MILAN — For the spring 2026 season, Weekend Max Mara brought together five well-known artists through a special project called “A Weekend With an Artist” that has been curated by the art critic, curator and writer Francesco Bonomi.
The artists have been able to express themselves by putting their own interpretation on the brand’s signature Canasta trenchcoat.
“In my career, I’ve had the fortune and opportunity to meet different voices,” said Bonomi, a former director of the Venice Biennale and now artistic director of BYArtmatters in Hangzhou and a member of the Gagosian Gallery board. “My experience has allowed me to find these five artists, all women, who, in my opinion, can best represent this project. I’ve looked for artists who still have a contemporary and fresh language that can express the spirit of this fashion piece.”
Bonomi’s curatorial approach prioritized distinction, visual innovation and intergenerational dialogue. The selected artists — Victoria Kosheleva, Paola Pivi, Tschabalala Self, Tai Shani and Shafei Xia — were selected for their creativity and their willingness to defy conventions.
“I thought about the work of artists who could intertwine with the structure of the trench. I didn’t want the trench to be just a support for the artists, but rather to create a dialogue and conversation, in order to become a unique object in itself,” Bonomi said. “The brand has a strong identity, but it’s not overwhelming, so it allowed the artists to step in without altering the trench’s nature, but also without becoming just simple decoration.
“Each piece offers the client five different points of view and brings a variety of vision, and I think that’s the vital element of this project,” continued Bonomi, arguing that the brand’s strong identity provided a perfect balance, enabling the artists to contribute without overpowering the trench’s essence or reducing it to just a decoration. The collection will be showcased on Wednesday in the CC Tapis space located in Piazza Santo Stefano, 10.
The artist Kosheleva, who merges contemporary and classical imagery in what she describes as “cyber expressionism,” worked directly on a prototype, painting various motifs that the brand then reproduced as a print. Kosheleva made checkerboard squares, an ornate eye, intricate swirls and flowers coexist within the trench. “It’s like carrying a piece of theater, of a dream, of unanswered questions with you. The coat isn’t simply decorative,” she said.
The Bologna-based emerging Chinese artist Xia also made multiple elements coexist in her creation. She used her signature technique of painting watercolors on sandalwood paper to portray a woman merging into a white tiger, embellished with floral details that spread across the trench’s back from collar to hem. The imagery presents a contrast between a calm surface and the storm beneath.
Italian artist Pivi, currently residing in Hawaii, drew inspiration from her surroundings. She reported the beauty of the island, through the bold colors of the double rainbows that she sees in the sky almost daily, integrating them into her trench design. She painted vertical multicolored stripes that go down the front and back of the trench, creating an hourglass shape that narrows at the waist.
The Harlem-born Self adorned her lacquered pastel yellow trench with pink Infinity Flowers, symbolizing the temporal beauty and fragility of nature, which is analogous to the corporeal human condition. The stamping process used for this wearable artwork is inspired by the ancient wax-resist dyeing technique of batik.
The multidisciplinary artist Shani created the black vinyl glossy-coated trench. In her words, the black vinyl “plays on the trench as a sartorial symbol of clandestinity, paired with hand-illustrated images of adorable cats, a cute wink at 1950s pinups.”