Max Mara’s Ian Griffiths

Creativity is so instinctual that to articulate the process is an art in itself. So when Ian Griffiths reels off a rich roll of inspirations with the cool coherence of an observer, it’s clear why Max Mara – a label famed for its measured elegance – has fared so well under his tenure as Creative Director. Such circumspective insight is something of a quirk for someone as close to the process as Griffiths, but then again, his vision has always thrived on anomaly.

SS18 is no exception. Wafer thin silk organza was whittled into sharp, skinny suits – sheer like cellophane, but lines so sharp they’d cut like a knife. And who’d have thought that this subdued fashion house, a beacon of restraint for almost seventy years, would succumb to the brazen pleasures of logomania? In actual fact, it makes perfect sense – it just took a perceptive force like Griffiths to show us why, and how. The Maxmaragram, as it’s affectionately known, is anything but ostentatious, scaling down the original lettering of the label’s founding emblem from 1951 to create a sparingly spaced, square-set text, splashed across ample totes, trenches and tailored trousers, all in a palette of biscuity tones.

The composed conviction of the aesthetic we’ve come to expect from Max Mara might lull us into thinking it runs by a fail-safe formula, but that’s far from the case; it starts with the skeleton of good design, around which an entire world erupts, setting the spirit of the season. Ian Griffiths speaks to ZOO about sourcing inspiration from the shaded spirit of the city, the architected nature of the urban garden, and Max Mara’s stake in the field of sexual politics.

REBEKKA AYRES: You cited the words of Gilles Clément, ‘Work with, not against nature’, as the central philosophy of the collection. What was it about this quote that struck a chord with you?

IAN GRIFFITHS: When I'm designing a summer collection, I often look to gardens for inspiration. It's a basic rule of design that you respect materials and don't try to force them to work against their nature. It strikes me that in the world of garden design, this rule hasn't always been applied; so many gardens seem to prioritize the cultivation of hard-to-grow species and labor-intensive control. But Gilles Clément advocates the opposite: work with what thrives easily and don't try to control it. His exhortation isn't simply a statement on how to create a more beautiful, or a more modern garden, it's a call to good design, and embodies a quasi-philosophical truth. The simple beauty of those words was the starting point of the collection, in particular the wild flower prints.

RA: Aside from this, where did you find your inspiration?

IG: I was thinking about modern gardens in the city, their profusion and abundance in contrast to the rigid architectonic structures. The summer sunlight – and moonlight –hitting those structures, creating compositions of light and shade, led me to experiment with tailoring in organza. The layers of transparency evoke the play of shadow on concrete, glass and steel. That's a purely visual thing, but Gilles Clément got me thinking about the city in a more philosophical way. I thought about the woman experiencing the city like a latter day 'flâneuse'. That's a reference to Baudelaire, obviously, who framed our view of the city, fashion, and even modernity itself. In Baudelaire's work, the flâneur is always male, but I imagined a woman emerging triumphant, free to enjoy the city's delights just as a man would have done in the nineteenth century. I imagined her indulging in sybaritic pleasures in secret gardens, spectacular terraces, shady courtyards. The Baudelairian reference wasn't restricted to the clothes; it was in the music too. With my friend, the DJ Johnny Dynell, we remixed Debussy's Préludesand Clair de Lune with words spoken by the actor John Hurt from his collaboration with Art of Noise. Sound and perfume swirl in the evening air, the title of one of the Preludes.

RA: What is the first thing you do when the creative instinct strikes? What is the process you go through to translate feeling into ideas?

IG: I throw myself into my inspiration and recreate that world around me. In this case, for the whole time I was working on the collection, my studio was filled with flowers – alliums, cardoons, poppies, the happy-go-lucky species that Gilles Clément advocates – piles of books and visual images relating to the theme. And there's always music in my studio. For me, music is one of the principal means by which I unlock whatever world I am trying to recreate, and when I am working on a collection, there is a constant flow of ideas between myself and Johnny Dynell; the concept of the collection crystalizes in the music.

RA: As always, the tailoring of the SS18 collection was lean and urbane, but this time the traditional suiting was imagined in transparent organza. Was it technically challenging to maintain the strict lines in such a delicate material?

