The 88th edition of Pitti Immagine: my take, the views of an Italian too Italian for the States and too American for Italy.

It may be because attending a booth as a vendeuse at Pitti Immagine Donna was my first ever job as a college freshman, that is eons ago, or because I studied in Firenze and spent many winter holidays there, or maybe because my final graduation thesis included the first ever fashion show at la Sala Bianca in Palazzo Pitti that marks the birth of modern Fashion, but I fall for it every time I walk down those streets.

Pitti had been a dream stored in the attic of my mind with moth-balls because ‘January no way I can travel to Italy, June why should I travel and torture myself with the heat and the AC not working?’ Fast forward: this year I attended the show, received morning briefings and thrusted elbows with Suzy Menkes in the press room (shamelessly sighing at her sight).

Why did I want to attend?

It all begun like a treasure hunt, sorting through events, cocktails, presentations, openings I found what I was looking for, ‘la Tititna’ like we say in Italian. Some recurrent words were an undercurrent, a streak in the woods of my inbox: innovation and research, tradition and understated attention to detail, quality, soft tailoring, good taste are a responsibility that Italian style has to the rest of the world. Huge big words that begin a procession from the entrance to the fair: the Fortezza da Basso was the stables of Renaissance world and art dominators Medici, royal, majestic and always impressive.

What was I looking for?

My quest for what Italian style was proposing for next year went for brands that were not the usual suspects, the ones that control the press and land million-dollar ad campaigns.

I went for what caught my eye and spiked my interest the most, the ones I would wear myself even though they are designed for men, aiming at a demure balance between ease and edge.

It was a trip in the life of the Italian province made of skilled hard workers, technicians, designers, innovators, the one humble enough to prefer the backstage to the spotlight.

Sobriety, understated elegance, research, style, taste were some of the concepts that surfaced like gnocchi in boiling water and my heart lightened up. I am honored to take you on a trip with me.

LA COMPAGNIA DEL DENIM had a runway that caught my attention because it said “Good taste needs style” a capsule collaboration with Bruno Barbieri, from Masterchef Italy. like, hello: food and fashion, it doesn't get better than that.  Those recurring words kept calling me like sirens singing in Achille’s head. Dressing and style, taste as the noun to describe the sensation of liking or disliking of certain flavor, but also a person’s tendency of preferring certain things instead of others, the ability to discern ‘good quality’ or ‘high aesthetic standards’. Cuisine and denim couture are two arts united by the pursue of excellence.  Research is the common denominator: not eating but delighting the sense of taste, not simply dressing but making a difference. Cuisine and couture are both rooted in the appreciation of traditions, unicity, authenticity, simple pleasures.  It was love at first sight. 

DEL TORO shoes sounded too familiar to me as they are the brainchild of Matthew Chevallard, the Italian born and Miami resident millennial who reflects a well-travelled world taking pleasure in the simplicity of understated elegance.

NO Artigiani Italiani takes fashion to the theater, collections flow on stage like a series of consecutive acts of a whole big play. This season’s collection is called Urban Wisdom, an extraordinary mix of flavors, creativity, artisanal skills, sustainable materials, design and lifestyle in a revolutionary perspective of aesthetic visions.

JEY COLEMAN stands for zero intolerance, a strong statement if you think of fashion as a frivolous and superficial world. In its 20-year long life it has worked on deconstructing the strict attitudes that rule menswear and re-shuffled them in a positive thinking philosophy of openness and honesty. Incorporating essential grammar rules into a new language blend of teen-ager street style and their parent’s less revolutionary, Jey Coleman tells the contemporary story with a new language.

AQUARAMA was born in post-war Italy in Assisi, Umbria and for over 60 years it has been a family heirloom that, from father to father, specialized in outerwear for man and women entirely Made in Italy. High-performance fabrics produced by local artisans, the most prestigious Italian textile techniques combine tradition and innovation and translate in a refined sartorial selection of garments equally hi-tech, classic and minimally elegant. Casual and easy-to-wear double-breasted jacket, tubular weave high-tech fabric that creates a an optical polka dot effect, hidden striking details like the breast-pocket coordinated with the lining, small hand-made perforations resembling the Derby-style shoe detail on the undercollar made it all more palatable than an Italian ice cream in the scorching heat, better said with their tag-line, an Italian Hi-Tech Couture (story).