At 11:30 a.m. on March 18, 1976, Sportmax held its first fashion show, at the Principe di Savoia hotel in Milan. Guests had been sent an invite featuring a photograph of a purported UFO hovering over a lake in Spain and the message: “Before they arrive from Mars or another planet, Sportmax invites you to see its winter 76-77 collectsion.” Codesigned by Laura Lusuardi and that period’s freelance collaborator, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, the show starred knitted hoods and cowls worn under voluminous, progressively styled outerwear pieces.
Sportmax actually preceded Max Mara onto the runways of Milan by a full seven years. That is because the company’s founder, Achille Maramotti, created Sportmax in 1969 to produce “clothes a woman wears because they’re worn by anyone who wants to be trendy.” Max Mara, by contrast, was founded in 1951 to make “the garment that can give a woman the confidence that she will always feel at ease anywhere.”
Today, also at 11:30 a.m., Sportmax presented its 50th-anniversary runway show. It didn’t acknowledge the milestone. This is probably fair enough for a brand that was founded to be transiently trendy, a brief that Maramotti summed up in one word: “Vogue.” Whether it’s the studio or a freelancer, designing Sportmax is a challenge that has nonetheless produced more hits than misses over the 100 or so runway outings (minus COVID absences).
This one fell in between hit and miss. One enjoyable aspect of the show was its unconventional structure: Eveningwear was placed in the middle, before a closing section of chalk-striped daywear. There were many tricksy but impressive pieces of outerwear, often with wildly inflated collars. Many models wore minaudières that resembled flasks around their necks and earrings that looked like oversized leather-covered buttons. Looks 35 and 37 both featured the same design of oversized lined parka, although the shiny brown leather and purple fabric that respectively covered its two elements were swapped across looks. Little details, like the shirt-shaped hem of the closing tailored-shoulder jacket, were fun enough.
This collectsion was engaging without ever hitting Maramotti’s foundational Sportmax brief. That was not entirely the mystery designer’s fault: In the half century since it first hit the runway, this label’s raison d’être has been hustled from it by a plethora of other faster and cheaper brands. To feel urgent again, Sportmax could reshape itself according to the spirit of innovation and contemporaneity that it was founded to embody.
