Max Mara is a 65-year-old Italian label known for one thing: coats. Specifically, camel coats. You’ll find lamé dresses, pastel suits, and sailor pants on its ready-to-wear catwalk, but Max Mara Atelier is where the company zeroes in on what it really does best. You could describe the coats as demi-couture—about 80 percent of each one is handmade, while a few components are machine-made. Fittingly, the highlights of the Fall collection were a mix of traditional and cutting-edge: One ochre-colored coat appeared to be made of shaggy goat hair but was actually brushed-out, fluffed-up cashmere. Other coats came in nubby, substantial cashmere or fuzzy mohair, but none seemed to weigh more than a few pounds.
The silhouettes were dreamy, too: Most of the coats were long and lean, stretching nearly to the ankle to give just the slightest glimpse of the cropped pants underneath. The best ones also had high, nipped-in waists—some cinched with a leather belt, others simply cut to flatter. They were a nice mix of feminine and masculine: tailored like a man’s coat, but body-skimming.
