One trench, five ways

Rainbows, tricksters, and pinups are amongst the motifs found in Weekend Max Mara’s new collection, ‘A Weekend with an Artist’. Curated by Francesco Bonami, former director of the Venice Biennale, the collection invites five female artists to reinterpret the brand’s classic Canasta trench. The result is an original capsule, which includes London-based artist Tai Shani – a multidisciplinary artist whose unapologetic activism and unique visual eye we have loved for a long time. 

‘A Weekend with an Artist’ asks us to consider how clothing intersects with art. Moreover, how our clothes can speak for our interests, our personalities, or our beliefs. Trench coats are a typically utilitarian garment: functional, democratic, and understated, they were very much conceived with hegemony in mind. Francesco, on the other hand, chose these artists for their freedom of expression.  It is this sense of dichotomy that many of the artists have incorporated into their designs. Victoria Kosheleva, for example, blends the classical with the contemporary in her rendering, interpreting the trench as a stage curtain, a playground for such mischievous symbolism as peering eyes and swirling flowers. The ‘trickster’, a common motif in her work, features heavily, in her words creating ‘a touch of carnival, an evening mood.’ For Kosheleva, the goal of her design is to inspire intrigue, to start a dialogue between its wearer and its observer.

Similarly, Tai’s piece takes intrigue to its titillating extreme – glossy black vinyl inspired by the trench’s history within fetishwear, decorated with miniature prints of costumed kittens which she cheekily calls her ‘pussy pinups’. This Betty Page inspired garment emphasises the trench coat’s role as an instrument of play and clandestinity. Elsewhere, erotic art is invoked in Shafei Xia’s design, which balances an inconspicuous front with an elaborate back panel – a tiger reflected against a nude woman, ensconced in joyous crimson florals.  Shafei’s work is heavily inspired by traditional Japanese and Chinese erotica, and her technique of painting watercolours onto sandalwood mimics the delicateness of the original styles. 

For those less inclined to wearable erotica, both Tschabalala Self’s and Paola Pivi’s creations allow for imagery of strength and beauty to take centre stage. In Tschabalala’s coat, her signature ‘Infinity Flower’ (a perennial made of infinity symbols) is printed atop a lacquered yellow fabric, emphasising nature’s cycles of regrowth and resilience. Paola’s design is also inspired by nature, the Italian artist’s Hawaii home, and the vibrancy of colour and weather she witnesses daily. A tapered rainbow panel compliments the Canasta’s hourglass silhouette – a cinched waist atop a full skirt – whilst remaining totally practical. 

This collection speaks to the modern woman, whose interest in art extends beyond the visual and who doesn’t mind collecting art through the wearable medium.

Shop the full collection HERE.