Marie Antoinette reigns over spring 2026, with enough pannier skirts on runways to fill the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. For his Rococo Modern collection shown this morning in Milan, Max Mara creative director Ian Griffiths looked further back into the annals of 18th‑century French history, citing Madame de Pompadour as his muse. A fitting addition to Max Mara’s pantheon of exceptional women—which includes Françoise Sagan, Sophie Taeuber‑Arp, and Hypatia—the Queen of Rococo was one of the Enlightenment’s brightest stars. Rising from bourgeois origins to become Louis XV’s maîtresse‑en‑titre in 1745, she was the royal favorite and so much more: a celebrated patron of the arts and a salon habitué who held her own in debates with the philosophers.
From the first bars of legendary DJ Johnny Dynell’s soundtrack remixing chamber music with club beats, it was clear this was no ordinary costume drama. The opening look set the tone of extravagant minimalism: a classic double‑breasted trench, its sleeves replaced by an intricately folded corona at the shoulders. Max Mara’s clean lines met the dramatic scroll‑like volutes of Rococo architecture, the kind of look Madame de Pompadour might have worn to Danceteria. Streamlined outerwear was paired with organza miniskirts made of hundreds of cut and folded pieces, while a voluminous gauzy crest sprouted from a sleek pencil skirt. Delicate wisps of organza drifted freely from otherwise strict tailoring.
This season’s lineup revealed a new lightness and a ballet‑core‑inflected sensibility, with feather‑light wrap sweaters echoing dancers’ rehearsal wear and boatneck coats conjuring the elegance of a long‑sleeve leotard. The mood was especially apt given that Madame de Pompadour was one of ballet’s greatest champions, commissioning opéra‑ballets from Jean‑Philippe Rameau and other composers and even occasionally starring in them. The models’ hair was swept into elegant chignons, accented with thin elastic dance headbands to keep front pieces neatly in place. Many looks also featured black hip‑alignment elastics dancers use in class to check posture and, here worn not over leotards but directly on toned abs Carrie Bradshaw-style or tracing graceful lines across blazers and backless dresses.
