“She was a socialist socialite”: Meet the new muse inspiring Max Mara's Resort 2023 collection

For the Resort 2023 collection, Griffiths struggled with finding the right muse. That is until he discovered Natália Correia. "If she didn’t exist, I couldn’t have made her up,” he tells me over coffee in Lisbon just hours ahead of the show. “There couldn’t have been a more well-suited woman to be a Max Mara muse.”

Inspired by Nikias Skapinakis’ 1974 painting of Correia, hanging in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the remarkable woman was the starting point for Griffiths. While rarely recognised – Griffiths is the first to admit that he didn't know about the poet before delving into research – Correia was one of the women shaping modern Portugal, engaging in high-brow conversations at soirees in the revolutionary country. Acting during the mid-20th century, she was a certified power player in politics and culture shaping her country, all while sporting a below-the-knee sort of sultry sex appeal.

While Max Mara doesn’t often delve into sex appeal, the brand has a history of exploring the intellectual side of women who have an incredible allure – such as the autumn/winter 2015 Marilyn Monroe-inspired collection, which featured Gigi Hadid in her first high fashion runway show, with a trademark Max Mara coat clutched around the shoulders wearing reading glasses and flats. Or Max Mara’s autumn/winter 2017, a Scandinavian love affair dedicated to Ingrid Bergman and Anita Ekberg with its pared-back elegance, intellectual prowess and subdued sexiness.

This precise formula makes Natália Correia the perfect Max Mara muse. “She was a socialist socialite,” says Griffiths. “She was a poet, an intellectual, an activist. She transformed the cultural landscape of Lisbon. She was a feminist.” This specific brand of feminine feminism has always been integral to the Max Mara brand. After all, founder Achille Maramotti first set out to dress a new generation of emancipated and liberated women.

Seen in the pencil skirts and sheet dresses with a daring display of décolletage (at least for Max Mara), Correia is a fitting figurehead for Max Mara’s latest collection. “Even the coats cut in far more than they previously have to emphasise the figure,” says Griffiths. The lineup of swooping yet sultry silhouettes had an air of sex appeal without the figure hugging cuts. This subdued sexiness set the stage for Max Mara's styling, where double looped belts, monotone mules, fishnets, and traditional flat wide-brimmed hats finished off the looks.

Poetry permeated every aspect of the show: from the chosen muse to the embroidered details, inspired by traditional Lenços de Namorados do Minho, also known as ‘handkerchiefs of love’. The practice sees unmarried women of the Minho region embroider handkerchiefs with flowers, hearts, and poetry to win the heart of their beloved. Working with local artisans, Max Mara has translated this tradition onto t-shirts, prints, and dressy crystal brooches for the resort collection.

But the epical connotations didn’t stop there. Fado, a poetic form of music originating in Lisbon, was heavily featured throughout the show in both the performance and the design. Alongside Correia, her contemporary Amália Rodrigues – known as the queen of Fado – served up ample inspiration for the Resort 2023 collection. With a penchant for plissé, her impact on the design can be seen in the dramatic sunray pleated taffeta stitched to bustiers or peaking out from the bottoms of pencil skirts. The easy-to-wear pleats were plucked “straight from Amália,” in the making of the more theatrical looks in the lineup, according to the creative director. And while the Fado music echoed in the gardens of the Gulbenkian, a gust of wind swept these swathing pleats into the air showcasing their full sartorial impact.

For Griffiths, however, it is important to note that while Max Mara is exploring a slimmer, sexier silhouette, it is still an inclusive brand for all women. “We’re certainly not bullying women into starving themselves to achieve a certain body type,” he says. Instead, the brand sets out to empower women to embrace their own shape. For example, famously confident Fado star – and Rodrigues’ natural successor – Carminho walked the show in a curve-hugging, off-the-shoulder little black dress. “She’s the perfect example of a woman who’s happy in her body,” says Griffiths. Yet, while the lineup veered towards the surprisingly figure-hugging – with an unexpected amount of bared midriffs and wiggle skirts – Max Mara's resort collection still held onto the brand's core signatures. Especially seen in the first part of the show, the neutral colour scheme fluffy teddy coats (a creamy white version featuring sparkling seahorse brooches), illustrious Ludmilla wrap coats worn undone, and cropped versions of the iconic 101801 coat.

Since established in 1951, Max Mara has focused on adapting clothes to fit a multitude of women and shapes. In their vast archives, Achilles Maramotti’s neat handwriting can be found on sketches suggesting adjustable features to coats and clothing – such as ruching and belts – making them more flattering to a variety of women. For the resort 2023 collection, this can be seen in the use of stretchy jersey fabrics, a modern invention allowing more comfortable yet shapely fits. According to Griffiths, this is an aspect of Max Mara dressing the brand can never abandon. “You have to be able to put something on and then not think about it for the rest of the day,” says Griffiths. “That’s the key to empowering clothes.”

As a former punk rocker from Manchester, Griffiths describes Correia as a “proto-punk.” And Correia is nothing but an empowering prototype of a woman. In the troubled 1970s, she founded Bar Botequim: a watering hole for thinkers striving for change. “It was this shabby, rundown place,” explains Griffiths. “But if someone questioned it, one could imagine Natalia say, ‘I’m sorry about the state of my bar. I’ve been busy planning a revolution.” A character driven by her convictions, her free-spirited approach to sexual liberty and feminism is as applicable and inspirational today as it was during the 70s. “As soon as I pick up the paper and read about recent developments in the world, I think ‘God, there is a very long way to go in this struggle of equality,” says Griffiths. But Correia and her contemporaries inspire us to push further, and “that is the message of this collection.”