Items, they’re called in fashion, and Anthony Melillo knows all about them. The Miami-based designer’s latest venture, DearMax, focuses solely on the cashmere sweater, but there were plenty of others in the past: There was his late-’90s label Nova, which brought the world judo pants for our then-increasingly yoga-fied lives. (Madonna, circa her The Next Best Thing era, was never out of hers.
) Then there is ATM (his initials: Anthony Thomas Melillo), his label which gave the world T-shirt dressing, introducing us all to the endless possibilities to be had from a simple shirt with unparalleled softness and drape. “My comfort zone,” as Mellillo said over Zoom on one recent morning, “is perfecting things, and I’ve done it throughout my career—I’ve always been very focused.” Now it’s the cashmere sweater in Melillo’s sights, an item borne out of the times when he was traveling on a plane—or sitting in a restaurant, or in his office—and would reach for a piece of cashmere to wear over that tee.
(Or in this case—and belying his former life as a fashion stylist—artfully wrapped, scarf-like, around his neck.) The quotidien crew-necked silhouette shape Melillo has sketched out belies the fact that it's rendered in a gorgeous plush Lora Piana yarn, or that it’s knitted up without any seams, courtesy of waste-free 3D-manufacturing technology in Los Angeles. (Friends like Julianne Moore and Kelly Klein have already been wearing them.
) DearMax is launching with a limited edition of 187 sweaters across a variety of low-key colorways (sky blue, khaki, ivory, et al) and can be personalized with your initials or a little mantra or motto on one of the inner arms, just like a tattoo—so you can wear your heart, and just about anything else you fancy, on your sleeve. The simplicity of its appeal and its supreme wearability might lead you to think that this is the end of the story. Except, of course, it’s not.
DearMax is named after Melillo’s eight-year-old son Max. Melillo and his husband, Lance Miletich, decamped to Miami from New York six years ago, looking for a more outdoorsy, sunny life for their always-on-the-go toddler. Melillo had known Miami through its many incarnations across the decades, yet the one he and his family have landed in affords both the positives and negatives: A great life—particularly a great life for Max—but one shadowed by a political climate in the state which has been all too sadly intent on being hostile to the LGBTQIA+ communities.
(Even more sadly, this intent seems to be just about everywhere else these days.) DearMax might celebrate what you can do with the simplest and easiest of sweaters, but it’s also just as proudly a celebration of family and love. “Our rights are under threat, and that gives me goosebumps,” Melillo said, “but Max is the focus of our lives.
I’m not qualified to run for president, I’m not qualified to change the world, but I’m qualified to make something—and to make something work.” Melillo isn’t only thinking about his and Lance’s adored son, but kids across the country: Sales of his DearMax sweaters will benefit Baby2Baby, the national nonprofit which delivers necessities for disadvantaged children. “I saw how dedicated and loving Baby2Baby is, and how it’s working towards change,” he said.
“I always knew there would be a charitable part to [DearMax] to help this generation, and hopefully generations to come. I’d love to be able to say that I’m going to hand off this label to Max one day if he’s interested.” Melillo turns 60 on August 19th (happiest of birthdays, by the way, Anthony!), and birthdays—let alone milestone ones—always bring out the where-am-I-going-next reflections, and finding a way to get out of yourself and to help others is clearly a big part of that for him.
“Even if it’s small,” he said of his new label, “I want to do something I am passionate about—understanding that it's good to do something for my community, understanding mindful thinking, understanding that it is better to make it without waste. Understanding that it’s nice to say I can do something .” Shop the collection at https://dearmax.
com/..
