The other day at Pitti Uomo, while I was still in my element, I overheard a buyer calling it “menswear Comic-Con.” Suddenly everything fell into place.
Because yes: If Paris Fashion Week is the glitzy, all-night rave where A-listers lay bare skin and rip darts in the front row, and Milan Fashion Week is the plush, old-money museum fest where luminaries like Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani showcase timeless masterpieces, then Florence’s Pitti is the midnight screening. the avenger Where true believers of the garment gather to show off their unique costumes and focus on lapel widths and stitching styles. (I say all this with the utmost love, of course, like a lost-in-the-sauce tailoring And Comic-book geek myself.)
Pitti Immagine Uomo, as it is formally known, is a massive menswear trade show that has been taking over the Fortezza di Basso, a 16th-century fortress built by the Medicis, twice a year since 1972. It is traditionally the place for brands and suppliers from around the world to meet customers, buyers and press, but since the latter’s #menswear days, it is perhaps best known. In the form of a street-style circus where a mix of old-world Italian tailors, luscious industry power players and peacocking influencer types pose for photos in their most alluring ensembles to feed the hungry Instagram masses.
In the days before my first Pitti, which took place last week, a longtime attendee cautioned me that the fair was no longer what it once was – that its commercial importance had diminished, with a significant group of the best brands now abandoning Florence in favor of Paris showrooms and the burgeoning Chicago Collective exhibition; He met many of the handsome old guard, Lino Illuzis and Yukio Akamines Of the world, were no longer visible.
The truth is that none of these wounds matter to me at all. Even in its supposedly weakened state, after 15 years as a tired style writer, Pitti Uomo still threatened to short-circuit my menswear-addicted brain at every turn. Where you can watch an amazing deep dive into the science of sunfading, attend a momentous Simone Rocha runway show, And Meet a French cobbler with a hidden gem in a single day? Where else can you walk into the Renaissance Duomo and find a bunch of Dickies work pants displayed under the high arched brick ceiling? Where else can you have an endless conversation about tie knots and collar points and not have the other person fall asleep or walk away? During what other work conference can you sneak out for 40 minutes and have the best Bistecca alla Florentina and Pappardelle Bolognese of your life?
Needless to say: I had an absolute blast, and I’m already dreaming of going back in January for the autumn-winter edition, where I’ll get to layer up in heavy tweed and flannel and not risk heat stroke walking 17 seconds from one building to the next. In the meantime, here’s what I saw in the Pitti Uomo 110 – all the things I liked, didn’t like, and will be adding to cart pronto.
1. Jeongkim’s Amazing Sunfading Exhibition
Let’s start by praising the best thing I saw all week. Korean designer Jeong Kim (whose eponymous label is her name mixed together) organized an in-depth exhibition that explored her many years of research on the effects of sun-bleaching on various natural dyes and fabric compositions. In the main installation 34 identical coats were hung one after another, each left in the sun for different time intervals – the first was marked “day 0” and the last marked “day 100”.
