At Pitti, Fashion Leaned on the Past

FLORENCE — Vogue is on a harmful trajectory: concepts are scarcer and high quality retains falling whereas costs proceed to soar. There may be solely a lot that advertising and marketing pyrotechnics can cowl up. Certainly, it was telling that what was most compelling on the 103rd version of Pitti Uomo, which ended on Thursday, was the Classic Hub part: a tiny laboratory the place visionaries corresponding to Maurizio Donadi of Transnomadica, Roberto Lonoce of Re_javu and Luca Sartor of Riedizione Sartoria maintain accumulating and reinventing cherished issues from the previous.

Upcycling and repurposing are nothing new in trend and the output of its practitioners is usually homogeneous in a artful and patchy type of approach. However what set these featured at Pitti aside is, on the one aspect, the streamlined, taut strategy to repurposing, and the sense of lived-in class that comes out of that; and on the opposite aspect, the contagious ardour they ooze for clothes, not an oz of cynicism or thirst for private overexposure in sight.

Within the case of Donadi, a classic lover and hoarder with a blue-chip resume that features lengthy stints in product growth at each Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani, Pitti served as a showcase for cherry-picked, uncommon items that aren’t even meant to be offered: the indigo-dyed smocks favoured by Henri Matisse and the fauves when portray. Donadi can also be the curator behind the very fascinating mission Fay Archive, which was offered as soon as once more within the Fortezza da Basso: trustworthy reproductions of archive clothes from the Diego Della Valle-owned workwear model, meant as a reconnection to the unique spirit of the label, which was born within the early Nineteen Eighties when Della Valle found the jackets worn by a fireplace division within the US.

Archive emotions are all the trend in the meanwhile. In discombobulating instances, trend turns into extra nostalgic than ever. There’s a decisive and widespread motion in direction of the simple class of the Fifties and early Sixties: suppose “The Proficient Mr Ripley” and an insouciant model of spontaneously put collectively masculinity. Rovi Lucca, a small but completely fashioned line that caught my consideration final season for its gardening ethos combined with gentle informality, went for cheerful visions of Tuscan countryside bliss and rustic class. DeNobiliaryParticle, the brainchild of communication wunderkind Paolo De Vivo, exudes a nostalgic and well-to-do feeling too, however it does so with uttermost focus: the road is all about ribbed crewneck jumpers that appear like a cherished household inheritance.

However it was at Paul Smith, who was again at Pitti after 15 years with an atelier-style presentation held within the gilded splendour of Villa Favard, full with a makeshift Paul’s Bar, that the 50s emotions reached a peak, in a feast of lightness, multipurposeness, pale colors and only a tiny little bit of floral embroideries. In different phrases, it was a playful tackle easy costume up: a quintessentially Paul Smith endeavour, and deliciously so, with the added bonus of Sir Paul himself explaining the appears because the fashions stood round him in a painter’s atelier scenario. The cosy scenario amplified the authenticity of the message, and it was a reduction.

Pitti has grow to be the event for a type of mini trend week in Florence, with collateral occasions added to the standard calendar. There was nothing small-scaled to the commencement present held by Polimoda, certainly one of Italy’s distinguished trend faculties, within the marvellous surroundings of the backyard of Villa Palmieri. No means have been spared, however the present was disappointing within the sense that, though completely executed, the collections — 18 in whole — all regarded cunningly redolent of what trend is presently providing, with approach too many homages to Rick Owens and Vivienne Westwood. Massimiliano Giornetti, previously at Ferragamo and now dean of Polimoda, is doing a terrific job, however the college must divert the eye of the scholars away from what’s presently in trend and widen their perspective. The opposite large trend college on the town, IED, ditched its trend present in favour of an exhibition curated by photographer Michel Comte whose excessive idea was as discombobulating because it was stimulating.

With the most effective factor at Pitti being classic and upcycling, Marine Serre’s flip as visitor designer was effectively timed. Serre was an early champion of couture-worthy upcycling, however what began a number of years in the past as a layered train in utopian/dystopian dressing for a multicultural world has developed right into a chaotic puzzle of this and that with too little flavour and an excessive amount of branding. It is a drawback many small manufacturers that develop too shortly face: the inventive burst provides option to advertising and marketing. This was imagined to be Serre’s official debut in menswear, however the present was a co-ed factor as regular, with an emphasis on sartorial males’s items with a brashness à la Gianni Versace to them. The setting, nevertheless, was improbable: the decadent Villa di Maiano in Fiesole, with an impressive view of Florence. The present led to whole white in a plea for peace: a a lot wanted message that nonetheless felt too simple.

Extra uplifting have been these for whom dressing is nearer to a type of artwork — extra as an outward expression of inside sentiments than to seize consideration — corresponding to Mauro Simionato of Vitelli, an ebullient inventive with an excellent sense of color, whose use of recycled cashmere fibres is excellent, and Pierre-Louis Mascia, whose 15-years previous label acquired its very first catwalk publicity at Pitti within the magical areas of the Tepidarium del Roster.

A former illustrator, Mascia has been an early champion of the eclectic, multi-print look, however he has been very calm in reclaiming it from the copycats. That is why the present, albeit emotional and energetic, felt a bit déjà vu. It was a pity as Mascia’s sense of print is actually singular. Working all of it into a distinct look would have made issues brisker.

Paul Smith Spring/Summer time 2025