Have you ever wondered what those remarkable women in history would have been like if they were born in modern times?
Max Mara set his sights on Émilie du Châtelet, more than 300 years ago, a legend of her era, not only a French natural philosopher and mathematician in the early 1730s, but also a muse of Voltaire and Newton, and even a main-belt asteroid and a crater on Venus named after her.
左:Portrait by Maurice Quentin de La Tour
Right: A 2021 portrait illustration by Google in honor of Du Châtelet
At the time, women were excluded from the scientific community, which led to Emily Shatre often needing to dress as men to enter the Café Gradot and contemplate with men.
Therefore, Max Mara's Fall/Winter 2023 collection inspired by her not only shows the dress characteristics of elite men during the Enlightenment, but also shows the courage of women to break through the limitations of the times and pursue freedom and truth.
The decoration of the show also seems to travel back 300 years.
Emily Shatteley was very disgusted with the superstitious ideas of the Dark Age and supported the "cult of reason" of The Enlightenment, so she disliked the complex and restrictive fashion style of the time, preferring three-dimensional women's clothing with elaborate designs.
For example, this skirt, called "Pannier", was very popular at that time because it could fully display delicate embroidery and patterns.
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Pannier
Max Mara introduced it into contemporary women's dresses, transforming it into knee- and ankle-length lengths, which meet the needs of modern women for skirt length without losing Pannier's own advantages.
This style is paired with delicate embossed texture patterns and embroidery, combining classical beauty with modern chic. Paired with drawstring and sporty pockets and contemporary outdoor wear, it's a sleek blend of both.
Another popular Watteau back design at the time had a loose box-shaped pleat on the back to better highlight the curve of the upper body.
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Watteau back
Max Mara innovatively used it for military-style coats and banquet dresses.
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Men at the time liked to tie black ribbons around their heads, and Max Mara used this decoration to tie models' hair almost throughout the show.
A shoulder-draped cloak or a one-shoulder overcoat was also a very popular way of dressing at the time, and the prototype can be seen in the portraits of that era.
Max Mara introduced this style of dressing to this show, and the designer used the same color system to present such a unique way of dressing, seemingly simplified, but in fact put the details on the careful selection of fabrics and the diversity of grain.
At that time, the loose jacket, which resembled a cape, was also a must-have style for elite men. Max Mara crafted them from textured fabrics and paired with tops that resemble classical women's bandeau.
The tunic was a style of underwear that women could not escape no matter what they did at that time, and it was presented on the runway and in its dashing form. Wear yours with a bandeau top with baggy trousers or make a waistband seal from chunky hard leather.
This mix and match of men's and women's clothing runs through the entire runway, as if showing Emily Chartley's real thinking about styling when she was dressed as a man at that time.
Men and women are not binary opposites, but can collide in thought, as Emily Chartley and her lover Voltaire.
In the preface to Voltaire's book The Philosophy of Newton, du Châtelet appears as Voltaire's muse
Max Mara's entire collection is dedicated to the beauty of this gender fluidity.
The delicate embroidery and patterns that were popular of that era were placed on modern jackets and long coats, and even collided with leather to create a cool spark.
The glossy satin is also used in fashionable dress styles, continuing the opulence of intellectuals.
Max Mara's most classic camel color is a touch of romance in the tightly cut structural design of reason and order.
The entire series shows the appreciation and admiration of women like Emily Shatre who are rational, courageous in learning and challenge authority.
Source: Google, wiki, Max Mara