Mid-Seventies. Harold and Maude, the movie directed by Hal Ashby and selected by the National Film Preservation Board, this year turns 50. Ashby directed other memorable movies, like Coming Home and Being There, but the success he achieved in his golden period was barely useful: Ashby became addicted to drugs and died for cancer refusing any kind of traditional medical care. An announced suicide, like the one committed by Maude, the main female character of a movie (with a stunning soundtrack by Cat Stevens) almost forgotten, but that reached the sensibility of the new generations in the 70s. The costumes, very accurate, anticipated a style adopted in the mid-Seventies that persists, sometimes in a very precise way and sometimes reinterpreted, in today’s fashion.

Outside the box. Mastroianni, Paul Newman, Anthony Perkins. In the 50s white socks were a menswear’s classic. They’ve been usually worn for almost four decades. 80s: Michael Jackson brings them back into fashion, followed up by George Michael and even by Loredana Bertè and Donatella Rettore. But from the early 90s , here’s the death foretold of off white socks, and the accessory disappears. Actually, it’s banned and pointed out as trash. But the doubt remains: why were they ok for James Dean, Steve McQueen, Duran Duran and are not for us? But now, that fashion shootings have revaluated the “prohibited” accessory, things have changed. Let’s be outsiders, according to your personality. And use fashion to convey a sign of rebellion against conformism.

Beyond black. Mickey Rourke in a shot of 23 years ago by Stephanie Pfriender Stylander, published by Entertainment Weekly when the movie Fall Time was out in cinemas. Rourke, still handsome, sexy and transgressive, with nail enamel, cigarette and alluring gaze, was wearing a total black look by Giorgio Armani. Black: it is said that you never go wrong with black. It is almost true, but not completely: it’s just less easy to fail. Considering that the only possible alternative is not the bright, showy color, for rockstars, but even the most traditional brands suggest soft shades like dull green, light brown, burgundy, it’s possible (well, it’s a duty actually) to find the courage to abandon the guidelines compliant with rules of a way of dressing that’s obsolete by now.

Marcello, that liar. Cannes, May 1987: 31 years ago Oci Ciornie won the Palme d’Or. The movie by Nikita Michalkov, inspired by some novels by Anton Cechov, is not so well known: it is never broadcasted on TV and it is hard to still find a copy. I’m lucky to have one, and I had the great fortune of being that year at the Festival, watching the premiere of the movie and participating at the award ceremony. The story is interpreted by Mastroianni and Elena Safonova, with the special appearance by an extraordinary Silvana Mangano that, even if she was already gravely ill, accepted to join the cast of the Michalkov masterpiece. It was her last movie, she died in Madrid two years later, only 59 years old. I remember one line of Elisa, her character, that she says to her husband in one of the last scenes: “Romano, once in your life, tell the truth”. Yes, because the role played by the great Marcello is that of an incurable liar, looking for a new woman that he finally finds in Russia. The movie is set at the beginning of the 20th century, many scenes are filmed on a cruise ship where Mastroianni shows off several suits designed by the costumers Larisa Lebedeva and Carlo Diappi and made by Sartoria Tirelli.

Back in style. A good photographic book to have is Linda McCartney – Life in photographs (Taschen). It collects the pictures taken by the wife (dead in 1998) of Paul McCartney; there are moments of domestic life, portraits of Twiggy, Rolling Stones, and obviously Beatles. Every picture is a little story; it transmits a timeless feeling. One, in particular, portrays a less popular personality than the Fab Four (in this picture, the Beatles wear a kind of fashion that reflects the vintage style of many contemporary collections): Tom Rush, that Rolling Stone defined as the precursor of the songwriters. Rush’s portrait by McCartney shows a location and a style that merge each other. And that can be today’s house and style. About “today”: the s/s 2017 sees the debut of the first menswear collection by Stella McCartney, daughter of Linda.