From the Chiamus archive: June 3rd, 2019 "MAX MARA RESORT 2020 – BERLIN"

(Images from the designer and the public domain. Credited to the photographer/company where applicable.)   

Max Mara Resort 2020 instills the modernist, post-cold war and maybe a new cold war reflections of our digitalized simulacrum and this can be seen and I refer of the late dissident French philosopher Jean Baudrillard's simulation theory, although not essentially a new concept, of information from past and present being recopied into a simulated repetition in a feigned attempt at understanding reality.  His theory, which borderlines on the science fiction, but holds some merit as an idea, is the process of creating a duplication or a Simulacrum; where in the end we actually begin to erode reality. This includes the aesthetics and the cues of fashion styles which highlight idealisms that may have come and gone but are reanimated to appeal to a romanticized nostalgia. Whatever the desires of resetting concepts of fashion as contemporary pieces, particularly late 1970s German modernist looks such as Ian Griffith's Resort collection for Max Mara, it is always interesting to see, designers attempt to remodel the image of a certain time in history as a focal selling point.  Griffith in an unrelenting way, with Berlin as a backdrop, has inserted the sharp and unyielding modernist looks which appear to be setting the stage as a trend going into the tail end of 2019. Maybe in time for a new cold war?

Observations of the collection have noted that there is a “Bowie-esque” feel to Griffith's Resort showing for Max Mara, to clarify what the David Bowie comparisons mean in context to what is represented as clean and defined styles.  Is the time that Bowie spent in West Berlin, working on the Berlin Trilogy albums. Inspired by the German electronic, ambient and experimental sounds that the West Berlin avant-garde music scene created.  This is the urban, defined and very unique concept of German music in the 70s.  But it was the electronic group Kraftwork, with their trench coats, clean cuts and modernist styles that Bowie was influenced by, so Griffith has truly portrayed a very Berlin impression to the overall collection.  Beautifully cut and crafted, representing a tailoring that is perfectly aligned as a sleek and modern inspired collection.  Despite it being a Resort collection, it does entail a cold overcast.  Which is fine, it is not a sombre collection as such, rather, styled in stern attributes as evening wear. Hence, the collection has a Marlene Dietrich seductive nonchalant persona attached.  Playing the part, split between opportunistic concepts.  Much like David Bowie achieved throughout his career.  

The color palette plays out like a blank slate, very muted tones of camel, grays, browns and creams with contrasts of red and various pattern work. Which makes sense as a themed collection, to smooth out the palette and allow the crafted styles to hold its own resonance. However, the cold war/West German ensemble of Griffith's modernist looks overshadow the attempt at Dietrich's romanticism - sans the flower patterns, with its dulled and mostly monochrome colors there is more or a reflection of its European roots of post communistic and political division, which may not be as forgivable as a marketable concept.

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(A.Glass 2019)