Pitti Uomo is not Fashion Week. Sandwiched between the London and Milan Men’s Fashion Weeks, this high fashion trade show serves as an excellent prediction of the trends you will see in stores next year. Designers come to Pitti Uomo to debut new lines to an audience of fashion-forward consumers as well as retail buyers.
The big international and Italian buyers have elected Pitti Immagine Uomo as a global reference point due to its lifestyle dimension and quality scouting, once again concurring with the criteria of selection and segmentation for the fair adopted by Pitti Immagine’s marketing team which aims to present the most interesting new ideas – in terms of fashion and products – from the very best Italian and international companies that experiment with and innovate styles and materials.
Christian Louboutin
Designers want to make a big impression on show attendees, so they often come up with creative ways of debuting their lines. This year Christian Louboutin hosted a bike polo match featuring athletes from several countries. Each team wore different colored Aurelien sneakers, the new shoe Louboutin debuted at the show. The designer chose to debut his new sneaker with a polo match because of the inclusive nature of sports.
I’m a very sportive person. What I find is that sport, whatever sport, builds community and friendship.
These $995 sneakers are available for pre-order from Barney’s. The Louboutin polo match was succeeded by shows from special guests J.W. Anderson and Hugo Boss.
J.W. Anderson
J.W. Anderson’s show featured custom sneakers as part of the brand’s collaboration with Converse. Anderson drew inspiration from international tourists visiting Europe for the aesthetics of his Pitti show.
When we came to Florence, I would see American and Japanese and British tourists walking around. I liked this idea of the kid in a denim short with a T-shirt and a pair of Converse.
The J.W. Anderson show was held at La Pietra, a 15th century villa, but the looks were decidedly modern. The designer made use of several very American motifs like denim, classic advertising, and flip flops.
Hugo Boss
Fresh off of a news-making runway in London, Charles Jefferey of Loverboy collaborated with Hugo Boss for a runway show at Pitti Uomo. Jefferey’s addition to the show included colorful mesh shirts for men and women. Models walked the graffiti-ed runway in looks that echoed the 90s with chunky shoes, spaghetti strapped dresses, chokers and slouchy suits. Menswear designer Bart De Backer described the inspiration for the collection:
When we were working on the collection, we found a lot of photographs of Basquiat wearing designer brands. He was wearing them in a very unconventional, non-precious way. This image of the artist wandering around in his own bubble, creating his own fashion aesthetic, was the starting point.
You can expect to see many of these trends in stores over the next year as buyers snap up these designer fashions. While Pitti Uomo may not be a traditional fashion week, the fashions debuted there are still remarkably influential on future fashion trends.
