19/06/2015

All About Menswear: Pitti Uomo and London Runways

The international fashion scene is currently dominated by menswear: the current menswear shows and this week’s Pitti Immagine Uomo 88 – an international trade event that showcases men’s fashions and contemporary lifestyle trends – have taken the fashion spotlight. The question on everyone’s lips these days is what the future of menswear will look like.

Several projects focusing on menswear were presented during the ongoing Pitti Uomo event in Florence. One of these is ”Open”, which aims to challenge our ideas about gender, and offers an interpretation of a new generation of collections that move beyond borders of what is masculine or feminine. The project will be presented in a conceptual setting designed by the Storage Associati, a renowned Milan design studio that works on cross-pollination between different art forms.

Another innovative section displayed during the event is ”My factory”, a result of a union between technology, music, art and design that aims to create a platform promoting creative workshops within the fields of urban style and sportswear. The future society and the urban lifestyle have inspired everything, from the concept of the event to its set design. Similar ideas were also seen on the catwalk, and have influenced, for example, Christopher Kane’s menswear collection for Summer 2016 that was shown in London this week. Kane has developed the brand’s menswear line, from almost being a toned down match to its womenswear collections, into a collection that both feels more relevant and looks to the future. Kane has successfully included pieces that both feel gender-natural and that take on the urban- and sportswear aesthetics. If this is what menswear will look like in the future, we can’t but love it.

Hanna Cronsjö 
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20/06/2013

PITTI 84: Trends, Talents and Turkey

We’re at the beginning of the third day of Pitti Uomo: a lot has been seen, with a few main events yet keeping us on our toes. New talents have been elected and celebrated in the fifth edition of Who Is On Next, the first notions for the SS14 trends and tendencies are given and the first, second and maybe third round of browsing for brands and interesting collections are done. Following the words of Pitti 84’s fashion diary writer – Angelo Flaccavento – Pitti Uomo is a melting pot. Standing under the Florentine sun, we would say the word melting has a double meaning.


Despite the brightest of sun rays the gentlemen at Pitti manage to stay well-dressed and polished. The dress code goes from bright colours and prints to tailored suits, further to just the simplest of super-easy outfits. A few strict shirt-wearers might have let the policy collapse for something a bit more leisure, pants have been replaced by the comfort of shorts, while others keep the tie knot tight. The choice of rigs aside, SS14 offers a few bold statements, essential wardrobe choices in excellent materials and Spring given in prints and contrasting colours. Attention to detail and small adjustments that can make a piece your own are well describing expressions. The contemporary man will find his very essentials as well as what he wants: luxury travel pieces answering to the needs of functionality, lightweight sportswear brought back to the city and new prints to bright up the neatest of outfits: the latest being the bandwagon that no one seems to have missed.

The cultural influences are coming from east: with Turkey as the Guest Nation of both Pitti Uomo & Pitti W, Turkish designers will give their take on cultural clothing nicely packaged in a contemporary concept. The “Gentlemen of Istanbul: 7 Gentlemen from 7 designers from the city on 7 hills” blends deeprooted culture with modern designs from a country that today is becoming an important player in the area of fashion research.


The two(!) winners of Who Is On Next are also – even though not Turkish – two brands who know about tradition and roots. During the awards on Monday it became clear that the judging panel hadn’t been able to make a clear cut, and the fifth edition of the competition ended in a tie: the hats by Super Duper Hats and the shoes by Casamadre went out as winners together. “They are two brands that share the ability of knowing how to combine memory and tradition with new and contemporary details, in tune with the market’s most sophisticated demands” was the words of the jury.

Despite the colourful audience, the hot weather and the many guests making the streetstyle photographers, fashion bloggers and fashion enthusiasts crowding up at the main entrance, there’s a certain calm at La Fortezza da Basso: casual meetings and moments to breathe before we’re heading to Milan.



Lisa Olsson Hjerpe – Image courtesy of Pitti Immagine 
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20/07/2012

Met at Pitti 82: 10A

Met at Pitti 82: 10A

10A is an Italian company that evolved from being a research lab producing 10 pairs of trousers with suspenders per month, to a full collection brand, producing not only trousers but t-shirts, bags and sunglasses for both men and women. The naval inspiration for the Spring/Summer 2013 collection was reflected in the Alternative Set that 10A treated their audience at Pitti Uomo 82; a regatta with radio-controlled boats and a smokestack spewing steam and making sounds.


AAAAAAAAAA, the research lab from where it all began is the product of the meeting between product designer Matteo Cibic and Daria Dazzan, fashion designer. The specific trousers with suspenders, in the finest of Italian materials, were successful and celebrated in the press, and led to the continuation of transforming the lab into a brand; 10A. The men’s collection for S/S13 continues with classic Italian tailoring, and trousers with the patented suspender system and the engraved logo in the back as a strong core. Though, it was a pleasure to see how the main product had evolved into a full style, refined by the leather bags and sunglasses. The loose fitted garments had alternatives in a slim cut, and the light materials did well in the combination of vintage inspiration. New trouser models and the new striped 10A t-shirt all came together in a light version of the navy uniform. Aside from the fabrics, also the colours were a part of the nautical inspiration, ranging from white and navy blue to light grey and green.

