In MaxMara’s Archive, Decades of Italian Fashion History
REGGIO EMILIA, Italy — Last August, when Gabriele Monti was co-curating the “Italiana: Italy Through the Lens of Fashion 1971-2001” exhibition in Milan, his first port of call was a 19th-century former hosiery factory. The building in Reggio Emilia, a small city about two hours’ drive southeast of Milan, is rarely visited by outsiders and almost never discussed, even by fashion specialists, but may be the single greatest private fashion archive in Italy.
Its owner? Not a grande dame, heiress or celebrity but ... the fashion house MaxMara.
The 67-year-old luxury giant best known for its camel coats has been quietly amassing a treasure trove of historic fashion for the last four decades. In the absence of a dedicated national fashion museum, the collection is a contribution to the study of Italian textiles and chronicles the history of the country’s ready-to-wear system.
It is “preserving the story of Italian brands and designers,” Mr. Monti said.
The collection includes 20,000 designs for garments and accessories from the MaxMara and Sportmax labels, dating from the 1950s, as well as more than 8,000 fashions by a number of designers, ranging from the end of the 19th century to today, all sourced from estate sales, auction houses, donations, flea markets and thrift shops by Laura Lusuardi, MaxMara’s veteran fashion director, and the five-member in-house team. There’s also a library of about 6,000 fashion volumes, and more than 50,000 magazines.
“People often ask why we collect other designers,” said Ian Griffiths, MaxMara’s creative director. “The answer to this is: Fashion is a culture. Designers don’t create alone.”
The archives are not open to the public but the brand does allow journalists, students and designers in for the rare tour. In many ways, it’s primarily a resource for the group itself, as Ms. Lusuardi values tactile research. “Fashion is all so similar today, everyone is looking at the same thing. The same runway shows, the same internet sites, but this you can’t find this online,” she said.
At its core, the collection folds around the coat, the company’s bread and butter. There’s a phalanx of outerwear such as a rare shawl-collared Madame Grès style and a jaw-dropping ’50s-era hooded houndstooth-check jacket by Cristóbal Balenciaga bought at Lily et Cie in Los Angeles, Ms. Lusuardi’s favorite vintage store. There are capes, kimonos and vestments from such houses as André Courrèges, Pierre Cardin and Romeo Gigli, and a bit of Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana.
Audrey Hepburn’s velvet coat from Yves Saint Laurent’s fall 1976 Russian collection came from Danielle Luquet de Saint Germain, a friend, model and muse to the French designer. It hangs near a Maggy Rouff 1950s black velvet cape.
Ms. Lusuardi likes to tell a story about Coco Chanel’s navy tweed suit that the curator bought for the archive from Lilou Grumbach-Marquand, Ms. Chanel’s former assistant.
When Ms. Lusuardi and the MaxMara founder Achille Maramotti visited Ms. Grumbach-Marquand’s apartment, they looked inside the suit’s matching handbag and “found her hairband folded up in a pocket.”
The collection charts Italian ready-to-wear, with ’60s tailored separates produced by small regional dressmakers; often overlooked designers like Enrica Massei and her barrel-shaped coats and offbeat dresses; and well-known names like Giorgio Armani and Gianfranco Ferré.
Then there’s the section dedicated to bespoke castoffs. Once word got out that MaxMara was a serious collector, the company received many donations and gifts. Holly Solomon, the New York gallerist who died in 2002, offered her ’60s couture Balenciaga suits. The philanthropist Sue Usdan, who also died that year, bequeathed her wardrobe of French couture. And Sara Maino, the Vogue Italia editor and niece of Franca Sozzani, the magazine’s former editor, has said she plans to donate three of her aunt’s Jil Sander coats.
The collection is anthropological as well as aesthetic. “The fact they had the vision to collect whole wardrobes is extremely important to note,” said Pamela Golbin, chief curator of fashion and textiles at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
Entire decades can be charted through the gifts of trendsetters such as the French editor and stylist Carine Roitfeld and the British costume designer Marit Allen, who died in 2007.
“Put together, it’s more than the sum of its parts,” said Mr. Griffiths of Ms. Roitfeld’s wardrobe, which includes extravagant Roberto Cavalli fur, monogrammed Louis Vuitton and slinky Tom Ford. “It’s also the style of the times. The noughties in particular.” Ms. Allen’s clothes, in contrast, capture a very ’70s British style. A rare Kansai Yamamoto yellow silk jacket with strawberry motif buttons goes beyond the usual associations of the era.
“The important thing about the archive is that it’s not oppressive and chains you to the past,” Mr. Griffiths said. “I use it but I like to pack it in its box, too.”
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