The right intuition. Years ago I had to find an idea to unite the entire issue of the magazine I directed: every two months, the magazine had a single subject that involved every part of it, from the various columns to fashion, up to news and even the horoscope. I was in Paris for fashion shows, and Paul Smith displayed his collection in a swimming pool: chlorine smell, the dives sound, and the idea arrived, water. What I mean is that you can be everywhere, in every circumstance and you can have an eureka moment that solves a little enigma when you least expect it. A scent, a noise, a colour, sometimes can be enough. Who has a mind open to every spark, especially who – like me – has the privilege of having a creative job, can have the right intuition everywhere. Paul Smith was right, when he entitled his volume “You can find inspiration in everything”, and in his honour this week we’ve shot some pieces of cloth among the most brilliant and fascinating that I found in the winter collections. The cover of Paul Smith’s book.

My father used to love only western movies. Saturday afternoon was a ritual: second show – at 16 0′ clock – cowboys, redskins and horses. The fate of those poor beasts was a source of worry (“do they hurt themselves when they fall down?”). Till, on a rainy saturday, in full grey Milanese autumn, was the turn of “For whom the bell tolls”, an old picture show – precisely from 1943 – inspired by Hemingway’s novel, with Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman. I was used to spaghetti western, as easy as they were boring, and I was not prepared for a dramatic western at all. I cried so much that from then on I refused to go to the cinema with him, and only this year I made peace with western thanks to Tarantino and his Django. The modern cowboy played by Jamie Foxx captivated me, but I haven’t recovered yet after the goodbye scene between Maria (Bergman) and Robert (Cooper): the bracket has already closed.

In a fashion shooting production, the stylist mixes clothes and sets them on the basis of his creativity. The fitting of the picture I’ve choosen for this week seems to be a risk: it’s known that two overlaid jackets actually don’t represent an applicable outfit but, in situations like this, wherein the subject has a thin build and blazers are made by soft and unlined wool, the final effect is really interesting. That man reader, little used to editors’ flair and fashion’s oddity, doesn’t have to think that these suggestions have to be taken to the letter: stylist’s skill stays in catching the reader’s attention on fabric’s beauty, prints’ opulence and – why not – photographic effect, that in this case is worthy to be included among those shots that will leave a style mark in fashion photography. In this shoot by Miano, side light creates shades on the actor’s (Fabio Tameni) face and on clothes (by Paul Smith), giving back that magic that only good photographers can give. If you feel like browsing books about great masters – from Irving Penn to Mario Sorrenti- you’ll find the same charm, the same splendour. And the same elegance. Fabio Tameni in Luigi Miano’s picture for Max.gazzetta.it. Clothes by Paul Smith, October 2012.

Many men wish they could look like someone else. There’s who prefers Steve McQueen, or Marcello Mastroianni; who dreams to be Jude Law, or Colin Firth. They are male audience’s favourite actors, so I gather that their classic style is the successful one. It’s not a coincidence that styling’s simplicity and shapes’ linearity are the common denominators of avant-garde designers’ collections, except for rare cases. Advertising campaigns and “strong” window fittings are ideas’ displays that strenghten the image’s media power but, in those same shops that propose that creative level destined for selected connoisseur, there are suits dedicated to timeless demand. Choose your attire paying special attention on modernity (“classic” is not sinonimo of antique, but you can’t keep on wearing the long jacket if now it has shortened), and, above all, try to be nothing else that yourselves. Marcello Mastroianni in 1979 on the set of “La città delle donne”, shot by Tazio Secchiaroli.

Current style shot 20 years ago. A 1994 Harper’s Bazaar Uomo cover that could be, from many points of view, a current fashion picture. Let’s start with the screaming headlines. We read “Pelle in technicolor” (that means “Technicolor leather”), and Miuccia Prada’s next f/w collection seen last January in Milan, where classic colours of menswear and yellow and light blue leather jackets merge, immediately comes to our mind. “Sofisticati e moderni in grigio e bianco” (that means “Sophisticated and modern in grey and white”) suggested an usual and soft color-matching, but trendy at that time, if we think that we had just left the eighties’ excess: and, nowadays, Corneliani has proposed wonderful charcoal suits and coats, mixed with pure white poplin shirts. And then, “Warm coloured & Easy Chic Knitwear”, and think about how colorful knitwear – now- is a protagonist, as well as the outerwear. At the end, look at the picture: pointed collar shirt, today re-edited by Roberto Cavalli, and checks, that almost every designer has proposed again. The “slim fit” suit reflects a current trend that comes and goes, but resists in time anyway. Basically, only the grooming and the light used for this shoot – a “ring light”: a circular neon tube that cool the colors- reveal the decade. All the rest of it, still belongs to present, even if twenty years have gone by. Harper’s Bazaar Uomo, September 1994. Picture by Davide Cernuschi, clothes by Paul Smith.