‘Going places with panache’: Max Mara channels audacious women for Milan show

Chore jackets and loose-fit trousers nod to nonconformist glamour' of Amelia Earhart and other pioneers

The Max Mara catwalk at Milan fashion week had well-cut coats, sturdy block-heeled boots, crisp white shirts and capacious suede handbags. What it quite deliberately did not have was shock value. I hope everyone watching this show can recognise something of themselves in what they see," said Ian Griffiths, the British designer who has been at this Italian house since 1987. I think that's really important. Without being critical of other brands or designers, so much of fashion alienates people and makes them feel that they aren't good enough or thin enough or young enough to wear what's being represented."

Trousers were pleated and roomy, skirts long enough to be elegant but not long enough to trip you up. In shades of sand and chalk, grey and black, every piece was designed to work with everything else, and to blend into an existing wardrobe. The styling gestures - a popped collar here, a knotted belt there - stopped short of gimmick. The models could have walked off the runway and on to the Milan street - which, Griffiths said backstage, was the point. The catwalk show is only the prelude to what to me is the real presentation, which is when I see women walking down the street in my clothes."