The Spanish-born architect reveals her first-ever fashion collection, a bold range of coat-like pieces for Weekend Max Mara marked by color mismatches and textural blends.
All images courtesy of Weekend Max Mara
“My work is everyday research about how we can inhabit a space or a living experience at different dimensions,” says Patricia Urquiola, the celebrated Spanish-born architect and designer whose whimsical design sensibilities have yielded unforgettable products for the likes of B&B Italia, Kvadrat, Flos, and Cassina. Despite forging relationships with fashion brands throughout her career, Urquiola relishes in the idea of translating her visions to the runway: “They’re pieces of our houses that we bring with us in our path.”
Habito, the Milan designer’s first-ever fashion collection, for Weekend Max Mara Fall/Winter 2022, embodies this notion. Eye-catching color mismatches and cocooning silhouettes eschew gender, making the coat-like pieces suited for itinerant travelers and city dwellers alike. The mélange of graphic patterns, colors, and textures—bonding traditional wools and ribbed knits with technical nylon to create matte, shiny, and reflective effects—evoke Urquiola’s most memorable designs, so it’s fitting how the campaign was shot in the showroom of French-Italian textile brand CC-Tapis, where her cloud-like Venus Power rugs are proudly displayed. “The narrative is about hybrid pieces that welcome you as a home,” Urquiola says. “An emotional habitat.”
