Yahoo Lifestyle Italian Menswear Tailoring Brands Continued to Dive Into Fabric Research and Soft Silhouettes for Spring
MILAN — For spring, Italian menswear tailoring brands continued to dive into fabric research, layering, mixing and matching, exploring softer silhouettes and delicate color palettes. Comfort and ease were top of mind across the board, while the goal was to keep the luxury quotient high.
At Kiton, volumes were softer and wider as men now “don’t want to be walking around feeling like they are wearing leotards,” quipped chief executive officer Antonio De Matteis, waving away any extreme shape, as “men want to be comfortable.” True to its storied tradition, Kiton continued to explore fine and precious materials, spinning ultralight cashmere, cashmere-linen and cashmere-silk blends, and three- or four-ply yarn, all made exclusively by the proprietary Carlo Barbera wool mill, into suits and overcoats, sweaters and shirts. Denim-effect fabrics were enhanced by late ’90s motifs with large yet slender rectangles. The rainbow color palette was delectable, from yellows and ruby reds to greens and oranges, with touches of brown.
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Canali took a lakeside trip for spring. The Italian brand recreated a deck by an Italian lake in the courtyard of the stately 18th-century Palazzo Bovara in Milan, telegraphing the season’s easy mood, with leisurely walks and dinners on the shore. While offering more informal pieces and broken suits, Canali stayed true to its precision tailoring. Practical field jackets, parkas and overshirts in leather were super supple through Canali’s signature Nuvola [cloud] construction. Jackets were as light as shirts, with a defined shoulder but hollowed out of all interfacing. Unlined, double-face garments in light wool or in striped linen with leather details came with invisible seams. Knits were equally light, with honeycomb stitches or textural 3D intarsia of knit and chenille. The color palette was in sync with the mood, from aqua and lake blue to soft bush green and tan.
Stefano Gaudioso Tramonte, style director and visual merchandising manager at Corneliani, asked himself how the technologies will be used in the future, and decided to merge tailoring with virtual reality to “amplify the aesthetic message.” Hence the holobox at the Corneliani showroom at Palazzo Durini, the model a hologram walking across the screens — also a sustainability message, said Gaudioso Tramonte. However, the clothes could also be seen and touched up close, as they deserved, given the research into the fabrics and the light weights. The collection was inspired by the garments of sailors and fishermen, a lineup of modern and practical yet luxurious cotton and linen peacoats, trenches with oversize lapels, nabuk jackets, mesh knits and windbreakers in nylon with a paper touch.
Beyond seasonal trends, Cesare Attolini’s tailoring proposition is rooted in the soft constructions the brand’s founder has managed to achieve by working painstakingly on reinventing the Savile Row tailoring expertise with a Neapolitan sensibility. For spring aquamarine and sorbet pink mingled in the softly colored palette, with lightweight unlined blazers, some featuring subtle herringbone patterns, evoking a relaxed, resort-nodding vibe, styled with ‘50s-inspired knit underpinnings. Open-weave polo shirts and textured knits were also paired with suede blazers and overshirts, the latter coming with scalloped, western-style patch pockets on the chest.
Eleventy’s cofounder and CEO Marco Baldassari believes the post-pandemic’s longing for dressing up is not over yet and pointed to the brand’s continued elevation in fabric research and its tailored constructions as the defining traits of the spring collection. Working a subdued summery palette of whites, beige and light grays, occasionally spiced up with a beautiful mauve and dusty light blue shade, the brand offered double-breasted lightweight suits and subtle pin-striped options that telegraphed ease worn with Capri-collared oxford shirts. The latter has replaced T-shirts, Baldassari contended, mingling with knit polo shirts. The broken suit — already emerging as a street style trend at Pitti Uomo — was among the standouts paired with slightly roomier chino pants or white denim.
In sync with a trend already emerged in Milan and Florence, Lardini’s pastel- and chalky-colored suiting cut in looser proportions from linen and linen blends telegraphed refined ease. The soft deconstructed double-breasted suits in buttery white and various nuances of beige were paired with tonal crisp shirts, while the broken suit — as in the pastel pink blazer worn over flared denim pants — was an invitation to strike a balance between classic and casual.
Essential silhouettes, clean shapes and delicate neutral colors were front-and-center at Pal Zileri. The brand leverages its understated, functional and timeless designs, which was true for spring, as well. Reversible and crease-free materials, as well as trans-seasonal weights and gauzy materials that conferred ease, were some of the highlights. The selection of boxy blazers, mesh polo shirts, and checkered jackets were aligned with the trends in Milan.
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