“COATS! MAX MARA, 60 YEARS OF ITALIAN FASHION”
The exhibition designed by M+S for Max Mara in Moscow is presented inside the prestigious State Historical Museum at n.1 Red Square. The whole exhibition is at level +1, though a scenographical installation has been inserted along the grand entry stairs as an introduction to the narration.
Almost suspended in the void up to 9 meters of height, a selection of 15 items, all in the same colour, seems like flying in a dynamic installation where timed lights and transparency effects, given by different layers, stress the characters and signs of their design.
Inside the rooms the whole exhibition follows a narration. The project is organized in thematic areas interlaced and connected one with the other
according to the course of time. The items are exposed in imposing 19th century rooms, with very high ceilings, about 15 meters high, mixing history and contemporary time.
The exhibition leads the visitors through the most important historical and cultural moments of the company: the foundation (50s-60s), its relationship with the publishing industry (70s), creativity (80s), photography (90s) and, last but not least, the industrial production (2000).
A landscape of standing volumes opens towards a central core, defining a “square”, as a symbol of the Italian character of the company. The “square” becomes an overall view and, at the same time, a reference point characterized by the projection of dynamic graphics.
The richness of the contents and the original materials have helped define an ad hoc project
for each single theme, creating a “deep narrative” composed of architectural, graphic, video
and interactive elements.
The set up design, in fact, has privileged the relationship between the extraordinary selection
of the 70 coats exhibited, from the 50s to today, and the great quantity of documents stocked in Max Mara archives, related to each item (sketches, fabrics, pictures and videos), this way always offering a double layer of reading..
This international exhibition took place in Moscow’s State Historical Museum following similarly impressive events, held at the Kulturforum in Berlin (in November 2006), the Mori Arts Center in the Roppongi Hills in Tokyo (in 2007) and the Namoc (il National Art Museum of China) in 2008, always designed and organised by studio Migliore + Servetto Architects.