues interpret a fashion determined by daily movement and singularity. Intense red, always an ally, ventures into textile pieces of noble and natural shades. These fashion creations—sketches of an era they sometimes anticipate—generously express the atmosphere that governs new ideas.
