Over the weekend, Max Mara made the most of Sweden’s 18 hours of sunlight per day with an itinerary chock-full of festivities leading up to the country’s Midsummer festival, which kicks off the summer solstice in a memorable way. (Yes, this is the same event shown in the iconic thriller Midsommar, but, rest assured: this particular celebration was anything but scary.) The Italian brand started things off with a welcome dinner on Saturday night hosted on Fjäderholmarna, one of the roughly 30,000 islands that make up the Stockholm archipelago, where the likes of Amy Adams, Demi Moore, and Lily Collins were treated to a traditional Swedish dinner on custom Svenskt Tenn floral tablecloths and made their own Midsummer flower crowns. (When in Rome?)
Demi Moore.
Lily Collins.
For the unfamiliar, the annual Midsummer festival includes the traditional ritual of the Septem Flores, a.k.a. the seven wildflowers that are gathered and put under one’s pillow to dream of a future love. Max Mara used these precise florals as inspiration for its resort 2024 show, which was staged yesterday at Stockholm’s City Hall—specifically, in the Gold Hall, which boasts over 18 million gilded mosaic tiles. This opulent setting proved the ideal place to show the juxtaposition of Scandi-cool with a fresh take on light-as-air floral dresses. Signature Max Mara pieces like the Teddy Coat (which turns 10 years old this year!) were rendered in a traditional muted Nordic palette of tans, creams, and blacks, paired with easy summer shorts, Swedish knits, tasseled bohemian dresses, and a pop of graphic color. The finale run of flowing flower dresses were matched with beautiful leather floral crowns, weaving together the Midsummer aesthetic with a fashionable flair.
