Make Ian's Meet

On his recent visit to Singapore, Max Mara’s creative director Ian Griffiths talks girl power and sustainability in fashion. He also reveals he would do a runway show every week if he could

- Ian Lee

In a nutshell, what’s the Spring/Summer 2020 collection about?

Well, I read an awful lot. Natasha Walters is a feminist writer, and that was a source of inspiration. There’s been a resurgence of spy fiction, and it’s a genre that people are returning to because it’s dark and dangerous, exciting, thrilling and glam – like the glam world of James Bond. And then (British spy thriller television series) Killing Eve came along and all the protagonists in there are women. There’s also the Bond film that’s written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. So I wanted to explore for the collection the idea of women in film, and I imagined this story where a woman goes for a briefing in London’s Whitehall in the greys from the collection, and goes to the restaurants in Mayfair – where I like to go – wearing the black and white prints. The military pieces in pastels are tongue-in-cheek, as Phoebe Waller-Bridge would do. And then in the evening, our heroine would hop on a helicopter with her dress fluttering in the wind. Thank goodness for Max Mara!

The use of pastels and grey really comes through in the collection. Is there ever any pressure to use Max Mara’s signature camel in all the collections?

I don’t necessarily need to use camel, but beige is just a part of the Max Mara world. Tan colours, off-white and neutrals are just naturally part of the Max Mara lexicon. Every season, we experiment with colours – it’s pastels this season, Fall/Winter 2019 had brights and Cruise 2020 featured red. I never feel limited to colours – camel is a universe, and we can make a new shape or give it a twist. Camel has an iconic power and it assumes authority.