Animal activist, #keepcalm. You don’t have to think that a garment made of croc print leather is a B choice. They don’t give the idea of “I wish but I can’t”. First of all they aren’t cheap garments at all, because the procedures involve a high degree of manual dexterity, several steps and very long processing time; therefore, we’re talking about valued objects however. Then, the luxury effect is guaranteed. Last but not least…animal activists (me included) can keep calm. Man with fur or dressed in reptile leather is not new: almost every celebrity has worn them since the 70s, from Stallone to Elton John, Gunter Sachs, Helmut Berger, Serge Gainsbourg. Sure, the phisique du role or the extravaganza of the man in question play an essential role in the success of an exaggerated look. If, vice versa, you are not a rockstar nor anyone similar, set a balance between luxury and minimal and you will be on the right way. Marlon Brando in a scene of the movie “The Fugitive Kind” (1959).

Beautiful motorcycles, beautiful stories. Oscar Tasso, cohort of 1976. A beautiful italian story of strenght and passion. An example of strenght because Oscar planned his idea, “Art in Motion”, while he was (temporarily) laid up due to a serious motorcycle crash; and motorcycle is exactly the cornerstone of his art. Tasso, that in the meanwhile has come back in the saddle, has entirely handcrafted three motorcycles: they’re special, unique and elegant works (you can find them in his website, ocgarage.it) that highlight how the motorcycle can be a cult and stylish object. “Every motorcycle has its reason, it is not repeated nor neglected” says Oscar and in fact, looking a the three “specials” – Cupa, Tao and Dark Lady – we feel like having, riding and trying them. I feel like doing it too, although I can hardly be in balance on a bycicle. In these pictures below, some suggestions to ride a stylish motorcycle with good taste.

The Norfolk jacket. Contemporary menswear often brings back to fashion an archetype of the past. This doesn’t mean that we can’t find anything new in shops neither that today’s clothes are imitations (this is a totally different matter). What designers – since ever – have done is to draw inspiration from a certain era, keeping its charm untouched, but updating the reference model according to the new rules of menswear, starting from fabric and colours. In this week’s picture we can see a Norfolk jacket, a kind of blazer that was very popular in the upper bourgeoisie in the last 20 years of the 19th century. It was worn especially for hunting, with the knee-length knickerbockers and riding boots. Let’s see how to wear the Norfolk jacket’s reinterpretation: not an accurate quote, but with a bit of dandyism. The actor Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes in a movie of the 40s.

The 1900s school. Art in fashion, again? Yes. And the 1900s is the focus. Especially the Bauhaus, founded in 1919 in Weimar by the architect Walter Gropius, that influenced the trends of innovation in design and architecture linked to Functionalism and Rationalism; the art of Rodchenko, its colours and its geometric motifs; and, then, the cuts of Lucio Fontana. Little by little, like in an expedition, we come to more recent times, the Italian 1900s of Ettore Sottsass, the Memphis Group operational in Milan between 1981 and 1987. At the end, if fashion could be considered as a form of art, there’s also who quotes it: the pop/landscape by Castelbajac. These clothes are a little example of how much creativity and how many ideas arise from designers’ inspiration in such a complicated era for economy and fashion business. Take a look around and you will discover many examples of “art” also in the fashion world. The architect Walter Gropius (in the middle) with his team.

Natural, fantastic. An environmentalist outburst? Escapism wish? Feel of lightness and colour? Between this season’s trend there are lots of flowers, animals and colour, sketched and printed on knitwear, outerwear, accessories. Some of them remind us english tapestry and Hermès ceramics; others remind us the real and imaginary “bestiary” we can find in European art from the Middle Age to the beginning of the 20th Century (just to mention: the artist Fortunato Depero). A contemporary reinterpretation of menswear full of charm and references to figurative art: from the eighteenth-century centaurs by Giandomenico Tiepolo to now, in full second decade of the 21st Century. Many of the creations of that fashion designers inspired by animalier and/or flower power mood are and will remain little masterpieces, iconic objects of an inspired and prolific era of menswear. And they will last in time just like everything that – in its category – represents creativity and uniqueness.