Weekend Max Mara and Robert Rabensteiner Recast Workwear in Into the Forest

“It’s the first thing that came to mind: a woman inviting her friends to gather around an exquisitely decorated table in the middle of the woods. It’s the most elegant thing you can do,” Robert Rabensteiner said, and that image was the lodestar for Weekend Max Mara’s Fall 2026 offering, “Into the Forest: A Weekend With Robert Rabensteiner.”

Weekend Max Mara presented the collection at Milan Fashion Week on Feb. 25, 2026, positioning the line as a lifestyle proposition that straddles alpine life and city culture. The collection is variously labeled Fall 2026 and Fall/Winter 2026-27, and it reads like an exercise in cultivated duality: mountain practicality translated into evening-ready polish.

Rabensteiner’s South Tyrolean roots and Milanese residence inform the archive references and the tailoring. The show reinterpreted traditional Austrian alpine coats through three technical cues: a textured mélange fabric, the classic form reshaped with cup sleeves and inverted pleats, and a distinctive green hue that recurs across outerwear. Those design notes give the outerwear a specific provenance rather than generic rusticity.

Craft and materiality were foregrounded. Hand-sewn, double-faced wool operates as the common thread binding robust outerwear to more elegant pieces, while Irish wools, sturdy cotton, leather, precious velvet and silk appear across separates and eveningwear. The mélange textures and precise pleating read as technique-forward translations of workwear into garments that can go from a forest walkthrough to a cultural evening in the city.

Silhouettes ranged from work-ready to ceremonious. An A-line cape and a bomber jacket with dropped shoulders sat alongside a linear shift dress, knitted dresses, full midi skirts, straight-leg trousers and silk camisoles. The collection also included authentic fisherman jumpers, positioning knitwear as both functional and refined. The wardrobe language intentionally mixes hiking attire, workwear and evening glamour rather than allowing any single category to dominate.

Color anchored the collection: a base of green, navy blue, powder blue and chestnut brown was energized by accents of red, purple and curry yellow. Those tones amplified the alpine reference while giving the pieces urban readability in motion and in artificial light.

“In general, the collection blends masculine and feminine elements, combining hyper-classic pieces with modern touches,” Rabensteiner said, encapsulating the show’s aim. The protagonist imagined across the runway is cast as an intellectually curious woman who hikes, rides motorcycles and travels by camper van, then moves into historic-city cultural evenings. Weekend Max Mara and Rabensteiner have translated that life into stitch and silhouette, staking a clear claim: workwear need not sacrifice ceremony, and alpine heritage can be reframed as metropolitan utility.