Men's fashion becomes a forum for political discussion on the Pitti Uomo catwalks style

The 105th edition of the Pitti Uomo men's fashion fair, which concluded on Friday 12 January in Florence, showed that the trade event, an institution in the world of the most classic and luxurious clothing, can also be a forum for political debate. Singer Samantha Hudson is an icon…

The 105th edition of the Pitti Uomo men's fashion fair, which concluded on Friday 12 January in Florence, showed that the trade event, an institution in the world of the most classic and luxurious clothing, can also be a forum for political debate. Singer Samantha Hudson, icon of the scene Underground and the Spanish LGTBI, participated as a model in the presentation of Achilles Ion Gabriel, the fashion brand of the Finnish designer famous for his work as creative director of Camper. Deconstructing the traditional silhouette of the suit and urban wardrobe, the collection features several striking influences: solid fabrics, tailored and wrinkled in a sculptural way; shoulder pads that extend beyond the traditional; Luxuriously tailored pinstripe suits with exaggerated proportions and materials, such as leather, are dyed and worn until they take on the texture of old cardboard.

Calling this show “coed” might be an anachronism: in the counter-cultural, hybrid, infinitely diverse beauty of the chosen models, gender has long ceased to be a concern. The young designers showcasing their collections at Pitti Uomo illustrate the generational change. “Fashion, especially that of young designers, is like a seismograph for revolutionary movements that change the world,” explains Francesca Taccone, Pitti Uomo's special events coordinator and responsible for the fashion show programme. “For example, no one says it is sustainable anymore, because for these designers it is taken for granted, it is a starting point.”

Briton Stephen Stuckey Daly, the new winner of the LVMH Prize 2022, used the magnificent setting of the Cinquecento Hall of the Palazzo della Signoria, a symbol of power in Renaissance Florence, to talk about the social tensions of the class system in the United States. Kingdom, a recurring theme in his career. “We wanted Florence to speak to us,” he commented shortly before the show regarding a collection inspired by the mix of “formality and intimacy” of the English elite’s boarding schools, which translates this tension in the form of shirts reminiscent of pajamas, trimmed canvas coats and quilted jackets that suggest nobility. Dali is known for his exquisite Victorian-flavored costumes, with embroidery and knitted details, and also for his narrative talent that reinterprets themes of the English elite's education of gender dissent. To create his collection, he was inspired by a collection of letters exchanged between two young lovers who shared the same boarding school in 1935.

There is also a social tension in the speech of Magliano, one of the most promising names in the world of young Italian fashion, and whose participation in Pitti marked a comeback: here, five years ago, he gave his first show, after winning the Youth Prize. Designers organized by the exhibition. Their participation reminds us that fashion shows are a visible face, but not the main face, of a trade event that this year improved its numbers and brought together 825 brands, 11,900 buyers and 17,000 participants. Among the brands that have returned are the luxury brands Tod's and Fay, owned by the Diego Della Valle group, or the American giant Guess, which has offered to relaunch its Guess Jeans brand. That proposals like Magliano's coexist harmoniously in this environment is one of those characteristics that give Italian industry its raison d'être.

Magliano, a resident of Bologna in a sector dominated by Lombards, presented carefully crafted and sophisticated clothes – for example, in this collection he collaborated with the Keaton tailor shop in Naples, where two suits were hand-made, and with the hat workshop Borsalino – and unusual fabrics coexist. With its usual theme: a critical discourse dealing with masculinity, class struggle and politics. “Gender is a landscape, there is a lot between the masculine man and the little princess, it is a journey, and one of the values ​​of fashion is to express those identities that fall in between,” Luca Magliano explained in the exhibition. The pre-show press conference was held in a gym on the outskirts of the Italian city. There is a huge staircase that Magliano considers a tribute to him Donna smiles at the star, the popular TV show that showcased 90s Italian fashion on the steps of Piazza di Spagna in Rome. “Collective identity gay “The Italian language was also built with these images,” Magliano recalls.

However, in the show you are referring to luster Vintage style is filtered through a dramatic and serious atmosphere, with a selection of unconventional models and pieces that avoid the ease of reinterpreting everyday clothing with an emotional, poetic, almost dystopian style. “My speech is always related to the subject of the work, but also to a certain kind of elegance. “It is political and social, but always in a low voice, because we do not want to fall into appropriation,” explains the designer. “What we do is to take a certain popular elegance as a reference. It seems to me very well that fashion is consumed by those who have money, it is a guarantee that things are done as they should during the production process. But beauty, the beauty that we celebrate, has nothing to do with this money. In Magliano, beauty is a word Anti-fascist, and in Italy in 2024, politics has become as inevitable as breathing.