“Too much” is trendy. What we considered “too much” in the past, now reviewed, modified and updated, is trendy. Maybe it’s not chic, but it’s fashionable. That’s why even an old picture of the frontman of the Albatros, a very young, big-haired and furry Toto Cutugno, looks like a modern one. This pic is from 1976, the period of committed songwriters on one side, and on the other the period of heartbreaking, half-spoken songs just like Volo AZ 504 by the Albatros, that the band presented at Sanremo Music Festival featuring the beautiful singer Silvia Dionisio. The highest top of this genre was reached by Patti Pravo with Incontro. But the same success was achieved by Claudia Mori with the unforgotten Buonasera dottore. Really pop.

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.

His name’s Scott. The relationship between Larry Paul Scott as a model and as an artist is like that between Sean Connery and James Bond: like Connery has never succeeded in getting free from Bond, so Larry can’t purge him from the image of his face on the first campaign of Acqua di Giò. Then you search for him on Google and you find out that last June in Spain, in Girona, he has carried out his first photography exhibition. Scott’s photography is only in black and white, he has portrayed real people, focusing on the glamour and the trash of the nightlife of New York City, but I prefer his triptychs composed by nature, human beings and architectures, that emphasize perfection, beauty and nature. On Instagram, that by now is the most important agency for photographers in the world, you can find him as @larrypaulscott. Maybe we’ll see him again posing for fashion magazines, but as a talent, no more as a top model or, as he prefers to be defined, as an “ex top model”. Because today Larry is a great artist that deserves to be followed carefully.

Man in black. In the book Zeitgeist (published by Bandecchi & Vivaldi) that collects some pieces by Giuseppe Veneziano presented in 2010 during the exhibition with the same name, there’s a chapter dedicated to Villains. Veneziano, born in 1971 and recognised by critics and specialised magazines as one of the spokespeople of italian New Pop and of the group “Italian Newbrow”, like every artist worth of respect is fascinated by the dark side. “All the evil represents a potential vitality needy of transformation”, wrote the psychoanalyst Sheldon Kopp. And the sicilian artist depicts archetypes of comic-books. But pay attention, if you want to see how Venziano depicted the quintessentially Villain, unfortunately really existed, that is Adolf Hitler, look for his Madonna of the Third Reich, that horrified so much the bishop of Lucca and the archbishop of Pisa that it was removed from the exhibition in Pietrasanta. Sgarbi proposed it again, in Salemi, few time later.

Yacht club. That kind of menswear inspired by the sea can be easily defined as timeless. Yes to jackets (for the yacht), windbreakers (for the sailing boat), pullover made of cotton (for both), accessories for watersports. And, for the most elegant, yes to the classic double-breasted blue navy blazer with contrasting buttons for the happy hour. Why are they timeless pieces? The striped sweater reminds us of the pictures of Dalì with Garcia Lorca in the 20s. The windbreaker reminds us of the legendary Jacques Cousteau in the documentaries of the 60s/70s. Actually, the steel cronograph can be also worn in the city, as the white trousers, that perfectly match red and blue (but never wear them all together, they immediately make think about the french flag). In terms of shoes, espadrilles are allowed only at the seaside. Jacques Cousteau on the Calypso, ex minesweeper of the Royal Navy, after a diving exploration.