#MFW: MAX MARA Spring Summer 2020 Collection

Discover Max Mara‘s Spring Summer 2020 collection inspired by a female-led spy action movie yet to be made, and the work of Primetime Emmy award winner Phoebe Waller-Bridge, presented on Thursday, September 19th, during the ongoing Milan Fashion Week.

Pastel colours are without any room for mistake the ultimate hit of the spring summer 2020 season, nevertheless Max Mara Creative Director Ian Griffiths and his team were inspired by a very stylish villain for this season. The fashionable Villanelle created by writer Phoebe Waller Bridge for the hit show Killing Eve and her showstopping outfits inspired the Creative Director and the whole Max Mara team. The investment piece coats from Max Mara could no doubt be key pieces in Villanelle’s chic wardrobe.

Taking on Villanelle’s killer looks were top models Adut Akech, Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, Joan Smalls, Birgit Kos, Grace Elizabeth, Grace Hartzel and Karia Gerber as well as supermodel Doutzen Kros. 

Spring Summer 2020 Womenswear

Discover all the looks from the Spring Summer 2020 Max Mara collection presented in late September during MFW days:

“‘Fiction needs more female spies,’ says feminist writer Natasha Walter, ‘after all, women are trained to keep secrets’. Her fiction debut A Quiet Life puts a woman at the centre of a spy thriller. She’s not the first –action adventuress Modesty Blaise has been around since 1963- but she’s one of very few. The latest is the BBC America phenomenon Killing Eve. It has won a bunch of accolades (with nine Emmy nominations pending) and its writer, woman-of-the-moment Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been hired to polish the script of the new Bond movie. Due to premier next Spring, Waller-Bridge says it will ‘treat women properly’. And hopefully we will get a dash of her tongue-in-cheek humour.

Max Mara imagines the wardrobe for a film yet to be made. All the tropes are there, but turned around. Modesty Blaise is the new 007. She admires Bond’s elegance, but questions his modus operandi. Bumpy car chases, shootouts and cataclysmic explosions -dangerous, dirty and unnecessary, she thinks. With a strategic hint and a well laid trap, she manoeuvers her adversary into surrender. No need for a gun then, but the holster makes for a very stylish design detail.

Our film begins in London; a car rides through rain streaked Whitehall, heels click briskly in the corridors of power, the dark hush of a wood paneled office. She wears spy-style trenchcoats and sharp shouldered three-piece trouser suits in ‘sharkskin’ and Prince-de-Galles. Later, lunch at a discreet Mayfair watering hole; she wears a playful mix micro foulard prints in black and white. To the airport; she never travels without a generously proportioned bush jacket and a perfectly designed Whitney bag. The latest are small, soft and neat or big enough for overnight (you never know). A private jet delivers our heroine to a palm fringed island. She crosses the glittering bay by speed launch to a sequestered hideaway. She favours tropical military uniforms –shorts that graze the knee and multi-pocketed shirts in eau-de-nil, shell pink, and powder blue. Perfect for keeping cool when chasing through the jungle.“

View Gallery 58 images

Makeup: Tom Pecheux at Callisté Agency
Hair: Sam Mcknight at Premier For
Music: Johnny Dynell
Models: Abby Champion, Achenrin Dut Madit, Adut Akech, Ajok Madel, Alina Bolotina, Amira Pinheiro, Anok Yai, Bella Hadid, Bente Oort, Birgit Kos, Candice Swanepoel, Cara Taylor, Caroline Knudsen, Cynthia Arrebola, Deirdre Firinne, Doutzen Kroes, Emily Driver, Faretta, Fei Fei Sun, Gigi Hadid, Giselle Noorman, Grace Elizabeth, Grace Hartzel, Hannah Motler, He Cong, Hiandra Martinez, Hyunji Shin, Joan Smalls, Joanna Krneta, Kaia Gerber, Karolyn Soares, Kayla Ramsey, Kris Grikaite, Lara Mullen, Lineisy Montero, Maria Miguel, Mona Tougaard, Nina Marker, Penelope Ternes, Rachelle Harris, Rebecca Leigh Longendyke, Sora Choi, Ugbad, Vittoria Ceretti, Yang Ling, Yorgelis Marte
Images Courtesy of © Max Mara / Kwang Sia