Max Mara’s 101801: Why This Coat Has Lasted Since the 1980s

Open a Max Mara 101801 and you will find a small note stitched into the lining telling the coat’s history. It is a clue to how the house sees this piece: not as a seasonal design, but as an object with a past. The 101801 has been in the collection since the 1980s, and the shape you can buy today is recognisably the same coat.

The making

What makes it different

The fabric is a wool and cashmere blend, and it is felted in a process that runs to 73 steps. Felting draws the fibres together, which is what gives the cloth its density, its warmth and the gentle sheen you notice in daylight. It is made in Italy.

The cut does the rest. It is double-breasted, closed with a knotted belt, and the sleeves are softly draped rather than sharply set in. That combination is why it works over a suit and over a thick knit, and why it still looks right decades after it was first drawn.

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Max Mara Madame 101801 Icon Double-breasted Wool and Cashmere-blend Coat £2,715 at NET-A-PORTER

Quick look

The family

The rest of the family

Max Mara has built a small group of coats that are bought the same way: once, and kept. The Teddy Bear, launched in 2013, is camel hair woven with silk into a plush, oversized pile.

The Manuela is a camel-hair wrap coat, lined in satin and tied at the waist.

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Max Mara Teddy Bear Icon Oversized Camel-hair and Silk-blend Coat £2,770 NET-A-PORTER ↗

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Max Mara Manuela Belted Camel-hair Wrap Coat £2,225 NET-A-PORTER ↗

Is it worth it?

A coat you wear every day for a decade costs less per wear than most things in your wardrobe. That is the honest case for the 101801: it is expensive, it is not fashionable in the way that changes each season, and it will still be the coat you reach for long after this winter.