The balance between elegance and comfort is the synthesis of this three-day event Men’s fashion shows in Milan, the first official fashion date for this year 2023, after Pitti. After years of great experimentation, bordering on excess, the brands have now changed course, moving towards a more traditional and conservative vibe, riding the wave of that old-money aesthetic that the new generations are so fond of. We had seen it before Pittnow we confirm this to you. So fashion experiences its own Age of Restoration, with the return of those pieces considered timeless that identify each brand, accompanied by new creations characterized by materials of the highest quality, for a truly exclusive luxury. A transition process that was easy, if not very easy, for those who already had a strong tailoring history behind them; however, which proves to be much more insidious for those who, on the other hand, need to do a triple dive with a double twist to do so. It is the case Gucci which after seven years under the brilliant and subversive creative direction of AlexanderMichaelreturns to a more classic aesthetic: his men’s show Fall/Winter 2023-2024 It was the most anticipated, but it turned out to be an understandable disappointment. It fell to the creative team within the company the arduous task of collecting a legacy as elusive as that of a creative who was the first to send the sex-specific not as a style, but as a vision of life. In that sense was the return (after three years) to separate collections for men and women already an essential first step. Hence, the team worked through subtraction, delivering a wardrobe that borders on anonymity, with free variations on the many contemporary masculinities, mixing different influences drawn from the archives and contrasting inspirations, most notably streetwear. “We move on, men pass, brands stay‘ commented Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri. and never was a sentence more appropriate.
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However, it was decidedly easier in the task Alexander Sartoriusthe creative director of Zegna, historic wool mill of Biellese. The company with a solid family tradition relies on the very high quality of its raw materials and not only focuses on the production chain visually. In a historic Lambrate factory, He rebuilt the crowd hallwhere you work cashmere which will then make up 70% of the garments in his next autumn/winter collection “cashmere oasis“. These white spheres whirling through the air in the large glass tanks are in fact the same ones selected by the group’s artisans and then transformed first into yarn, then into material and finally into a product. with the goal of becoming fully sustainable by 2024Zegna has this numbernew cashmere fabric from which he composes garments designed according to modern tailoring that combine to form a perfect fit of silhouettes and proportions. The aesthetic is clean and essential, the medium and dark melange grays are accompanied by camel tones with pops of color to break up the monochrome. The grammar that makes up this men’s wardrobe is typical of the brand, with the comfort of garments without construction, defined only by the cut and the refined fabrics with an enveloping and functional touch. Indeed, the attention to sustainability combined with that to tradition has led Sartori to revive the old Kasentinoa special wool fabric that is practical due to its impregnation and impresses with its “dot” finish. Focus on materials also in the new A/W 2023 collection of Eleventy, a brand born from the precise intuition of Andrea Scuderi, Paolo Zuntini and Marco Baldassari to focus everything on smart luxury, or rather tailor-made and youthful garments in the name informal elegance. The inspiration comes from the preppy mood of the 60’s, for an absolutely “respectable” man, with attention to the smallest details. Among the novelties of the season the “white cloud” and a reinterpretation of the blazericonic piece by eleventy, in a smarter shade that dares a return to smaller straps: it pairs well with corduroy or denim trousers. The reversible garments deserve a special mention, especially the padded ones: masterpieces of tailoring that require up to 18 hours of manual labor for each piece, perfect to guarantee different looks during a trip with only a few combinations available.
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Casual is also the keyword of the new collection Channels, the tailor shop founded in 1934 in a small village in Brianza by Giacomo and Giovanni Canali. Today the brand is managed by Stefano Canali, third generation of the family, which projects it more and more into the international market: after closing the year 2022 with a turnover of over 193 million, is now preparing to open four more new boutiques in the coming months, one in Milan, two in China and then in India. On the other hand, it is precisely abroad that represents 90% of the brand marketwith United States and Great Britain first. “Now we are working on giving away our collections an ever-increasing part of sustainabilitynot only on an ecological level with the follow-up of the Made in Italy supply chain, the use of recycled materials and monitoring the impact of the production organization, but also on a social level with attention to our employees”, explains Stefano Canali , CEO of the company during the Presentation in the scenographic space of the Salone dei Tessuti, a neo-Gothic style building originally intended for storage and quality control and length control of fabrics.The fabrics themselves play a central role in this collection, whose shades are inspired by the colors of nature, from green to beige to brown: “We produce them using a specific methodology that responds to that 16 sustainability parameters and gives it an above-average durability. This not only allows us to reduce the annual environmental impact, but also allows us to be inspired by timeless beauty standards for garments that over time will become a hallmark of style.” Also with the men’s Fall-Winter 2023/24 collection santoni processes its own unique codes innovative materials. Even the most classic men’s shoes come alive with a dash of personality thanks to the faded colors characteristic of the brand and the double buckle, now also used on men’s bags. All under the sign of an evolved craftsmanship that connotes the male universe with a purity of style and the uniqueness of the product.
An operation similar to that performed by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana which – a bit like Gucci – they felt the need end the previous path and open a new creative phase for their brand. In fact, the two stylists had already, for the past few months, carried out a work of analysis and introspection of the constitutive genes of D&G DNA, culminating in the tribute to their archive that emerged in the women’s collection presented in Milan last September. Black, punctuated by white and nude, is the color chosen to make a fresh start and start from the essence of her work, from this identity that impressed her with her first collections in the ’90s. “Black is the South, it is our code and it is – Stefano and Domenico explain – like drawing a silhouette with a pencil on a sheet of paper or like a black and white photo, eternal compared to colored ones”. “Essenza” is the title of the men’s collection presented on the catwalk on Saturday 14 January: “We wanted to get back to the DNA, to the essence of our brand because at the moment we all have our eyes so full of pictures that we said to ourselves – the creative duo keep going – ‘We make what we are by taking everything away’”. The result is anything but minimal: rather substantial. The focus is on the individual pieces and the study behind them: from the long 90s coat to boxer shorts to the sash of the early 2000s, from the iconic jacket to the corset as a style touch. Everything, rigorously, in a deep black, illuminated only by a touch of crystals that reflect the light like the lava stones of Mount Etna. All in the name of the tailoring behind it “There is a vision, a life: Today everything is depersonalized, you buy a logo, not a philosophy, while – the stylists emphasize – We do things by feel, we’re not a multinational, and that’s a great freedom“. An extremely powerful and contrary statement of intent in this fashion world increasingly dominated by the frantic chase of the two French luxury giants, Kering and lvmh, willing to sacrifice creativity for profit.