Dior has flou. Chanel has tweed suits. Max Mara has coats. You can't quite call the Max Mara Atelier collection haute couture. According to a rep, about 85 to 90 percent of each coat is made by hand, and to earn the couture appellation 100 percent must be. But even without the hand-stitched linings and other details, the cabans and cape hybrids and wrap styles that the company was showing in New York yesterday would be pretty exceptional. The fabrics, of course, are top-notch, all double-face cashmere, shaggy alpaca, and downy silk duchesse. ln the end, though, it was the colors that set this offering apart. The bright pink and ice blue of two alpaca styles will stand out like beacons on a street lined with black, navy, and other neutral coats. An olive green cape-back coat with a deep rust-colored lining was more subtle, but still striking. Fox fur trimmed many of the pieces; it looked luxurious but perhaps a bit predictable. More interesting was a caban in a fuzzy animal-print jacquard. Not the real thing, and fabulously so.
