Photo grandeur. If we’d like to tell a story about fashion and people that represent it, choosing only one picture for every great photographer from the early years of ‘900 till today, probably the pages of this issue won’t be enough. The common denominator would be the simplicity; a white or grey background, clean or rarefied lights and shades, the absence of props: only gazes, faces, expressions, style, light, intensity, fashion, attitude. In location pictures, or in en plein air ones, was and still is the subject the element that “arises”: just look at portfolios of Louise Dahl-Wolfe and Norman Parkinson. In their shots, landscapes were often neutral, “nowhere”, as it’s used to say in fashion photography. The skill of the photographer, first of all, and then of styling and grooming, accents the most eccentric fashion up to the masterpiece. Among the photographers in which I believed first there’s Johan Sandberg: his obsession with the research of the “perfect” light make him a master of photography. Style 2007, the top model Patrick Petitjean in Gaultier, picture by Johan Sandberg.

Alfie (and the pleasures of Bacchus). Alcoholic drinks’ adv pictures are charming; the subject is often a man wearing clothes so elegant to be the envy of Alfie (you can choose the first Alfie interpreted by Michael Caine or the remake one by Jude Law). The man in question is self-confident, serious, calm, done up. Spirits manufacturers clearly “represent” the alcohol addicteds before the bender: flawless appearance, persuasive and resolute gaze. No references to crushing effects on metabolism, organs and psyche. The popular adage “A glass of wine a day keeps the doctor away” is unfounded, while the fact that alcohol hurts everything is demonstrated. I dare an advice: alcohol campaigns should be accompanied by the same phrase that we read on packs of cigarettes: “dangerous for the health, consult your doctor”. On the right, the artist Geoffrey Holder in a vodka adv campaign (1958).

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.

Grey-blue. The nostalgia for one-time Milano is a generation vice, doomed to be handed down forever. Today’s twentysomething will say the same thing repeated by nostalgics now. Who was twenty between Seventies and Eighties regret a Milan that doesn’t exist anymore (“how fine we felt, how nice it was”). Actually, they regret having lost their youth; Milan’s energy was a projection of adolescence, it was not true. There was both cultural and political unrest, but dont’ forget that they were the so-called “Years of lead”. Today it’s more beautiful and liveable than once even if it remains a hard city: you can love or hate it, there’s nothing in the middle. Maybe “it doesn’t laugh and have fun anymore”, as Lucio Dalla sang in his ’79 piece, but it’s almost ready for Expo, peripheral areas have become beautiful and new glass buildings look like shining rockets pointed towards the future. The new Milan is grey-blue. Fast and glossy more than ever. Work in progress for Milan Expo.

Men’s fashion changes direction. Fall/winter collections are sold since the first days of July, but I feel like ruling out that italian men have already cleaned out the stores, thinking about a new wardrobe. Why did I write a “new” wardrobe? It’s simple, because fashion – also men’s – has changed direction; the proof comes from last fashion shows in June that reaffirmed a drastic transformation (but it’s a matter of summer 2014, it’s too early to talk about). By now, anyway, the turning point is clear. The general trend exclude the sportswear in favour of a style with no midtones: very elegant or very fashionable. Or both together. To sum up: – Among classic shades, grey, blue and camelhair last but, in compensation, winter lights up with colours like yellow, red and light blue. – The fur is back, as a coat or as an embellishment on lapels of long coats: the three quarters jacket has, infact, almost vanished; it’s time of the calf-lenght coat or the waist-lenght jacket, there’s hardly anything in the middle. – Patterns on fabric (heavy wool and flanel mainly) goes from macro-tartan to glenchecks and houndstooth, and the double-breasted suit is in again. Michael Caine in 1966, wearing a double-breasted suit, one of the winter trends.