While many British designers are referencing Marie Antoinette, renewed interest in the French queen fanned by the big V&A exhibition now on in London, Ian Griffiths selected another 18th-century court figure, Madame de Pompadour, a renowned patron and proponent of Rococo style, as an influence for his latest Max Mara collection.

“We’re not creating a BBC costume drama,” Griffiths stressed right off the bat. “We’re creating modern fashion for modern women and for every look that bears a trace of Rococo, there’s a look that’s completely the opposite.”

The show opened with a sleeveless trench dress with puffs of frou-frou at the shoulders, followed by a sleek pantsuit, cueing up Griffiths interplay between the 1780s and the 1980s.

When organza petals or frilled fabric garlands accumulate

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