Not so far away if we think of our planet today in search of an author: ‘only’ 770 years ago Marco Polo was born in a Venice at the centre of prestigious markets, future international intrigues, and intellectual ambitions that then led him to ride the Silk Road to return to a lagoon that at that point no longer had any borders (for him and soon for others). The power of Venice, in these weeks where even the politics of tourist landings has become an issue (and an entrance fee), lies in re-reading history to protect itself and its heritage. Fashion, which travels, and which today is in dire need of new Vie della Seta (i.e. new ideas and stimuli) returns to the Serenissima with Max Mara’s Resort 2025 collection entitled Venetia. And the Emilian brand knows it must connect with the city by studying (as it had already done two years ago with the creation of the Pasticcino Bag in Fortuny fabrics). So it takes, literally, the camel and starts its personal Silk Road in the near-summer of a Venetian evening.
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The collection speaks with Marco Polo’s adventures and tries to retrace certain traits that have become legend, such as his long period living in Mongolian land at the court of Kublai Khan: scenarios of dialogue and knowledge that today seem impossible and revolutionary. If Max Mara’s women were to take that Silk Road today, they would have parkas, trench coats, capes like Venetian tabards, but not black like the plague, but in Mongolian desert colours. They would know and touch velvet and its intricate brocade, they would observe colour through monumental prints recalling the luxury of Venetian mosaics, even when they landed in our time by creating mini-dresses with out-of-proportion tassels or born fabrics touched by leaves taken from Venetian Gothic.
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Complex to travel and realise such a solid offer as the Emilian company confirms with its decisive step (and turnover) worn by three different generations. And it is here that the study of locations such as the Doge’s Palace, the choice of patterns between East and West printed on wearable suits, ample and antique silhouettes vs. bare legs and mignon dresses, sanction that (after the Northern Sun of Sweden and the previous season in the saudade of Lisbon) the return to Italy is the landing place of a Cruise where to stop and recount the spectacular memories of adventurers, amidst silk dusters and the idea of an unknown World to which we should yield, the Elsewhere.
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