Amsterdam Fashion Week
During the opening day of Amsterdam Fashion Week, MAX ZARA STERCK debuted with a performance consisting of a combination of dance and catwalk show. Interplay is a recurring theme in Max Zara's work, which can be seen in various components. Positive and negative, black and white, minus and plus. The logo of MAX ZARA STERCK is therefore central to the center of the show: + - = \
''Plusminusequalsbackslasch'' - in math, the formula + and - equals -. Negative dominates here. In our society it is assumed that negative is 'bad' and positive is 'good'. Max Zara Sterck wants to show that beauty also resides in the negative side. During the August 30th show, it was repeatedly noted that everyone has a positive and negative side and that the combination of both is what makes us powerful and beautiful. It's an invitation to express and celebrate yourself in your purest way: both plus and minus. The last symbol of the logo, backslash, represents the outcome when you spread the two, reflected in the diagonal silhouette where the designs are on based.
AW23 Wu Wei
Wu wei is an ancient Chinese concept literally meaning "effortless action” and comes from the principles of Taoism.
It is the perfect description of this collection that focusses of the search for effortless drapes/ shapes and easy movement of the fabric around the body.
The coincidence determines the shape instead of controlling or thinking it all through.
SS23 Intimate Spaciousness
This collection is about space, how to take up space as a woman and as a creative. Taking up space does not mean you need to stand wide, feel super positive or shout. It means being who you are. It is about being your true authentic self. But what does it mean to you? Daring to take that space to be you, daring to take that space to do it differently, daring to take that space to feel what you feel.
Max Zara Sterck continues her exploration into the body’s curvatures, draping lines that follow and mirror those that are organic. For Spring Summer 2023, Max Zara has explored and embraced the space surrounding the body, elongating her linear works to another level.
Monochromatic designs cling to incurves and depressions, garments come loose from the body, and extended draping is propelled by movement into the space surrounding the body.
SS22 She is Your Second Skin
This is an invitation to explore your body, your emotions, and your energy. Through the designs Max Zara Sterck highlights the sense of touch. Garments need to be worn, handled, felt and treated like a second skin.
Max Zara sees garments as a natural extension of the body, for movement and expression. Creating clothes to empower the woman within and that follow the lines of the endless diversity of body forms. Max Zara gives her devoted attention and appreciation to human form as the purest expression of oneself.
Pareidolia
Pareidolia is the tendency for incorrect perception of a stimulus as an object, pattern or meaning known to the observer. For example, seeing objects or faces in clouds.
Since her childhood, Max Zara Sterck has seen inanimate objects take the shape of dresses or tops before her eyes. She would take these unassuming items home with her and sketch a female body around the object.
From a humble plastic bottle to a crumpled candy wrapper, no item escaped the designer’s childhood imagination.
Nowadays, by draping with fabric across a mannequin or a live model, the designer considers how abstract lines and shapes can be transformed into designs.
The Pareidolia collection is a celebration of human imagination.
Figure Hugging Suits
Movip
MOVIP, a juxtaposition between the words MOVEMENT and HIP.
When observing people in motion wearing her creations, the designer discovered that the movement of the hip defined the shape of the pieces. She therefore made the hip the focal point of her collection, in order to celebrate this specific body part.
Through drapes and cut- outs, she reinforces the movement and beauty of the hip. Through the correct placement of seams, the female body is accentuated and able to move freely, while encouraging a powerful attitude.
Ci de la 2015
Max Zara’s graduation collection which is inspired from a personal fascination and relation with the body as a way to express, a collection developed in which movement plays the leading role.
Research in modern dance, as well as the physical work process of Matisse’s Cut-Outs, influenced the design process.
Both sources of inspiration testify direct mental and physical freedom where ‘the coincidence’ is appreciated.
toile-de-luxe 2014
