Gentlemen, let’s mix. I think I’ve already talked about it, but these days I like to revisit it. The styling you find in men’s fashion magazines usually gives ideas for basic or classic outfits: hardly ever – especially the italian magazines – they suggest a mix of fabrics, colors and shapes that abroad (not everywhere, to be clear), instead, where different ethnicities and customs cohexist in harmony, are a rule. So that when we fly to London or New York, Paris or New Orleans, we think: “Look at that, how certain clothes suits them well”. Influences from non-western countries have such charme and personality that – if properly matched – can revive even the most normal suit. Try that. Despite every conformism.

Degrees of separation. Rod Stewart’s shoes in this picture of 1965 with Long John Baldry (singer and guitarist of The British Blues) correspond with the short white socks of Marlon Brando in a portrait that has made history, with him crouched on a chair at Actors Studio. Yes, because if the “error” (or “horror”) comes from a remote past, and besides made by a celebrity, is cool; if it’s made by you, you are a chav. But fashion designers try to surprise us in many ways, with eccentric ideas on the borderline of good taste, so why does a guy today deserve to be called a person of bad taste? White socks are in fashion, for example. We must ask ourselves which is (and if there is) a degree of separation from good and bad. There are different kinds of fashion: conventional doesn’t admit mistakes, while fashion created on purpose, following our personality without worries and obligations, does. The history of Miuccia Prada menswear collections teaches us that oversights and imperfections are (or can be) a sign of personality that makes the difference. My advice: follow your instinct and, if you’re sure you can dare, do it. And if you dare, do it completely.