The art of matching. Selecting the proper accessories that matches your look seems easy, but even a little detail can ruin everything. To reduce the risks, respect the rule that want every accessory, from hat to socks, to be in pendant with the outfit; and no mistakes allowed even concerning the fabrics: there are also rules about matching different materials in the proper way. For example: don’t match cashmere with shearling, yes to shearling with tweed. Rather is better to opt for a complete change of fabric: nylon hat with camelhair coat. But personality is required, as well as for wearing red socks with a blue suit or sneakers with jeans: this is so obvious that the sneakers have to be really, really special. But if you have classic tastes, stay classic: blue with blue and denim only with desert boots.

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.

The Good Taste. There are rules to be respected, and mainly some basic behaviours to be considered in order to be defined as “good taste person”.  The Galateo of Monsignor Della Casa has been written almost five centuries ago, and there is no need to review the key points, because the rules of good taste have been handed down from one generation to another. Today there’s a kind of intellectual creativity – only for very few people- that makes the flaws and the “intentional oversights” an added value. But this is valid only for clothing. We can’t excape from kindness, elegance of speaking and good manners. Standing up to shake the hand of a woman even if she’s young, don’t kiss on the hand if outside, taking off the sunglasses while talking with anyone. Well, we can forgive a smiling and kind person if he/she is not properly dressed, but if the attire is elegant, much better. And of you are worried of making mistakes, don’t add details and details trying to look like a dandy from old times. Simple is better.

Sono ormai lontani i tempi in cui le calzature sportive venivano relegate a palestre e campi da gioco. Sempre vetusto è il concetto di considerarle come scarpa da tempo libero, il passe-partout per un piede casual. Le sneakers, oggi così universalmente riconosciute, quelle che poche decadi fa definivamo “le scarpe da tennis”, sono un accessorio irrinunciabile nel guardaroba di ogni uomo. … Continua a leggere →

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.