Le Corbusier’s famous Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau, designed with Pierre Jeanneret as an innovative template for future housing projects and exhibited in 1925 at Paris’s Exposition Universelle, was reproduced on the same scale in Bologna, Italy, in 1977. Even if it’s a replica, it’s a gem of modernist architecture; recently restored, it’s now open to the public. Its purist aesthetic, with its geometric spaces and light play, resonates with Sportmax’s own repertoire; the rebuilt pavilion was chosen as a backdrop for the lookbook’s images.
Grazia Malagoli, the label’s fashion director, emphasized the Pre-Fall collection’s balanced play on contrasting elements: Masculine and feminine, innovation and classicism, practicality and experimentation. This dialogue was particularly apparent in the outerwear offer, always a strong category for Sportmax, which was proposed in a variety of hybrids, where the concepts of transformation and versatility were central. A trenchcoat, cut with architectural precision in leather, was made flexible via a detachable front bib and zippered sleeves; it can morph into a long waistcoat to be worn over wide-leg fluid pants or feminine, figure-skimming dresses.
Tailoring is at the core of the label’s expertise; here its streamlined structure was tinged with a sporty allure and experimental play with fabrications and textures. A masculine city coat was cut in thick striped alpaca, which gave its precise shape a feel of comfort and ease; a blazer in navy wool presented a classic masculine-inspired front, while the back exposed the garment’s inner construction, its seams and lining treated almost as decorative elements. As for the technical flair given to high-end materials, cashmere was woven with a thread of reflective yarn, while a roomy sweatshirt in neoprene felt soft and malleable to the touch, as if it were made of precious fibers.
