Blue tie. The tribute by Giovanni Gastel to Richard Avedon, for Style Magazine (2010). “Severe” light, off-white background. The models’ action counterposes the solemnity of the tribute of a great photographer to a popular predecessor. The models, like they’re dancing, seem not to care about the mess they create in the clothes: the movements dissolve the severity of a normally impeccable attire as the tuxedo is. Out of the fashion sets, in real life, we can imagine a similar ease choosing a different way of “wearing the evening”: for example, breaking black with blue.

Gender free trend. This week’s picture represents the origin of a kind of menstyle that, during the years, has changed its definitions but, actually, has remained the same since the 60s/70s, the same years of this picture of a young Van Dyke Parks, musician, singer and author, known mainly for his collaboration with the Beach Boys. Then, at the beginning of the new century, the “artist” (or “intellectual”) became a “nerd”. Today they are called new millenial, the avantgarde standard bearer of the “gender”. This picture, by Guy Webster, could be an adv campaign of Gucci or Prada: two opposite worlds that find a common point in representing a man that – against the rules- escapes from tradition to reveal himself in all his determination and, why not, his vulnerability.

British in the DNA. I don’t think there’s anything more appreciated by men like a beautiful tailored-made suit. With this kind of attire everybody can make a good impression. With a well cut suit and a british-inspired styling we never get wrong. The exception to the rule? If the matching with shirt, tie and accessories prevails on simplicity. If you choose, thinking to be à la page, fashionable shirt and/or tie and shoes, belts and socks, not balanced with the outfit, you make a mistake. It usually happens to overdo, to break the rules creating a personalized look with more “trendy” elements. No way. Classic wear, the real one, has such a powerful image that is more than enough. The proof? Look at how many teenagers dress like David Niven or Michael Caine. Coherence, naturalness, spontaneity: don’t force the hand.

The vintage creeps us out. The enthusiasts of this genre are anxious about the beginning of the new season of Bates Motel, the prequel of Psycho, the very famous movie by Alfred Hitchcock. Transmitted by Netflix, the Tv series has been created by Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin that claim to have been inspired also by David Lynch; and, actually, we can find some references to Twin Peaks. Bates Motel doesn’t take place in the 50s, even if it talks about the relationship between mother and son before the murder: the screenplay set the story today. But, detail that adds mistery and charm, the two protagonists , Vera Farmiga (Norma Louise Bates) and Freddie Highmore (Norman Bates), are dressed in 50s’ style. As two ghosts thrown into the present, dis-united in an obsessive relationship that will lead to tragedy. In the new season, Marion Crane (the girl of the memorable scene of the shower, played by Janet Leigh in Psycho), will be played by Rihanna: let’s see if she will wear vintage clothes too.

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.