[UPDATE] What I saw at Pitti Uomo #97 – January 2020

This article aims to share with you my discoveries, pleasant surprises, disappointments, and impressions, upon my return from these two days spent in the largest men's fashion show in the world.

So I walked around the stands by the hundreds, touched a plethora of pieces, and tried to keep only one thing in mind: find what would surprise you. I hope you enjoy.

Keep an eye on this article, because I plan to update it throughout the following week, gradually revealing the impressions the brands and their pieces left on me. .

Cini Venezia : are you a cape or are you not a cape?

A very beautiful story of Venetian capes, of both military and ancestral inspiration.

The Veneto region had historical know-how on this garment which, a long time ago, occupied a predominant place in our wardrobes.

Even though I'm not ready to wear a cape anytime soon, I was struck by the beauty of this piece.

Even if the cape is somewhat its figurehead, the brand also offered coats which were not left out.

Sandro, the founder of the brand, gave me some very interesting information: the wool used would come from farms in the Venice region, and would be harvested directly from the producing shepherds, before being spun and woven in the region as well.

The hand of most of these wools was quite rough, but the colors were very beautiful, and they exuded solidity!

Moreover, Sandro moved me a little by showing me his own coat, made from such wool: "We also have wools that are a little softer, and it's true that they sell better with our customers, but look, touch this coat: do you know how long I've been wearing it? It's going to be fifteen years this year."

The coat looked like it wasn't more than six months old... Unbreakable!

Walker Slater : good tweed not (too) expensive

Okay, Peaky Blinders cosplayers... I see you coming, don't act innocent.

Every year around October you all come with the same question: "Hey guys, where can I find a nice tweed jacket at reasonable prices?"

And to be honest, it often bothers me. Because beautiful tweeds are often English, and made by English brands to boot, it is rarely "reasonable". Even by the standards of an insider who knows that a decent blazer requires a small budget.

So I was delighted to discover this British brand and whose entire collection seemed to be dedicated to tweed pieces of all kinds as well as some joyful things in the same vein, like chunky Shetland sweaters or velvet pants. And above all, the first prices start at around 300 pounds sterling for a jacket.

It's not "cheap", but you have a real style, real fabrics (Harris Tweed but not only!), rather successful cuts and a manufacturing, which if not the most traditional English manufacturing , remains a beautiful Portuguese way. The tweed jacket with an authentic look therefore becomes possible, without you having to go for half-measures, or hunt for vintage items on e-bay.

On the other hand, I wonder what the company can sell during the spring-summer seasons.

Sease : techwear to wear in the city

Do you see the spirit of our BonneGueule softshell , or our raincoat ? This type of piece with a strong technical dimension, but whose aesthetic is reminiscent of both techwear and more classic urban clothing?

Well if you imagined a brand that would take this philosophy very far, and apply it to a very high-end wardrobe, it would be something like Sease.

For me, Sease is this delicate balance that I find too rarely among techwear brands: it's techwear, it's accepted as such, but it doesn't give me the impression that I'm going to wear hiking clothing if I wore it in town.

And at the same time, that doesn't mean that they necessarily follow austerity, quite the contrary!

I'm also a fan of their backpacks: particularly this waterproof model (up to the zips) and equipped with... Solar panels on the outside and an integrated battery, which could recharge your electronic devices during your wanderings and adventures! Did someone say “geek”?

Roberto Collina : the mesh table

Roberto Collina is not a discovery for me: he is one of the Italian references in terms of knitwear that combines quality and creativity.

Their specialty is certainly dye and color effects: tie and dye, gradients, washed effects, textures...

In winter, they will always have sweaters that will surprise you and in summer, t-shirts that are out of the ordinary.

This year, however, I haven't seen a sweater in particular that would have captivated my attention.

On the other hand, there was a beautiful work of art on their stand that they exhibited, and very well illustrated the brand's know-how: a multicolored mesh painting. I figured you would still enjoy it!

