Max Mara Threw a Hollywood Garden Party
Every year, for the last 12 years, MaxMara hits the Hollywood circuit hard — but not necessarily awards season itself. In Los Angeles, the Italian brand has established its own award show: the Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award. Bestowed upon the likes of Kate Mara, Rose Byrne, and Emily Blunt, this year’s recipient is the young star of Everybody Wants Some!! and Why Him? — actress Zoey Deutch. Max Mara’s annual June whirlwind included a press lunch and a garden party at the Chateau Marmont on Monday, and the very serious WIF Crystal & Lucy Awards ceremony — an annual femme fest empowering all types of Hollywood women, to be held tonight.
The 22-year-old ingénue arrived in a David Byrne–style, Cabernet-colored velvet Max Mara pantsuit with a matching bandeau top, her hair in a tight pony — proving young stars with big credits don’t need the sheer evening gowns, Über-micro minis, or swirled waves that almost everyone else there was wearing.
In the Champagne-glistening garden of the Chateau, the swarm of actresses, models, and their entourages included Ireland Baldwin, Katherine Schwarzenegger, Sophia Bush, Olivia Culpo, Talita Von Furstenberg — and, oddly, Jon Hamm (Hamm IS single, after all). Most of the fledgling actresses and models tittered and eschewed selfies given the plethora of wire-service photogs on hand.
Unlike the sleek Deutch, the sea of beachy-haired models at the Chateau garden party looked like they’d all shared the same curling iron, wearing what could be called “extended bathing-suit dresses.” Nicola Maramotti, Max Mara’s global ambassador and director of retail development, wore a chic blush jumpsuit from Max Mara resort 2018 and glittering silver flats, the very picture of Milan minimalism. Her husband Ignazio is the son of Max Mara’s founder.
Rather than solely doing her job of touting the brand, the canny Deutch also plugged her new film The Year of Spectacular Men, an indie flick opening Friday that she described as a total family affair: “It’s my mom Lea Thompson’s feature-directing debut; my dad produced it, and my sister Madelyn wrote and co-stars.” Her mom, of course, starred in Back to the Future and her dad Howard Deutch directed Pretty in Pink, making them ‘80s icons.
“The title’s ironic,” laughed her older sister Madelyn (in a white Max Mara shirtdress). “I wrote [The Year of Spectacular Men] about a year when I had five disastrous dating experiences.” What does Thompson think of her daughters’ dating lives? “They have to suffer, I can’t prevent that,” Thompson said. “But we’re here for each other. We laugh. That’s what the movie is. And I always say ‘Never put out on the first date!!!’” At age 56, Thompson looked as elegant as her girls in a blue-and-silver Max Mara dress.
Ahead of presenting Zoey with her award at the WIF ceremony tonight, Maramotti said she’s proud that the brand promotes actresses as arts ambassadors. “The coverage goes all over the world,” she said, “letting women know we want to empower them — as do our clothes. It’s very hard to find clothes for working women anymore.” One look at much of the crowd proved that.
