Those intermittent trends. Every season has its trends, some that strengthen or renovate themselves consecutively, others that come back from a remote past, others that vanish. Fashion – for its own definition – never keeps still; until the beginning of 2000, when a colour or a certain fabric, or some shapes left the scene, we knew that we wouldn’t have seen them for a long time. Today things have changed. For example the “military” never disappear totally: we always find it, scattered and fragmented, maybe just in a detail. Velvet, in particular smooth, is another suitable example: we find it intermittently; in some seasons is one of the undisputed protagonists, in others, instead, stays on the bench. Not wholly, however:  Giorgio Armani and Dolce & Gabbana never omit some smooth velvet outfits; in next winter’s collections, for example, they’ve suggested it in black, in “evening” variations. But its beauty- that stays in sheen of fabric – is much more intensified when it’s dyed in underbrush or red shades. On stands of vintage markets we can find dozens of velvet jackets and coats, even shirts: the one in the picture is twenty years old, but it’s incredibly up-to-date and mesh with current fashion. Picture by Danilo Russo, from Harper’s Bazaar Uomo 1994. Clothes by Dries Van Noten.