Dubai, UAE, May 11, 2017:  Imaginary and hyperreal - all the world's great conurbations merge into the ultimate city. Liu Wei realizes his vision of Monopolis as the mise en scene for a spectacular Max Mara show. His eye penetrates the architectural fantasies and sees through to the inexorable entropy of the urban fabric. Monopolis is a living organism - the archaeology of its familiar spaces and landmarks embodies the memories and stories of its citizens - past, present, and future. On one side, its perpetual energy is electrifying. On the other hand though the city's restless metamorphosis creates a sense of confusion, disorientation and alienation.

Max Mara is all about the city too; street smart, chic and luxurious urban kit that lightens up the downtown experience. After all, the concrete jungle is the only place for a woman on her way to the top and it doesn't seem half as tough when she is swathed in Max Mara.

The show is played out like a retro-futuristic film about the fantastical mega city; Max Mara envisages the characters who inhabit its shady precincts as the darkly glamorous and selfpossessed screen heroines of Film Noir. Johnny Dynell's original soundtrack recaptures the urbane elegance and knife-edge thrill of the uniquely metropolitan genre.

Legendary movie stars, Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall; their cool, collected, sirenic style is focused through Liu Wei's prism. The result; a hint of rawness that confers a wholly modern dimension. Max Mara's trademark camel-white-black trio meets the Liu Wei colour spectrum - crystalline tones that work together in seductive combinations. Meticulously executed trompe l'oeil prints and jacquards reproduce layers of frayed fabrics overlaid with an elaborate chain stitch tracery, suggesting the labyrinthine topography of the metropolis, or the footprints of grand utopian quartiers.

For the daily grind and sybaritic pleasures, the steamy swelter of late summer and sudden autumn chills Max Mara Pre Fall 2017 rewrites the urban dress code with an emphasis on easy, instant star quality. Silhouettes and stand outs? Forties style razor sharp darted shoulders and cinched waists, vampishly ruched tulle skirts and dresses, glam new sweats, tailored pants and all-in-ones with gathered cuffs, knee high lace-up boots and reptilian chunky heeled pumps, a bag for every look. And, of course, coats -in opulent cashmere, camel's hair and alpaca - combining decorous understatement with bombshell glamour like only Max Mara knows how. Slip one on, walk the mean streets of Monopolis like you own them - and one day, Lady, you probably will.