The previously mentioned regatta took part in the Piazzetta della Ronda at Fortezza da Basso. Four models dressed in the S/S13 proposal were directing the mini boats accompanied by steam and smoke in an amusing event, perfectly presenting the concept of 10A.


Do you remember the special lookbook project we did with 10A in Spring 2011? See it here.

Lisa Olsson Hjerpe

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18/07/2012

Met at Pitti 82: Esemplare

Met at Pitti 82: Esemplare

A young brand yet full of rich history, that is Esemplare N°61. With the roots in the province of Reggio Emilia and the company Manifattura Riese, Esemplare approaches the menswear area with exclusivity and innovation in focus. The Blogazine met them during Pitti Uomo to hear more about the barely two-year-old company, that has already made it into the big department stores.

It’s the quality and detailing without any excessive elements that round up the Spring/Summer 2013 collection from Esemplare. Head designer Alessandro Pungetti, who earlier worked for CP Company, brings together the technology of innovative materials and treatments with style. The collection, which presents an urban man, holds a lot of sporty aspects without losing its amount of sophistication. Reversible pieces and garment dying add to a certain uniqueness, even though it is a discrete collection that lets the fine Italian craftsmanship – and the man wearing it – shine through. Despite the youth of the brand, Esemplare mediates the feeling of know-how and a multi-faceted view on menswear.

The knowledge, which is well anchored in the 50 years of family history and Manifattura Riese together with an unmistakable sense for classic turned contemporary, has taken the brand outside of Italy and around the world. Bergdorf Goodman, Fred Segal and Merci are just few of the department- and multi branded stores that have picked up on the exemplary quality. Esemplare is one of the few young brands focusing on the essentials; the technology and the innovation. It’s not about superfluous or extravagant focal points, but the quality of materials and the quality of dressing people that matters.

Lisa Olsson Hjerpe

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12/07/2012

Met at Pitti 82: Carlo Rivetti of Stone Island

Met at Pitti 82: Carlo Rivetti of Stone Island

In occasion of Pitti Uomo 82, Stone Island celebrated the company’s long history of successful collections, high technological fabric research, and being a brand experimenting with techniques often foreign to the fashion world. The retrospective exhibition Stone Island 30 shows over 200 garments from 30 years of collections along with the recently published book showcasing the immense archive, for the very same occasion. While in Florence, The Blogazine met with Mr Carlo Rivetti, the CEO and owner of Stone Island.

Buonasera mr Rivetti! The exhibition is great, how do you yourself feel about the final result of it?
I’m very surprised by the general response to the exhibition. First of all, there has been an unbelievable attendance by the press but also by our customers. As well, we invited and organized a bus to bring all the people from our factories from Emilia here. Without these people, this exhibition would not exist!

The exhibition has taken us from 1982 to 2012. How has the trip been?
It’s been more of a flight than a trip! Times flies… too fast! I think this is a milestone, not only in our history but also in the evolution of the man over the past years.

And what comes next?
Well, first of all we need to file the exhibition into our archive. As you can understand, we are very fond of all historical aspects and we need this as a memory for the future! I believe, well, we believe in the Internet a lot, and in all the new types of media – the Internet is like an elephant, hahaha, it doesn’t forget anything! Hopefully the effect of the exhibition will live on forever, in some way. Other than that, we will start working on a mobile application in the near future.


Is there anything in your archive that you can see working as well in the future?
It’s interesting that you ask. Yesterday I was in our showroom in Milan, and it is amazing to see how the Tela Stella, our initial material, has been under constant evolution all this time. And now, for the S/S 2014 collection we’re taking it aboard and transforming it into something new. I have been told many times that if you would change the features of our first original collection just a little bit, it would be very contemporary. So it’s really an interesting mix between the past and the future that stands before us.

How does it come that Stone Island is so devoted to the area of innovation?
Innovation is the DNA in my company, and you know; a company is built by people. My people have their DNA in the field of research and developing techniques, they keep on pushing for innovation all the time – it’s fantastic!

Your strength often lies in the fabrics, the technical research and the functionality. How do you see the balance between sportswear and fashion?
I don’t recognize myself in the fashion business, I see myself much closer to industrial design. Stone Island doesn’t do shows, we don’t do presentations, we don’t do fairs, we do zero. A couple of years ago a British newspaper said that Stone Island is the best kept secret in the fashion industry, and that I am very proud of. I believe in this type of communication instead, because I want to talk directly to the final customer. In these days, if you have a story to tell – and we got many stories to tell – and if you are consistent and respectful of your company’s DNA, people will be fascinated.

Thank you for giving us a little of your time Mr Rivetti!

Lisa Olsson Hjerpe – Images courtesy of Pitti Immagine

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