Max Mara
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
fashion house
Fashion design
Fashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories....
known for its ready-to-wear
Ready-to-wear
Ready-to-wear or prêt-à-porter is the term for factory-made clothing, sold in finished condition, in standardized sizes, as distinct from made to measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a particular person's frame. Off-the-peg is sometimes used for items which are not clothing.Ready-to-wear has...
clothing. Established in 1951 in Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 170,000 inhabitants and is the main comune of the Province of Reggio Emilia....
by Achille Maramotti (7 January 1927 – 12 January 2005). By March 2008, the company had 2,254 stores in 90 countries.
History
Achille Maramotti began designing couture clothing in 1947, and officially established the House of Max Mara in 1951. The "Mara" came from his surname, while "Max" referred to Count Max, a local character who was seldom sober but always stylish. Maramotti was one of the first to see that the future of fashion lay in the mass production of designer-quality clothes. He was also keen to emphasise the brand of Max Mara ahead of the names of individual designers, even though he employed future big names such as Karl LagerfeldKarl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld is a German fashion designer, artist and photographer based in Paris. He has collaborated on a variety of fashion and art related projects, most notably as head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel...
, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac
1949: Born on November 28th in Casablanca, son of Louis and Jeanne-Blanche de Castelbajac1968: First collection for Ko and Co, company created at Limoges by his mother Jeanne-Blanche de Castelbajac1969: First show...
, Dolce & Gabbana
Dolce & Gabbana
Dolce & Gabbana is an Italian luxury industry fashion house. The company was started by the Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in Milan, Italy. By 2005 their turnover was €597 million....
and Narciso Rodriguez
Narciso Rodriguez
Narciso Rodriguez III is an American fashion designer.Rodriguez is the first child and only son of Cuban parents Narciso Rodríguez II, a longshoreman, and Rawedia María Rodríguez who are of Canarian descent. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey. His parents were against Narciso entering fashion: "They...
. The company remains in the hands of the family and they like to maintain a veil of secrecy about the activities of the company.
Brands
Max Mara has spawned 35 labels, although Max Mara womenswear remains the core of the company. Other brands include Sportmax, Sportmax Code, Weekend Max Mara, Marella, Pennyblack, iBlues, Max & Co. (the trendy, youth division), and Marina Rinaldi. This last, founded in 1980 and named after Achille Maramotti’s great grandmother, is one of the best-known: in her obituary of Maramotti for The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
.
Family
Achille Maramotti was born on January 7, 1927 in Reggio EmiliaReggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 170,000 inhabitants and is the main comune of the Province of Reggio Emilia....
in Italy. Maramotti was educated in Rome and received a law degree from University of Parma
University of Parma
The University of Parma is one of the oldest universities in the world, founded in the 11th century. It is organised in twelve faculties. The University of Parma has currently about 30,000 students.-History:...
. According to Forbes Rich List of 2005, Maramotti was one of the world's richest men with a fortune of US$2.1 billion. He was a great patron of the arts, with a great love of the Expressionists, and was also a big investor in Italian banks.
He died in Albinea
Albinea
Albinea is a comune in the Province of Reggio Emilia in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 60 km west of Bologna and about 10 km southwest of Reggio nell'Emilia....
, Italy 12 January 2005. Maramotti's two sons and daughter, Luigi, Ignazio and Ludovica, followed him into the business; Luigi is chairman of the company. After his death, according to Maramotti's will, a large and important collection of contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
from Europe and America was made open to the public.