A settlement built on a lagoon in northern Italy in Roman times became one of the world’s most magical cities, thanks to astute and enterprising medieval merchants. It seems that every writer who ever was has attempted to describe its grace and magic.

“There is something so different in Venice from any other place in the world, that you leave at once all accustomed habits and everyday sights to enter an enchanted garden,” wrote Frankenstein author Mary Shelley.

The most illustrious of those merchants was Marco Polo. On the 700th anniversary of his death, the world will witness a series of important exhibitions and events. Marco Polo was open-minded, inquisitive and tolerant; it has even been suggested that he was an early feminist. His 13th-century travelogue Il Milione describes without judgment how Tartar women and girls rode horses just like men did and marvels at an “Island of Women in India” which men might only visit for three months of the year.

Max Mara follows in Polo’s footsteps with opulent and multi-cultural collection that aims for a little magic. Polo spent 20 years at the court of Kublai Khan in Mongolia, where, even today, camel and cashmere wools are produced and were also traded on the so-called Silk Road, a conduit for all manners of luxurious commodities. The collection kicks off with camel, black, white and tan and introduces silks in nuanced shades like those Polo might have brought back from Cathay or Constantinople. From robes de chambre to parkas via trenches and tabarri, Max Mara serves up the stateliest coats. There are gowns for special occasions but there are also sweeping spolverini, snappy tunics, sharply cut tailleurs and neat all-in-ones with everyday elegance ready for travel and adventure. Outsize tassels, chunky drawstrings, extravagant handkerchief cuffs and velvet pannier skirts are key features. The crowning glory will be series of turban inspired headpieces, realized in collaboration with legendary milliner Stephen Jones.

Max Mara serves up the stateliest coats.The extravagant, writhing foliations of Venetian Gothic are to be found in textiles, too. Max Mara presents richly woven patterns featuring stylized floral sprays and motifs associated with Zoroastrian, Hinduism and the Chinese philosophical concept of yin and yang. In the Philippines, Max Mara is located at Greenbelt 3, Makati. Contact the store at 0917-7087728.