Max Mara

Max Mara, the well-known fashion house was founded by Achille Maramotti, in 1951. Italy-based Achille began designing couture clothing right from the age of 20. The fashion house started as a menswear fashion brand, and later became popular for womenís fashion clothing as well. The design philosophy of Max Mara was to design high fashion clothing at reasonable prices for women. Max Mara enjoys success as one of the leading Italian fashion houses, with revenues of 2005 hovering around $1 billion. Max Maraís clientele includes the likes of Sandra Bullock, Megan Mullally, Daisy Fuentes, Nia Vardalos, Jenna Elfman, Jennifer Coolidge, among others.

Max Mara fashion house owns as many as 20 labels which are a mix of high and low labels. Some of the more well-known lines from the fashion label include Sportmax Weekend, Penny Black and Marella which are low-priced lines, Pianoforte, a line for evening clothes and Marina Rinaldi, a line for plus-sized women. Some of the designers who have worked for the fashion house include Karl Lagerfeld, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Narciso Rodriguez. However, the company sports a policy of playing up the clothes rather than the designerís personality. Max Mara offers a wide range of clothing items, shoes, accessories, handbags, belts, perfumes and sprays, among several other products.