Coats!
The exhibition “COATS! Max Mara, 55 years of Italian fashion” is an enthralling journey through the history of Italian fashion following the history of coats, Max Mara's icon garment.
After the success of the first three exhibitions at the Kulturforum in Berlin (30 November 2006 - 4 March 2007), at the Mori Arts Center in Tokyo (18 October - 25 November 2007) and at the Namoc in Beijing (19 October - 12 November 2008), the retrospective will be soon presented in Spain and then in Italy.
Exhibition visitors can travel through the history of the Max Mara Group by admiring a selection of more than 70 coats from the fifties up to today, and exploring the origins of this fashion garment thanks to engravings, lithographs and prints from the 16th century up to the post-war period.
Furthermore, thanks to the sketches from the Company Archive visitors can discover Max Mara's collaborations with important stylists over the years: from Emmanuelle Khanh to Anne Marie Beretta, from Nanni Strada to Colette Demaye, including also Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Charles de Castelbajac, Luciano Soprani and Guy Paulin.
Another important section of "COATS!" is dedicated to fashion photography: Sarah Moon, Peter Lindbergh, Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, Craig McDean are only some of the prestigious photographers who have signed the Group's advertising images taking photos of some of the most famous models of the last forty years.
In addition, the exhibition includes a section dedicated to design and the industrial process to complete this fascinating 360 degree journey, perfectly represented by the installations created by Ico Migliore, partner of the famous firm Migliore+Servetto, which has also defined the coordinated image and graphics of the homonymous volume, enriched with critical contributions by Colin McDowell, Marco Belpoliti, Enrica Morini and Mariuccia Casadio.
Coats! In Beijing
After the success in Berlin and Tokyo the exhibition went to Beijing, at the prestigious National Art Museum of China, from 19 October to 12 November 2008.
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition a fashion show was organised in a spectacular location, an unused water cistern in the town's 798 district in a ex industrial park now seat of important international art galleries.