Breaking the rules. Who knows me well, knows that I can’t stand social occasions: I limit my participation to the bare minimum. Then there’s the matter of outfit. Legend has it men are helped: “A beautiful dark jacket, white shirt, bow-tie or tie and you’re ok”, First of all, we’re bored to dress in the same way too; then, not necessarily only ladies can transgress. Can you try to break the rules? Yes, but only if you are already eccentric in everyday life. So, how to break the etiquette’s code for a social event? Take a look at the collections: there’s a triumph of check fabrics, from the micro-printed to the tartan, and there’s a big celebration of colour that leaves space to the most daring matches. And a lot of fashion accessories, and “little” objects of desire, but destined to a vertical decline soon. Picture by Jean-Baptiste Mondino.

 The importance of knowing how to mix. The collection designed by Stefano Pilati for Ermenegildo Zegna reconciles an excellent knowledge of fabrics and styling and a grounded and good connection with tradition. Zegna is his world; in if tomorrow Giorgio Armani will decide to pull out, Pilati would be the only one able to replace him without retracting the DNA of the King. His secret is based on simplicity in tailoring, enriched by magnificence of fabric and a very refined selection of shades. The result of his debut will be in stores from January, with a collection including also overcoats: a demi-forgotten piece in the mosaic of menswear (if a man has at least a little awareness of fashion, his collection of clothes must be necessarily multiform), to whom Pilati gives back meaning and dignity. “I have a very colourful collection of clothes, so I can combine many different looks” says Pilati, and stabilizes an idea that defines “brokes suit”: “The highest grade of chic is matching the jacket of one suit with the trousers of another, provided that their shades merge with harmony and it looks like a suit in turn. A suit that – however – reveals a big personality”. If his Zegna s/s collection has already been an elation of materials and shapes, I imagine something really exciting for Winter 2014 Collection, that we’ll see in January: I’ll keep you up-to-date real-time on www.themenissue.com.

Uno dei luoghi comuni più diffusi nel menswear di questi anni è che l’uomo ribelle debba essere sempre – o quasi sempre – in T-shirt, giubbetto da biker, stivali macchiati. Il più grande rivoluzionario della Letteratura del Novecento, Franz Kafka, i cui incubi e le cui profezie – sullo strapotere dello Stato sull’individuo, sulle dittature – continuano a interrogarci, ha cambiato la cultura occidentale abbigliato impeccabilmente in belle giacche di flanella, camicie bianche, fazzoletto da taschino, bellissime cravatte a piccoli pois o sottili righe reggimentali, e a volte perfino la bombetta. Anche in abito chiaro, come nella celebre foto insieme con Felice Bauer, Kafka è maestro oltre che di scrittura anche di stile: al contrario dell’immagine un po’ troppo romantica tramandata nelle biografie, Kafka era alto, affascinante con i suoi occhi e capelli scuri, grande appassionato di nuoto (finché non fu colpito dalla malattia ai polmoni che lo uccise a soli  quarant’anni). Kafka, che lavorava in ufficio di giorno e scriveva di notte, ci insegna che non c’è bisogno di vestirsi come Steve McQueen alle corse per essere dei ribelli: e anche Steve McQueen, peraltro, non è mai stato ribelle come nei panni – elegantissimi, compreso l’abito tre pezzi e occhiali Persol in tinta – del miliardario svaligiatore di banche de Il caso Thomas Crown. Matteo Persivale

The rebel wears white shirt, tie and bowler hat. … Continua a leggere →

A backstage pic became the photo. The snapshot enticement admits the realism that fashion photos usually don’t have. This was one of those lucky exceptions. Photo by Andrea Gandini. Blazer by Giorgio Armani, Trousers by Ports1961.

 Black returns. Total black has been celebrated by many designers such as Prada, Costume National, Dolce&Gabbana, Armani and Helmut Lang. In particular, french brands have glorified it, from Stefano Pilati, when he was creative director for Yves Saint Laurent, to Dior Homme, Louis Vuitton, Hermès and Jean Paul Gaultier. And what about the far away 80s, when the cote dark-intellectual reigned, thanks to the japanese brands Comme des Garçons and Yohij Yamamoto. Today black is living a second life. Above all in leather, that “joins” fashion even sewn with wool, as the case of Valentino. Black leather evokes a sport imagination linked to motorcycles’ world, but it celebrates firts of all an erotic idea: just think about the pictures by Robert Mapplethorpe. If black leather’s trend will become established, I’m sure that black will return in fabric and knitwear soon. I hope not in shirts.