MILAN, Italy — If the clothes that Max Mara showed for the Spring/ Summer 2026 collection weren’t quite as severe as the clean backdrop provided by Milan’s Palazzo del Ghiaccio, they definitely had a classical rigour about them. Ian Griffiths set out to offer a complete wardrobe—from jackets, dresses, and a trench coat to the longline gown that closed the show—in a way that softly mirrored a breakfast-to-bedtime vision of modern dressing.
That meant his emphasis was on what he felt was essential, and things were pared (and bared) down to the max. The palette, for instance, beige, black, and ivory, with smoked accents. And the silhouette, heavily streamlined for a breezier impact that felt very much now (a few sleeveless trench dresses made for winsome propositions).
There was delicacy in the balance of a two-piece in a black gauzy textile that met a single point at the hip. But the most encouraging aspect of the collection might have been Griffiths’ faith in his own voice as a creative.
“The theme this season is all about lightness and strength, capriciousness and playfulness. Playfulness with power,” Griffiths told reporters backstage post-show. “As you know, I like to think of things that are as alliterative as possible, but if anyone can think of a word that means lightness and strength, it’s power,” he adds. “I mean, I think everyone’s looking for a little escapism of poetry in their clothes right now, and they were last season too, but I don’t think that feeling’s diminished now. But this season, obviously, everything has to be light yet strong.”
He developed the Madame de Pompadour inspiration through the lens of the 1980s. “It’s the very first outfit I ever made for myself, and I made it out of lining material,” he explained. “I made it on the living room floor on my mum’s sewing machine, and wore it that night to Pips in Manchester. And so we reused the idea of petals for our Rococo theme this season. We looked at David Bowie a lot as well, and Cecil Beaton portraits of the Queen and Princess Margaret in the 1950s, which used a kind of Rococo and Fragonard paintings as a backdrop.”
The lineup also nods to clothes that empower, but in times of unrest, Griffiths finds his answer in defining what actually empowers his clientele. “If something’s too fussy and you can’t wear it easily, you don’t feel powerful,” he opined. “So our job is to give clothes in which you feel powerful. And power is something you notice by its absence: it comes from attitude, and fussy clothes don’t give you that feel,” he concludes, his face filled with cheer.
by Chidozie Obasi