Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/526269
34 bostoncommon-magazine.com photography courtesy of max mara "the boston woman expresses an aspect of max mara.... she dresses to be taken seriously as a mind, not just as a body." —ian griffiths Griffiths brings to the storied fashion house a bold artistic vision paired with first-rate technical acu- men. He recently designed the newest item in Max Mara's handbag line: the Whitney bag, inspired by architect Renzo Piano's design for the new home of New York's Whitney Museum of American Art. (Piano has also made an impact on Boston, design- ing the recently reopened Harvard Art Museums building and the new addition to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.) Collaborating with the master architect was easy for Griffiths, who actually stud- ied the discipline before transitioning to fashion. "I think rather like an architect, and I have an approach to design that tends to be quite thorough. I believe in a certain kind of rigor in the way that you approach design," he explains. "Max Mara's forte is coats, and the design of a coat is very similar to the design of a building, so for me it's not alien at all to work with an architect. I love the logic of an architectural approach." Gr i f f it hs says t hat he a nd t he Ren zo P ia no Building Workshop wanted the bag to ref lect the museum's form. "It is very, very literally related to the physical appearance of the building itself," he notes, explaining how the ridges on the calfskin shell echo the design of the building's steel ribbing. And he is quick to point out how the bag's metal ha rdwa re is fa it hf ully reproduced f rom Pia no's sketches of t he st a nchions t hat hold t he tension cables to t he g rou nd. W h i le t he bag comes i n shades of black, bordeaux, and tan, a special lim- ited-edition metallic version was created with the exact slate color of the Whitney façade. The Whitney bag is generating plenty of buzz, but so is Gr if f it hs's Pre -Fa ll collect ion for Ma x Ma ra. A mong t he st a ndout s: t he v ibra nt Becca sweater, a knee-length cashmere and silk number in a bobcat-print motif. "We took the design from the markings of a bobcat, so it is faithful to its inspi- ration, and for me that represents something quite cool and new and at the same time very chic," he says. Griffiths adds that "a lot of people pinpointed the minimal theme, the red suit with the red coat, as a highlight of the show and the collection." Having worked with Max Mara since he left col- lege, Griffiths has a very clear idea of his customer and exactly what she needs and desires in her ward- robe. "It's so easy for a man: You just wear a jacket with or without a tie or jeans," he says. "There are so few decisions. For a woman, it is so difficult because for any occasion there are any number of possibili- ties: Do you wear a dress? Do you wear a suit? Do you wear a bustier dress? Strapless? Do you cover up? Do you expose? What do you expose? I think our responsibility at Max Mara is to give our customers ways of dressing which a re going to g ive t hem complete confidence to get on with their lives." 69 Newbury St., 617-267-9775; maxmara.com BC An artisan constructing a Max Mara handbag. below from left: The limited- edition Whitney bag in slate ($1,750); sketches for the 2015 Pre-Fall collection. STYLE Tastemaker