Collaborations between the worlds of fashion and design are far from rare. But they rarely have the breadth of the operation of Patricia Urquiola and Weekend Max Mara: an entire collection of 22 pieces, including outerwear, knits and accessories. This is the line’s tenth “Signature Collection,” after a series of interactions over the years with talents in various fields, but never with a designer like Urquiola.
The results were presented on 23 February in Milan, during Design Week. The location was the showroom of cc-tapis, a company that produces carpets, often designed by Urquiola. The setting was her choice: “I liked the idea of showing this project in a place that is somehow mine, already inhabited by my creations,” she explained.
This idea gets right to the heart of the project. The title of the collection, in fact, is Habito, “a word that has a double meaning in Spanish, indicating ‘habit’ and ‘inhabit.’ My work, every day, involves finding a way to inhabit a space or to have an experience, in multiple guises. Why shouldn’t the clothes we wear be part of this research? After all, they are parts of our homes, which we carry with us along our pathways. The narrative of the project focuses on garments that welcome you just like a home, an emotional habitat,” Urquiola concludes.
The starting point, a few years ago, was a display created by Patricia Urquiola for the Milan flagship store during the Salone del Mobile. Then the story continued. The key concept of the collection is contamination of various elements, expressed through games of contrast between colors, textures and even parts of the garments themselves. An operation of redesign of key wardrobe components. Sweater-shirts, quilted jackets and coats combined in a single garment, contrasts between wool, knit fabrics and technical nylon, oversized bags. And color, of course, has a central role. The whole collection will be available starting in September.
