My evenings on the sofa. I know: it’s not proper to lay on the sofa wearing shoes. But I have to say that the mood of the picture I chose gives a feeling of great relax; so come on, be indulgent, only this time, I promise. And then there are lots of details I like: the turning table, the coffee mug, the scented candle. The carpet with geometrical pattern. The lighter (yes, I do smoke). This makes me think about when I come back home from work, after a hard day. Coffee (I drink a lot of coffee, even in the evening), cigarette and music. Laying on the sofa, playing Ruzzle and looking for new photographers, illustrators and artists on Instagram. But I take off my shoes.

Not details. Eric Bergère, art director, journalist and stylist, born in 1960, in a portrait by Terence Donovan in 1988. Bergère styling is perfectly in line with those years: exaggerated and pompous. Obsessive about details: when he didn’t wear the tie, he wore the cache-col, inserted into the neck of the shirt buttoned up to the third button. With the tie he always wore the silky pocket-handkerchief, matched with the tie. The sideburns were still long, last traces of the 70s grooming; the hair instead were in very 80s style, smoothed back with hair gel. In almost 30 years shapes have changed, but in today’s collections we can see the checked moulinex on blazers and the houndstooth on trousers; rarely the paisley prints on ties. But the pocket hankie is still “missing”.

The eternal set. It’s one of the iconic architectures of the capital. The Palace of Italian Civilization, in the Eur, restored by Fendi and headquarter of the maison from October 2015, includes also a space for exhibitions and public events. This is one of the many international sociocultural procedures about communication between fashion, architecture, art. The building was designed between 1936 and 1937, and finished in 1940, for the Universal Exposition that never took place. From the “peplum” to The Last Kiss by Muccino, the building and its surroundings have been the set for hundreds of movies. About the picture I chose, the great book Eur, si gira, by Laura Delli Colli, says: “For the fellinian episode “The temptation of Dr Antonio” in Boccaccio ’70, the filmmaker imagined a busty Ekberg on the advertising billboard “Drink more milk”. It had to be only a picture, but during the making of the movie, Fellini changed his mind and wanted Anita in the flesh”.

Back in style. A good photographic book to have is Linda McCartney – Life in photographs (Taschen). It collects the pictures taken by the wife (dead in 1998) of Paul McCartney; there are moments of domestic life, portraits of Twiggy, Rolling Stones, and obviously Beatles. Every picture is a little story; it transmits a timeless feeling. One, in particular, portrays a less popular personality than the Fab Four (in this picture, the Beatles wear a kind of fashion that reflects the vintage style of many contemporary collections): Tom Rush, that Rolling Stone defined as the precursor of the songwriters. Rush’s portrait by McCartney shows a location and a style that merge each other. And that can be today’s house and style. About “today”: the s/s 2017 sees the debut of the first menswear collection by Stella McCartney, daughter of Linda.

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.