Tramarossa: Italian jeans for “always more”

I've been hearing about this brand of jeans for some time, always in a rather particular context: sartorial lovers who say they're looking for "very high-end" jeans very often turn to Tramarossa.

For what ? Well according to them, it is the only brand that treats jeans with the same level of demands on finishes as shirts or high-end suits.

But in practice, my opinion is very different from theirs. Certainly, it is undeniable that Tramarossa focuses on the details of its jeans. It even goes so far as to claim the production of “luxury Italian jeans”.

On the other hand, I would say that in their case, it is more of a fault than an asset: the brand completely overloads its products with useless and meaningless gimmicks.

Here is what I deplore: where sartorial brands and their customers know how to totally pay homage to the classics and the history of the pieces, Tramarossa on the other hand treats jeans as an uprooted product, without codes or history. Or at least, she believes that this story and its aesthetic canons have a sufficiently low value that the expression of "original" details must take precedence.

It is quite annoying, in my eyes, to see fans of traditional interlining and hand-finished jackets "like in the old days" completely ignore these canons of denim. I see there a desire to have a product that “stands out” at all costs, even if it means that the result is meaningless. Do you think I'm exaggerating? Please note that the jeans shown above are the most sober in the entire Tramarossa collection.

Because as classic denim is probably not "original" enough for the brand, it offers a lot of things like this:

Or even this:

The worst part is that it's not technically a bad product: yes, all these details are well and truly taken care of and require additional effort to produce.

But this effort, in addition to harming the final appearance of the product, also has repercussions on the final price of the jeans, known to cost several hundred euros, which is as expensive as the models of the largest premium Japanese brands.

If there are two lessons I would take away from this face to face with Tramarossa, it is firstly that not everything that comes from Italy is automatically in good taste (far from it), and secondly, that sometimes ...

Not only “less is more” as they say, but even “more is too much”.

Zanella: beautiful Italian pants

To bring some balance back to the Force, we need to counterbalance previous experience with GOOD Italian pants.

So Zanella arrives: a nice surprise that I was completely unaware of.

I didn't bring back many photos, just one actually, but I think it expresses quite well what the brand offers: from classic sartorial llant pants to more contemporary pieces like joggers, all with a well-felt originality, but a fairly safe taste despite everything. The beautiful and well-chosen materials, and the finishes were not to be outdone, all with entirely Italian manufacturing.

Only one misunderstanding remains: I selected it partly because the representative on the stand assured me that Zanella pants were particularly affordable for Made In Italy, around €200 on the final price. To my great surprise, the models presented on the site are more around... $400.

We can only hope that the markdowns during the sales are quite aggressive...

H3VO: sartorial, but modern Italian coats

A brand that I recently discovered on Instagram, and whose products I couldn't wait to see at Pitti: H3VO.

One of the brand's representatives tried to explain to me a whole concept around "H3vocation", that is to say the respect for sartorial traditions, and "H3volution", which would be the technical and stylistic modernization of said traditions. .

Good. That sounds good, but let me put it another way: these are simply great coats. Let the photos do the talking.

First, the look and the cut:

Then the fabric and a closer look:

The interior is not left out! It is also this part of the coat that leans the most towards modernity.

And the simple, but really nice detail: the real horn belt buckle.

The brand has a very strong predilection for belted models, which clearly doesn't displease me, but it doesn't just do that. Here are two other models that caught my attention.

Valstar: special treatment on suede

Valstar is not an unknown brand in the battalion, far from it. It is already well known to our editors, and to many of our readers, for its high-end leather, often suede, jackets, and particularly the iconic Flight Jacket A-1.

So why talk about it? Because this year, they presented a model with a very particular patina which caught my attention. A "type III" trucker jacket, in suede, with a very successful aged effect.

And it's rare enough to need to be highlighted: too often the patina effects on jackets are absolute failures. On suede, it's even more incongruous. And yet, I can only admire the result here, which respects both the appearance of suede without creating an explicit contrast, and at the same time the evocation of a weathered and washed denim trucker jacket.