IG: Those spriggy looking flowers that we featured on our prints are in fact a really tough species. Similarly, silk organza, though it appears so delicate, is a very strong fabric. And as I have said, the rules of good design would prohibit me from forcing a material into a form that was in conflict with its nature. The challenge was to resolve the visual aesthetic created by those layers of transparency, so that the finished product looks 'designed' and sleek.

RA: For a short while, only a few years ago, brand logos and particularly monograms were having to be made more discrete in order to sell. Now there’s very much a market for bold and visible branding again. Why do you think that might be?

IG: Brand logos are extremely potent. Their power can be utilized for very different purposes. Last time around, it was all about 'bling', and Max Mara didn't participate, because that kind of showiness isn't in our DNA. The current manifestation of branding is more to do with affirming brand values. By adopting them, the consumer is identifying with the values rather than simply making a statement about how much she spent on that item. It's about the impulse to show which clan you belong to.

RA: Was it difficult to marry the heavy impact of the monogram with the calibrated values of the Max Mara woman?

IG: Paradoxically, in the case of Max Mara, I think the logo itself denotes discrete luxury, quiet confidence, intelligence and heritage. Those are Max Mara values and they are innate to the logo itself. The logo was commissioned by our company's founder in the late ‘50s. The font is a stylized form of the so-called Philocalian genre, which was first used in 4th century Rome. The bifurcated serifs call to mind the capitols of the iconic order, and I think it was Maramotti's intention to assert the authority of the brand's classics.

RA: When you speak to the women who wear your clothes, how do they say the garments make them feel?

IG: It's always been our mission to make clothes that empower. The women that wear them feel confident, in control, cool and glamorous. When a Max Mara woman walks into a room, she wants everyone to notice, but for the right reasons. Never because she's overdressed. The Max Mara look is pulled together, but it has to appear effortless.

RA: Many designers these days are remarking on the tumultuousness of our times. Is this something that feeds into your work or do you see fashion as a means of total escape?

IG: I suppose some designers offer escapist fashion, but Max Mara is about helping women to engage with the world, so for us there's no hiding from the times we live in. And nor would we want to. In the 1980s, Max Mara was a key player in devising the dress code that came to be known as power dressing – a look that opened doors for many women. Max Mara has become part of the landscape of sexual politics; the more complicated the world becomes, the more I think it needs need our simple, universally recognized style.

RA: How do you hope your chapter as Creative Director at Max Mara will be defined? What is the imprint you hope to leave?

IG: I hope I have managed to show that classic doesn't have to be conservative.

RA: How has your personal approach to design/fashion changed since you were appointed as Creative Director?

IG: My approach to design hasn't changed since I was a student at the Royal College of Art in the 1980s. I started out studying Architecture, so when I transferred to study fashion, I took an architectural approach with me – that is to say, I think about the woman who will wear my clothes as my client, and I design the clothes around her just as an architect would design a house around its eventual occupants. That probably sounds completely banal, but I don't think many fashion designers think that way. I think that a good designer has to have the confidence and humility to erase himself or herself from the finished product, so that the person wearing the clothes (or living in the house) feels it's hers and hers alone.

RA: Much can be said for Max Mara’s timeless elegance. What are your thoughts on the current culture of fast fashion?

IG: It's reached whirlwind levels. There are so many ideas swirling around that it's really difficult for any to take root and establish themselves. In that sense, fashion is dead; the consumer picks and chooses according to their personal whim. That's not a bad thing in itself, but with so much ephemera around, more and more consumers are attracted to products that have real lasting value, and that's why I think Max Mara is more relevant than ever.

RA: What is the antidote to this transient nature of fashion? Is it the responsibility of the industry or the consumer to change their ways?

IG: Throwaway ideas are a sign of cultural restlessness and unease. Throwaway products cause actual physical harm to our environment, so I think change will come from this direction. There's a growing social conscience that will cause people to look for more lasting products, and that in turn may lead to a more stable mindset.

RA: And finally, what is it about the 101801 coat that means it never goes out of style?

IG: It is design perfection. In its complete harmony of material, form, proportion and finish, it becomes yours when you wear it. You develop an emotional relationship with your Max Mara coat, and with the 101801 in particular.