Max Mara Resort 2016

Max Mara celebrates the opening of its flagship Old Bond Street Store with a collection dedicated to London style and spirit. ‘Fashion is Indestructible’, Cecil Beaton’s iconic 1941 photograph is the starting point. An impeccably dressed model stands resolutely in the rubble of a devastated London building. When this tough, grey city throws its worst at her, the London girl pulls on her glad rags and gets on with the job in hand.

Whitehall, Mayfair and St James; Beaton’s diaries document the city’s so called ‘photocracy’ whose sardonic elegance was played out in wood panelled clubs, plush theatres and glittering salons. Theirs was the London of ornate street lamps reflected in rain lashed pavements, blue black railings against white stucco terraces, polished Hackney carriages that purr like cats, and Bobbies on the beat. Discrete glamour and understated luxury translate into languorous pinstripe looks in midnight blue double face, wool crepe and silk georgette layered in capes, pyjamas and dressing gowns with cord tasseled belts.

Whitechapel, Bow and Clapton; the pavements here also glisten with London rain, and there are clubs too, with as much history as their west end counterparts- boys’ boxing clubs. Anne Hawswhan’s ‘Boxer Handsome’ is a tale of honour, love, jealousy and tribal feuding in the city’s shadowy environs- a Romeo and Juliet for London. ‘To Rest is To Rust’ is tattooed on the arm of Whitwham’s hero Bobby- Max Mara channels the fighting spirit with boxer inspired shorts and trousers, athletic vests, regimental stripes, mink head guards and gloves ready for the ring.

‘A roost for every bird’ as Benjamin once described the city, and on every day of the week Londoners from all over the world go about their business with fierce determination. But when the sun comes out, the daily grind is suspended. They flock to outside spaces, from Kensington Gardens to Victoria Park, which for a few glorious months each year, abound with camellias, azaleas, peonies and roses. The collection features specially commissioned prints and colours that evoke those extravagant blooms in the London light - just as Mr. Beaton would have shot them.