The colour of leather. It was 1971 when a cult-movie came out in cinemas: Shaft. Actually, the main part of this movie’s success is due to its fantastic soundtrack composed by Isaac Hayes (Theme from Shaft). But the protagonist, Richard Roundtree, sheathed in black leather clothes, brought to international fame the afro-american style, inaugurating a current that has lots of addicted still today. Roundtree was even described as “sexier than James Bond and tougher than Bullitt”. If you don’t belong to the large group of the imitators of this mood, the common sense suggests to avoid the total look made of black leather. Opt for black only if you’re able to downplay it. Otherwise, if it has to be leather, choose the shades of brown/beige and remember that there are garments made of suede. That’s finer and lighter than leather. The poster of the movie Shaft by Gordon Parks (1971).

Snakeskin. Edoardo Purgatori is a roman actor. He was born in 1989, from german mother and italian father (Andrea Purgatori, screenwriter and journalist). He starts his career in theatres. His debut in a tv series is in 1997, but he doesn’t give up the stage, where he acts in italian, english (The Glass Menagerie and The Shape of Things) and german. He has already acted in a dozen of movies. We’ve worked with Edoardo for several fashion shootings. He’s a sensitive, polite, determined man. He owns such a natural elegance, that he can wear a snake jacket and a pair of jeans without looking like a naff (this was the risk). But follow my advice: wear leather with finer fabrics. Not with jeans, absolutely not total leather. Unless you have the appeal of Brando (do you remember The Fugitive Kind, 1959?) or Edoardo Purgatori, indeed. The actor Edoardo Purgatori in a picture of Luigi Miano for Max (2010). 

Start-up. Self-confident: being aware of who we are and how we look like. Unconventional: unusual, different. Memorizing, putting together and mixing garments from our closet that instinctively seem compatible to us but not necessarily complementary. In other words, apply on yourself a style procedure that is often the start-up for fashion designers. They, travelling, go in search of new ideas, original inspirations, that they usually find – strangely enough – on the stalls of vintage markets. Look at your wardrobe like it’s the first time, eliminating the habits, trying not to wear the same things: mix up the cards, improvise, invent. Start the season with the will of being “new”. A look of Comme des Garcons in a picture of Peter Lindbergh (1994)

Great men. “In this job you need to know a little bit of everything: if I make a character be punctured by a needle in the wrong part of the arm, dozens of doctors will write to me to complain”. To sum up: to be a filmmaker you have to know even about – in this case – medicine, as this quote is by Alfred Hitchcock. And do fashion designers ever think about plus-sized men? In other words, if men wearing a 52/54 size would like to be in fashion, is there any designer that creates also for them? Surely Gucci and Saint Laurent don’t. Just to mention two very popular examples of brands that emphasize slim silhouettes, and other kings of fashion surely don’t create their collections drawing inspiration from Hitchock or, so to speak, Julian Schnabel. What shall you do if the scale marks overweight? It’s not only a women’s problem. The same old tailor? Ok, but the tailor is not “in fashion”. Take a look at the clothes I suggest: I think they fit everybody. A portrait and the popular profile of the director Alfred Hitchcock.

Leaves’ colour. In his case, that kind of photography defined as still-life couldn’t have a most suitable name. For 35 years Karl Blossfeldt (Schielo 1865 – Berlin 1932) photographed leaves, seeds and flowers. Images that the german sculptor and photographer used to show his students how nature’s shapes, adapting to environment and weather, acquire different and fascinating morphologies. Blossfeldt, indeed, said: “Plants don’t have to be evaluated with an insensitive and mere functionalism, but their shapes develop on the basis of logic and adaptation and with their primordial strenght push every part to obtain the highest artistic expression”. His first photographic volume, Unformen der Kunst, was published in 1928 and today it’s still considered so much modern, that it suggests the hazard of a new form of modern art linked to the idea of “back to the roots”. The New Futurism? By now content ourselves with wearing the colour of nature. In this season’s collections there are garments for every taste and complexion. The opera omnia of Karl Blossfeldt