This season, Weekend Max Mara unveils a special collaborative capsule titled A Weekend with an Artist which aims to bring fresh perspectives to an established wardrobe staple. The subject is the brand’s signature Canasta trench coat, reinterpreted by the artists Victoria Kosheleva, Paola Pivi, Tschabalala Self, Tai Shani, and Shafei Xia. The five creatives—diverse in medium, background, and aesthetic—were selected by Francesco Bonami, the renowned art curator, critic, and writer. Bonami’s resume includes stints as the director of the Venice Biennale, curator of the Whitney Biennial of American Art, and he is currently the artistic director of Hangzhou’s BYArtmatters and a board member of the Gagosian Gallery.  

Related article: At Max Mara, History Yields A Forward Path For Fall/Winter 2026

Related article: At Max Mara, The Clothes Are The Main Story

For the collaboration, he focused on artists defined by their freedom of expression and their ability to escape market trends and temptations. Kosheleva blends the contemporary and the classical in a style she calls cyber expressionism. Pivi incorporates everyday objects into her work, altering them to prompt audiences to rethink reality. Self is known for assemblage works exploring personhood and the significance of symbols. Shani is a multimedia artist reclaiming feminine aesthetic codes through a lens of utopian militancy. And Xia is an irreverent, provocative artist drawing from classical erotic art to present a new take on womanhood. 

“The goal was to offer, through an iconic garment, the opportunity for personal expression, which is fundamental to any aspect of fashion that seeks to provide a unique perspective to its audience,” explains Bonami. In this exclusive interview, the curator tells us about his aim with this project and his hopes for artists moving forward.

Related article: Will You Buy John Galliano At Zara? His Collection Hits Stores In September.

What was it about each of these artists that drew you to working with them for this specific project?

Each artist has a defined identity, giving the project the opportunity to address different identities within a single final product. The diversity of the approach was my main goal, as it represents the strength of the idea itself. Weekend Max Mara is the overall unifying concept but, within this concept, live many different personalities.

What values do you feel you share with Weekend Max Mara that made this collaboration such a comfortable fit?

I would define Weekend Max Mara as an innovative classic [brand] which allows one to work with a strong legacy while offering complete freedom, as clearly demonstrated by the artists involved in this project. All of them were able to express their language clearly with no compromise. They did not just "decorate" the trench coat—they reinvented it with their own specificity.

How did your approach differ when curating works to be hung on the walls vs works that will sit on the body? 

It's totally different. Art is fantastic but useless on a wall. The viewer remains separated from it. In this case with Weekend Max Mara, the viewer is the element—the force, if you will—that activates the idea embedded in the trench coat; if hung on a wall, it turns inert and not alive.

When was the first time you felt like fashion and art could be in perfect conversation with each other?

Well, I don’t think fashion and art truly speak to each other. When art enters fashion, it takes on an inner spirit, almost like a ghost. When fashion enters art, it becomes a surface, a kind of skin.

Who are some of the artists that really influenced the way you think about art?

Vito Acconci, Cindy Sherman, Rudolf Stingel, Cady Noland, Matthew Barney, Yoko Ono, and Juergen Teller, just to name a few. Among the younger generation, I would mention Eliza Douglas, Derrick Adams, Alex Da Corte, and Chaofei.

And who are some of the designers that influenced the way you approach fashion or the idea of style?

Raf Simons, Walter Van Beirendonck, Rodarte, Rei Kawakubo, Rick Owens, and Martine Rose.

What do you hope to see more of in the art or fashion industry in 2026?

Underground, experimentation, risk, innovation. Today, people in art and fashion are playing it too safe—too conservative. They seem paralysed by what I call "the fear of social media, and the addiction to consensus". Nobody wants to scare off anyone. As the great filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder once said in one of his most powerful films: “Fear eats your soul.”

*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity