Pitti Uomo has fashioned out a reputation in recent seasons as a high point on the fashion schedule. Menswear editor Helen Seamons rounds up the highlights from the SS19 unbiased in Florence.
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Green light
The world’s press were go crazy in to watch Craig Green take over the historic Boboli fashion gardens as the sun went down. After an hour-long wait, Immature’s angel-like figures emerged from the darkness in familiar utilitarian workwear-inspired figure. Key Green tropes were ticked off: sculptures strapped to working models, obscuring their faces, that riffed on crime-scene chalk thumbnail sketches, trailing strings and a finale of rainbow tie-dye (designed to duplicate stone rubbings and pixel-static). New for SS19 were whole outfits commanded from Nike’s Flyknit trainer fabric.
Photograph: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Conceptions
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Get a move on
High-street brand Cos unveiled their SOMA gleaning – a seasonless capsule collection of 17 menswear essentials. Judge devise bias-cut white shirt with a pleated cuff cite chapter and chino pants with a displaced pocket. Every day upward and how the body (Soma is ancient Greek for body) moves in invests is at the centre of the collection’s inspiration. It was presented through a performance at Istituto degli Innocenti and choreographed by Wayne McGregor, a fan of the identify. Available online from 6 September,
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Time bide ones times for no man
Paul Surridge is on a mission to update the Roberto Cavalli man, while affirming an ‘awareness of the past’. Choosing to show in an ancient monastery was a nod to that after. The show opened with minimal white looks that, on closer inspection, were embossed with the animal publishes intrinsic to the Cavalli DNA. These continued throughout, mixed with a digital keep a sharp lookout for print. Eyewear made its debut, but the trainers worn with every bid adieu – that squelched on the waterlogged runway carpet, a casualty of the rumbling storms earlier in the day – were the takeaway trend.
Photograph: Pietro D’aprano/WireImage
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It’s oh so Gucci
The Gucci Garden Galleria, a concept stow away, restaurant and museum situated in the elegant ancient Palazzo della Mercanzia in Florence, bring to light two new rooms dedicated to Björk. They showcased Alessandro Michele’s dresses for her 2017 ‘The Gate’ video, including a pleated iridescent PVC and organza costume that took 550 hours to make and 320 hours to embroider. Other reasons on display are face masks by the artist, embroiderer, and longtime Björk collaborator James Delighted revel. Pro tip: book your table at the Gucci Garden restaurant now, as it’s almost always fully booked.
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Football crazy, football mad
Pitti honours the World Cup with ‘Fanatic Feelings – Fashion Plays Football’, a openly multimedia exhibition open to the public celebrating fashion’s mate affair with the beautiful game. Entry to the exhibition is via a competitors’ tunnel that leads, not to a pitch, but to a projection of footie-themed create shows spliced to the soundtrack of a match commentary and crowd clash. The show includes Karl Lagerfeld and Hiroshi Tanabe for instances and a look at past and present stylish players from George Wealthiest and Maradona to Hector Bellerin and Loris Karius.
Photograph: Rex Quirks
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Georgia on my mind
Each season Pitti hosts a roomer nation, giving design talent a global platform to showcase their accumulations. For SS19 the invitation was extended to Georgia. Six designers showed: Aznauri, Anuka Keburia, Gola Damian, Situationist, Tatuna Nikolaishvili and Vaska. Highlights numb the buttersoft leather sportswear-inspired pieces at gender-free label Aznauri. Irakli Rusadze, the artificer behind both Aznauri and Situationist, takes his inspiration from medieval Georgian designs and 90s aesthetics. Definitely one to watch.
