Browns Focus: MAXIMILIAN

Lynette Nylander is a woman who knows a thing or two about style. Nevertheless, the lingering malaise of lockdown had her all but giving up. Enter MAXIMILIAN, style’s very own superhero, here to save the day. A Fashion East alumnus who has exploded onto the fashion scene with a look that is entirely his, Lynette describes why Max is the designer getting us off our sofas and dressing up once more.

I have a confession. When it comes to matters of style, I’ve all but given up.

Nothing like a global pandemic, complete with mass hysteria and retrofitting outfit choices to your Zoom dimensions to throw all sartorial sensibility out of the window.

But as we hurtle towards some semblance of freedom and the idea of real life, complete with social encounters, holidays away and general merriment -- perhaps it’s time to dust off my can’t-do mentality.

That’s where MAXIMILIAN comes in.

See, MAXIMILIAN (a.k.a. the Manchester-born design wunderkind Maximilian Davis, who dresses everyone from Rihanna to A$AP Rocky) reminds us of the boundlessness of what the world used to be. The 18th century inspired lines of his Slone blazer (“the perfect peek-a-boo length for a scandalous summer.”) The Mass bra, a structural take on a carnival harness -- all MAXIMILIAN signatures. In the Browns exclusive collection, Klein blue and bubblegum pink dominate, harking back to the nostalgic feeling of living for the weekend, when looking good was our biggest worry.

“This whole collection is really about carnival in Trinidad,” Max tells me over Zoom. “It’s a celebration of freedom. I was thinking about my childhood memories and all the music I was listening to when I was younger. The Missy Elliott, the Sean Paul, and it came out in really sexy tailoring for women who don’t shy away from that.”

Not just pieces to turn heads in -- stepping out in a piece of Maximilian also comes with multiple meanings. His Trinidadian heritage is proudly interwoven into each piece. In fact, the sand featured in the shoot shot by Marili Andre and styled by Ib Kamara, is representative of the golden sands of the island. “I am always so inspired by my Mum, sisters, auntie, cousins and Grandma, the women I grew up with and the women I always have in mind when I design. The result is an explicit celebration of femininity and strength. Take the Streamline dress or the attention-grabbing Harlequin denim jeans, displayed in the photos with the perfect amount of 1990s meets 2020s sex appeal. Put simply, the clothes don’t wear the woman, in fact, the woman has complete dominion over what she’s wearing, where she’s going and what she stands for.

That's a feeling I desperately need to harness. We all need a reckoning of what we stand for post-COVID. I for one know that I want to live for every moment. I’ve already made a pact that after a year-and-a-half of being starved of a dancefloor, I’ll never be too sofa-comfy to not go out at the drop of a text. I’ll also not be afraid to take more risks, as egged on by MAXIMILIAN. When I lament I might not be an archetypal brand ambassador, the designer giggles, “Yes you are -- it’s for everyone!”

So here’s to Summer 2021 and beyond - all dressed up and finally, with places to go.

Lynette Nylander is the Executive Editorial Director at Dazed.

Shop MAXIMILIAN

Discover more from Browns Focus: Series One here.

Creative Director: Maximilian Davis
Photographer: Marili Andre
Stylist: Ibrahim Kamara
Set Design: Josh Thompson
Make-Up Artist: Lucy Bridge
Hair Stylist: Issac Poleon
Nail Artist: Sylvie Macmillan
Movement Director: Pat Boguslawski
Casting: Mischa Notcutt - 11Casting
Production: L52
Models: Sienna @ Tess, J Moon @ Milk. Janet @ IMG, Omar @ PRM and Hidetatsu @ SUPA