Max Mara A/W 2018

Mood board: In 2018, the boundaries between the boardroom and our out of office hours have become blurred. With the concepts of agile working, shared workspaces and the conservatism around executive dressing finally being challenged, what we wear to work on a day to day basis has become more fluid. Max Mara celebrated this notion in the brand’s A/W 2018 show — it’s a label synonymous with strong working women, and the brand’s camel coats have long been a staple of executive chic. With a runway show set to the screaming sounds of Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Creatures, this was a collection of elegant rebellion, featuring leopard print and leather, punky checks and fringing. There were World’s End worthy punky pencil skirts, layered with skinny trousers and dangling suspenders, sexy ruched dresses in clingy pinstripe and picnic blanket-like long plaid skirts. Wares for a working woman who’s fighting back.

Best in show: A Max Mara coat is the top of a lot of women’s wishlists, and here there were plenty for her shopping basket. The classic camel style came updated with swathes of rodeo fringing. There were also long tuxedo jackets, a teddy bear-fur coat in candyfloss pink or a soft leopard print trenchcoat, all essentials for earning styling points in the boardroom.

Finishing touches: Long evening gloves in leather had an elegant yet punk sensibility, while model’s messy up-do’s were cinched with twinkling ‘M’ motif diamante hair clips, their eyes lined with lashings of black kohl or covered with cabaret-style cat eye sunglasses. Meow!