It reminds me… He was not charming, nor good-looking. But sometimes he was wonderful. Lucio Battisti appeared very rarely even in the golden years of RAI. He barely took part in only one Festival of Sanremo, in 1969 in a duet with Wilson Pickett with Un’avventura. First and last time. Lucio Battisti never made concerts, the only live appearance was in 1972 for Teatro 10, in a duet with Mina. Battisti’s voice could reach high keys, a kind of falsetto, sometimes nearly touching the bad note; but the timbre was deep, heartfelt, enchanting, touching. Among the very few pictures of him, if we don’t include those shot for the albums’ covers (but since 1979 he didn’t want to appear even on them), those by Cesare Monti, shot in his country house during his free time, stand out. In his free singing (canto libero, from one of his song), Battisti wrote the most beautiful pages of italian pop music and transmitted a sense of privacy and nostalgia, a lonely inspiration that infected other great songwriters like De Gregori and Fossati.

The model guru. Cameron Alborzian was born in 1967, from english mother and iranian father. Between the late eighties and the early nineties he was a top model, that many of you maybe remember for Madonna’s videoclip Express Yourself. Then Cameron took an interest in natural medicine and became yoga and reflexology instructor, graduating in New York. In 2003 he moved to India, in Coimbatore, where he increased and improved his knowledge. He contributes to Huffington Post and during the years he writes for several newspapers, from The New York Times to The Times of London. I think that if today he meets Ms. Ciccone, he wouldn’t be shaken. The greatness of Cameron is a mirage for the main part of us. Cameron Alborzian photographed by Mauro Balletti in 1994 for Harper’s Bazaar Uomo.

Comfort Code. The “conservatives” of classic clothing wrinkle their nose. I visualize their horrified expression looking at this outfit by John Varvatos worn in 2006 by Iggy Pop for his adv campaign. Pop wears actually a shirt and a tie. But the leather waistcoat, the sleeveless studded jacket, breaks the codes of formal wear. For fashionistas this is neither new nor shocking. For all the other customers – the main part, I think – this matching is justified by the personality, but it’s not appropriate. But wearing a leather waistcoat under a wool jacket we can even avoid wearing a coat in midwinter. And here a very captivating feature for men comes into play: the practicality. Especially if you don’t love long coats (a must-have for this season) and you usually drive a motorcycle. Think about it. Comfort and fashion together. Why not? The singer Iggy Pop in the adv campaign of the american designer John Varvatos, 2006 (detail).

The choice of the socks. In the last years socks have become a very important accessories in menswear, so much so that women often wear “men’s” crew socks. The reason could be that they’re the cheaper fashion accessories, or that designers have understood that the right choice of the socks is trendy, mainly if they have very peculiar colours, prints and textures. In Italy this is a very recent trend, while American, French and especially British care about the choice of the socks as they care about choosing shoes. It is not by chance that the British designer Paul Smith has been one of the first to propose and value coloured and printed socks, matching them in contrast with the trousers, or in the same shades. For example: plain coloured trousers with optical-checked socks, or beige glencheck trousers with darker glencheck socks. Picture taken from “A gentleman’s guide to Dress and Style” by Nick Clemens (Goodwood).

Milan in the middle. Milan, that Milan written and interpreted by Lucio Dalla in 1979: “Milano you change many banks, Milan wide legs, Milan that laughs and has fun…”. 36 years have passed by. From May on, the city is in the public eye, it’s the middle of the world. Thinking about Milan, talking and writing about it: this always moves me. I won’t ever change it with any other. Rather, if I have to change my life, I’ll move to the seaside: a small town, surrounded by nature. But the best city remains Milan. For months it will be full of Chinese, Japanese, American, British, French, German people. Someone will even come from Australia, Korea, Russia. Eyes on. “…Milano what a strain…”. Is it going to be a success? I hope so. The legend has it that Italian men are the most elegant. I don’t agree with it, but let’s try to stoke this legend. And wish it could become the truth. The new skyscrapers of Gae Aulenti Square, in Milan.