Men’s fashion changes direction. Fall/winter collections are sold since the first days of July, but I feel like ruling out that italian men have already cleaned out the stores, thinking about a new wardrobe. Why did I write a “new” wardrobe? It’s simple, because fashion – also men’s – has changed direction; the proof comes from last fashion shows in June that reaffirmed a drastic transformation (but it’s a matter of summer 2014, it’s too early to talk about). By now, anyway, the turning point is clear. The general trend exclude the sportswear in favour of a style with no midtones: very elegant or very fashionable. Or both together. To sum up: – Among classic shades, grey, blue and camelhair last but, in compensation, winter lights up with colours like yellow, red and light blue. – The fur is back, as a coat or as an embellishment on lapels of long coats: the three quarters jacket has, infact, almost vanished; it’s time of the calf-lenght coat or the waist-lenght jacket, there’s hardly anything in the middle. – Patterns on fabric (heavy wool and flanel mainly) goes from macro-tartan to glenchecks and houndstooth, and the double-breasted suit is in again. Michael Caine in 1966, wearing a double-breasted suit, one of the winter trends.

And now the male wants to be eccentric. This week’s picture evokes lightness and summer atmosphere; it’ll be more appreciated by who’s leaving for holidays now, than who’s already come back. The three-dimensional photographic expression, given to this shot by Giovanni Gastel, gives back a kind of vitality not common in fashion pictures published on italian magazines, where the subject’s staticness usually wins. The 2011, year of this photo’s publication, and more precisely that spring/summer, represents a turning point in fashion, that from then on admits -even to male apparel- an agility sign that has gradually contaminated the formal dress: colours and prints, that literally overturn the classic austerity, have created a trend loved by a younger and international public. In collections sold now, colour shades are duller – especially on printed fabrics- and, for next summer, patterns will be more geometrical while colours will remain quite bright. Do we have to expect a U-turn or has eccentricity strenghtened not to give way to total-black return? Picture from Style Magazine (May 2011); jacket by Etro and scarf by Alexander McQueen.

Hand Made designed Photo by Mauro Balletti. The inspiration was Balthus Art and the short Giorgio Armani Jacket was perfect for that, as the one pince trousers by Gucci and the vintage feeling loafer by Santoni.

Una differenza decisiva tra le leggende dello stile e tutti gli altri, specialmente quando si parla di menswear, è il rispetto delle “regole”, o presunte tali, del vestire maschile. Il Duca di Windsor, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gianni Agnelli, Steve McQueen, il Conte Nuvoletti, ignoravano serenamente le “regole”. Dal risvolto dei pantaloni (ai tempi del Duca era rigidamente “country”) alla camicia button down (ai tempi di Fitzgerald non era considerata elegante), i revers dell’Avvocato, le t-shirt unte di  olio di motocicletta di McQueen (fino agli anni ’60 il casual come lo intendiamo noi non era proponibile al di fuori di fabbriche, officine, o al di fuori del weekend), i check arditi del Conte: tutti “errori”. Tutte regole infrante (vedi Lapo al giorno d’oggi). John F. Kennedy è stato un uomo dallo stile classico e molto imitato – le grisaglie con le scarpe Burgundy, le cravatte regimental, i revers stretti, gli occhiali da sole, i pantaloni khaki a Cape Cod — ma anche lui era allergico a almeno una regola: portava la giacca a due bottoni e abbottonava entrambi. Un vezzo di certi inglesi di ottima famiglia e ottima educazione (tra i quali Winston Churchill) adottato dal giovane Kennedy, figlio dell’ambasciatore americano a Londra. Matteo Persivale

The exception doesn’t prove the rule. A decisive difference between style legends and all the others, … Continua a leggere →

My father used to love only western movies. Saturday afternoon was a ritual: second show – at 16 0′ clock – cowboys, redskins and horses. The fate of those poor beasts was a source of worry (“do they hurt themselves when they fall down?”). Till, on a rainy saturday, in full grey Milanese autumn, was the turn of “For whom the bell tolls”, an old picture show – precisely from 1943 – inspired by Hemingway’s novel, with Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman. I was used to spaghetti western, as easy as they were boring, and I was not prepared for a dramatic western at all. I cried so much that from then on I refused to go to the cinema with him, and only this year I made peace with western thanks to Tarantino and his Django. The modern cowboy played by Jamie Foxx captivated me, but I haven’t recovered yet after the goodbye scene between Maria (Bergman) and Robert (Cooper): the bracket has already closed.