Kate Phelan Teams with Weekend Max Mara on Latest Signature Collection – WWD
MILAN — Fashion is a cycle and images of Bruce Weber in a 1982 British Vogue story resonate as much today as they did then for their gender blurring and the wild attitude of models like Talisa Soto.
That’s the view of Kate Phelan, the British stylist hired by Weekend Max Mara for the latest installment of its signature collection, which bows at Milan Fashion Week on Wednesday.
She has incorporated this attitude into the collection, dubbed 24, as in 24 hours, which includes wardrobe-building garments meant to be worn all day, mixed and matched by occasion to convey different personalities.
“I’ve always stayed true to the aesthetic that I really loved when I first fell in love with fashion, and I think that’s what happened when I opened up this issue of Vogue and looked at this story… and it kind of hooked me.” changed, I’d never seen women look like that in Vogue before,” Phelan said.
In contrast to the blow-dried hair, high heels, form-fitting little black dress, and then-typical old-school glamour, the editorial struck a chord with Phelan, who until then had been inspired by music icons like Debbie Harry.
“When we started putting the collection together I was so mesmerized by these images that I thought when I look at pictures, which I do a lot, they feel just as relevant today as they did then… The fashion, the clothes, the beauty and the way they look as a group of models feels so contemporary to me… The gender blurring, in terms of closet and clothing sharing. You get that wonderful feeling that I think is very important in fashion today,” said Phelan.
Building on Weekend Max Mara’s favorite product, the coat, she mastered the male-female dichotomy in Donegal tweed crombie coats and belted oversized options, flared pant suits, tweed pencil skirts and slip dresses. She threw on crisp cotton shirts, slightly oversized and shrunken wool rib knits, and a puffer jacket with a primary color block reminiscent of the bold graphics that appeared in the pages of ’80s indie magazine Face.
“These pieces are very much a part of what we consistently see in fashion and style and I felt they were very relevant to Weekend Max Mara because they create clothing that represents a lifestyle and not necessarily a trend . This collection was all about building on historical pieces and folding them into your existing wardrobe. Pieces that can be intertwined and mixed together,” Phelan said.
“It was really [about creating] something that had a certain longevity. It’s about investing, not following a trend. There’s a certain robustness to the collection, like it’s something permanent,” she added.
A special campaign, photographed by Bibi Borthwick, will be bowed out alongside the fall 2023 collection release. It will be hosted by Edie Campbell, who Phelan says “really embodies that kind of Britishness, it relates to these British girls… [who] are very adventurous with their clothes and they also use gender to blur the meaning of fashion.”
“It was really an attempt not to copy that [Vogue] history, but make sure the images have that resonance and impact today, and I think Edie really captures that,” she said.
Weekend Max Mara has previously collaborated with Lily Aldridge on its Signature Collections; architect and designer Patricia Urquiola; New York stylist and editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson; top model Alek Wek; American illustrator and pop artist Donald Robertson; Lucinda Chambers, former fashion director of British Vogue; Oscar-winning costume designer Gabriella Pescucci; American interior designer Anthony Baratta and American artist Richard Saja.