A risky wink, but masterfully executed!

The Impermeabile: simply good Italian outerwear

Quality trench coat brands at a reasonable price are a kind of sea serpent for me: in theory, there is no reason not to exist.

In practice, the trench coat, like the trench coat, has become less fashionable than in the past (in favor, in particular, of mackintoshes and other straight-breasted raincoats), it is now rather popular with a clientele with a more classic and conservative style.

Consequently, it has gradually become the prerogative of very high-end, or even luxury, brands that claim a certain historical heritage, and is much less offered in the offerings of labels that offer value for money. a selling point.

As a result, it is quite difficult to give a "reference" brand, where you could definitely find good and beautiful trench coats worth €300 to €500, and sold all year round with a choice of sizes and colors.

That's why when I discovered the Impermeabile on The Rake, I said to myself that I had to take a look at it to see what it was really worth.

As the name suggests, the brand offers an offering focused on outerwear, and particularly trench coats and macintoshes.

At around €600 for a beautiful Impermeabile, even if it is not yet the panacea of ​​the cheap trench, I was delighted to see that this brand offered pieces of reliable value and quality. And I noticed that it was quite easy to find them on sale at the end of each season, winter and summer!

Take it for granted!

Private White VC: beautiful English outerwear... but a little disappointment

Private White VC is a brand I've been drooling over (yes, I'm weighing my words) literally for years. I can't count the number of times I've looked at a piece from them on the web... before being put off by the price.

So when I saw their stand, I rushed over: I would finally be able to touch their pieces!

And in doing so, I began to have the following feeling: yes it's good, it's even very good, but at the price it's sold for, I must say that I was expecting something even more best in real life.

Let me explain: there are no bad parts (to my knowledge) at PWVC. Everything is beautiful, neat, in beautiful materials.

But very often what our Benedict calls the “X-Factor” is missing.

The "X-Factor", this unexpected thing in a room. This small set of elements that creates the magic of the garment: a surprising fabric, a detail you've never seen elsewhere, a pocket designed differently, a particularly beautiful zip, an unusual but harmonious collar shape, a special lining. ..

And while I'm not going to blame Private White VC for making bad clothes (very far from it), I couldn't help but be disappointed by the lack of surprise that these pieces gave me: the Harrington jacket is a Harrington jacket.

The wool jacket is a wool jacket. The chambray overshirt is a bit sad. The chambray shirt doesn't add anything special either.

The raw denim is the most ordinary raw denim I've seen in a while from such a high end brand.

Even their famous "Motor Trench", a collaboration made with the influencer Simon Crompton of Permanent style, one of the strong pieces which proudly sits in the center of the stand, disappoints me a little. Yes there are welded seams in the sleeves and a rather unusual pocket design. Yes there is a removable cashmere lining. But beyond that, it's a very classic trench coat in its material and details... And it's still sold for €1700 on their site.

And then, the "Twin-Track jacket", with a design that I found super badass a few years ago, and which was initially responsible for drawing my attention to the brand, didn't impress me either: in the end It's just a Barbour type waxed jacket like you find in many heritage brands... but with a double zip.

Oddly, my most pleasant surprise about them was... Their t-shirt. The cotton jersey that made it up had a completely exemplary grip and hand, which really made it stand out from the crowd compared to an average t-shirt... So I was pleasantly surprised by the piece. simpler, and disappointed by the more complex ones.

In short, I'm not trying to tell you that it's a bad brand: far from it.

Believe me, if I find a piece of theirs in my size and it's sold to me cheap (second-hand for example), I'm clearly not going to spit on it. It's still a damn good piece of clothing.

My point is more to share with you a little personal disillusionment: sometimes we expect the very good to be exceptional, and then ultimately, it is not.

Moreschi: Italian shoe makers are not all purists

Italians have many talents in the world of clothing and footwear.

But the most improbable of them is perhaps this: to make you question what a quality piece is or not, in particular by questioning the canons of what you consider to be "adequate".

