Founded almost 60 years ago in Reggio Emilia by Achille Maramotti, MaxMara has for decades been synonymous with iconic pieces of womenswear such as perfectly cut coats and beautiful knitwear, more similar for their silhouettes, lines and choice of fabrics to little artworks than to simple garments.
Throughout the decades MaxMara’s designs chronicled the evolution of tastes, trends and textile research and, as time passed, the company collaborated with famous names of fashion, producing timeless designs.
The MaxMara catwalk started with the brand’s best and most classic piece, a mid-calf camel coat, probably one of the most coveted coats in the history of Italian fashion.
This opening piece set the tone for the rest of the catwalk, that featured more trenches and coats in luxurious fabrics, jackets with military details and sensible body-con dresses and skirts in a palette that included camel, beige, navy, black, different shades of grey - from charcoal to dove - and a few splashes of vivid red.
One interesting note: for next season MaxMara combined its iconic kimono coat made of camel hair and cinched in at the waist that was so far available in a limited edition with the “Cimone” coat from the A/W 87-88 season, and came up with coats and jackets characterised by short kimono sleeves.
The final sequinned long column dress and coat were welcome inclusions, but slightly unnecessary. Indeed you don’t need anything elaborate like that when you can have an iconic camel coat that will last throughout your life (and beyond…), do you?
In Italy Fendi has always been synonymous with interesting experiments with luxurious furs. In the last few years new techniques have allowed designers who work with fur to produce amazing garments.
Gone are the days when furs were so heavy you couldn’t really move freely in them. Today furs are almost weightless and they can be combined with different fabrics to create interesting outfits. This at least was what Karl Lagerfeld proved at Fendi’s catwalk.
The dresses and coats presented were precisely cut and in some cases they were almost minimal. If seen from a distance they seemed to be formed by simple panels, yet the details were rather striking.
There were fur-hemmed dresses and red-dyed pony skin shoes covered with bright red gaiters; a touch of futurism was added with leather armour-like corsets worn with fur dresses 
and coats in which two different types of fur mixed. Everything was perfectly accessorised with Fendi's iconic pieces, from bangles to bags.
It was a shame though that Lagerfeld’s craftsmanship got lost during the show, after all, it can be difficult to study tailoring details from a distance.
After last season’s strong debut at Pollini, Jonathan Saunders tried perhaps to build the new collection referencing a bit too much those elements that made the historical footwear company famous.
Enter then the classic riding boots and riding jackets and the short dresses with colourful prints or 3-D appliquéd motifs of Pollini’s iconic baroquish swirls.
There was potential in the latter and in the shoes and boots with beautiful swirling motifs in bright colours or in gold sculpted on the heels, but the ubiquitous jackets with big shoulders or fur sleeves detracted from the collection.
In the end the collection showed Saunders has the potential to revamp the brand, though at the moment he has still got some work to do before we can consider the identity of the brand restored, updated and safely re-launched.
Versace’s catwalk had the undesirable task of closing down a rather difficult edition of Milano Moda Donna (more about it tomorrow...).
I must admit I expected worst things and a cringing triumph of bright colours and glamorous kitschness, but everything was sensual yet in good taste (and for this we should be grateful...): 
there were trendy biker jackets paired with skin-tight trousers, sparkling coats and low-necked fluid dresses with draped motifs or covered in big circular sequins.
Blue prevailed, from turquoise to metallic shades, and brighter nuances such as fuchsia, orange and red (luckily) made only a brief appearance and the show closed with Versace's signature long sensual evening gowns.
A final mention goes to Mila Schön. The brand founded 51 years ago is now led by Bianca Maria Gervasio who, at yesterday's catwalk, proved with her capes and short fur coats and dresses, optical prints, jodhpurs 
and mini-dresses made by painstakingly interweaving strips of fabric, that she’s got the talent to revamp the historical Italian house. Yet she should have avoided the very unnecessary skunk-meets-mohawk headdresses that unluckily earned her a demerit.
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