That rétro touch. Without harking back to the same movies, those sporty-stylish cult-movies like the much-mentioned Chariots of Fire that made our Milena Canonero win the Academy Award for Costume Design, today we can reinterpret that college/preppy vintage taste with a modern aesthetic language. It’s possible thanks to the prompts coming from many designers, able to mix an actual feeling with a retro mood loved by anyone, less and very young. The basis to reach a pleasant and convincing styling, consists in knowing how to match with the right balance the Old with the New. How? For example using accessories bought in second-hand shops. That’s the secret. Be cool and modern but softening the potential overstatement of the clothes with linen socks, watches, rings and shoes in The Great Gatsby‘s style. Just to mention another much-mentioned movie, sometimes improperly. But not this time.

Pullover, Andrea Pompilio, s/s 2017

L’ ispirazione che sta alla base della collezione s/s di Andrea Pompilio è la New York degli anni 90, nello specifico il distretto di Alphabet City: un contesto multietnico in continua evoluzione, ma famoso anche per il suo elevato tasso di criminalità. La moda vuole riflettere il modo di vestire e la personalità di quel peculiare mix di trafficanti latinos e afroamericani: abbinamenti contrastanti, volutamente sporporzionati, che creano però un effetto rilassato, seducente. Compaiono elementi appartenenti a diverse epoche, accostati tra loro naturalmente, con tocchi di “arroganza”, come gli slogan su felpe e pullover che paiono verità assolute. A cura di Angelica Pianarosa, Foto Michele Gastl. 

The inspiration of
… Continua a leggere →

Zoot suit. The “Zoot suit” was a suit with exaggerated proportions, with very high waist trousers, often matched with Borsalino hats, that in the 40s became popular in the Afro-American, Chicane and Italian communities in the States. It was prohibited during the Second World War because it required much more fabric to be made than a normal suit. Well, this kind of suit is actually too much. But the current season offers suggestions that are similar to that baggy and soft silhouette: look at the collections of Armani, Pilati for Zegna Couture, Elbaz/Ossendrijver for Lanvin, Andrea Pompilio, Sergio Colantuoni for Caruso and Andrea Incontri. This trend is successful, is elegant, is charming. If you’re a bit short, opt for only a wide and enveloping piece. And the rest of the look has to be regular-fitting and not -viceversa-  very slim. Man wearing a zoot suit in Chicago, Illinois, in the Fourties.

Deep Red. Its title should have been The saber-toothed tiger. We don’t know if Dario Argento changed his mind in the last second or if he declared a false title to divert the expectations of press and audience. Regardless, it came out with the title Deep Red. It was march 7th 1975. So, the most successful movie by Dario Argento is 40 years old but it looks more recent. The director used advanced shooting techniques, from the Snorkel microcamera to the Dolly Champman camera for tracking shots. Obviously, it has nothing to do with the modern special effects. But the great thing about Deep red is that, although it was shot with means now obsolete, it is frightful just like the actual The Ring saga. The final flashback, that reveals that the murderer’s identity was right before our eyes since the first murder (matter of seconds, but we can see the criminal’s face), and the soundtrack by the Goblins are a milestone of the italian filmmaking. Above, Dario Argento with David Hemmings, the protagonist of Deep Red. 

80s’ class. In spite of the recession, in the last few years new magazines of image, art, design and fashion have been created. Lots of them are autofinanced, others are supported by small businessmen. It means that the generation of the late 80s/90s feels like expressing itself, and aims at the paper magazines: this is, actually, the most surprising feature. They have studied to be art directors, journalists, fashion editors and they do just fine even out of the publishing giants. For the new fashion-designers, life is even harder: making (and supplying) a collection has very high costs. But, in the world of italian designers, the emerging brands are creations of men who are between 35 and 40 years old. Today I present the cover of the first issue of the very refined magazine c.a.p.74024. And four looks of menswear successful brands.