This was my feeling about the pairs of shoes from the Moreschi brand. Let me explain: at nearly €400 a pair, the calceophile, even a neophyte, already draws up a mental list of what he expects to find: full-grain leather, Goodyear-stitched sole, potentially under engraving...

Well know that Moreschi, and many Italian shoemakers, have nothing to do with your classic canons (and mine).

And my goodness, if I probably wouldn't recommend buying one to a friend, I can understand that Moreschi finds his clientele:

No, the brand does not offer leather soles with an assembly always in goodyear, on vegetable-tanned leathers which will patina over time.

On the other hand, it focuses its entire offering around the lightness and comfort of its shoes. Their "extralight" rubber soles mean that their boots, for example, are the lightest I have ever weighed. And my goodness is that I understand that for the fairly well-off urban man, this comfort and lightness is worth all the promises of resoling

Same thing for the visual aspect: on the one hand we sometimes have the impression that it is cheap. On certain models, the brand does not deprive itself of design twists that will make the eyes of lovers of classics bleed.

On the other hand, we cannot say that the leathers are bad, far from it: on the contrary, they remind me of good leathers used for high-end, colorful leather goods, rather than classic shoe leathers: it is to say that there is indeed a "correction" of the appearance of the leather, but that the grain is nevertheless preserved. In this case, and especially on this type of color, we can also think that the choice of corrected leather is made for aesthetic reasons more than for pure cost constraints.

What I remember from my encounter with this brand (and that of many Italian shoe makers) is this: when you come across a pair of Italian shoes whose price seems absurd compared to your classic standards, stop for a moment to try it on. to understand the reasons.

You might be surprised to discover an approach that is certainly very different from your expectations, but still quite sensible.

Coherence: superlative Japanese outerwear

Coherence was on the list of brands I absolutely wanted to see in real life.

To tell the truth, it was when I saw their “Al” trenchcoat, sold on the Beige-Habilleur shop, that the desire to own a trench came back to me, a desire that I had lost for a very long time. , but who has never left me since.

Before talking about the product itself, I'll give you a quick overview of the brand and its designer: Kentaro Nakagomi is passionate about literature and European history, particularly French. The pieces are therefore inspired and named after great men of yesteryear such as Albert Camus (for this famous Al trench coat), or Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Adventurers, painters, writers... There's a bit of everything. To be more precise, the brand prides itself on making “historical reproductions” by adding its own twist.

This is not trivial, particularly in Japan where the idea of ​​reproduction (think Real McCoy's, for example) is one of the strongest drivers of creativity in the field of clothing.

Kentaro is quite impressive: after a few sentences exchanged, I already guessed the knowledge of a hell of a level in terms of textile culture, in particular by his ability to tell straight away the differences in properties between the fabrics used on the historical originals, and those of modern reinterpretations.

My interview with him was quite quick, but I clearly hope that we will see this gentleman again another time... For an interview on BonneGueule, who knows?

Cohérence's offering is not limited to trench coats, but it is clearly a brand specializing in outerwear. You will also find things with a slightly more workwear feel, such as this jacket:

Regardless, this interview confirms my initial impression: if I had an unlimited budget to buy a trench coat, I would go to Cohérence. In the meantime, import costs and the Japanese manufacturing of their parts mean that it will remain a sweet dream...

Orbium: the Italian project from the designer of Cohérence

(No website yet!)

Since Kentaro, the designer of Cohérence, had noted my enthusiasm for his project, he took the opportunity to bring me to another stand, right next door, where his other project was presented: Orbium.

Orbium is a rather curious project, the exact inspirations of which I was unable (for lack of time or perhaps sagacity) to understand. What I know is that unlike Cohérence where everything is made in Japan, Orbium manufactures in Italy.

There too, I felt a great passion for History, but on the other hand, we were less in reproduction, and more in inspiration. Two pieces caught my attention.

First, this:

This funny hybrid jacket gives the impression of being the illegitimate child of several iconic menswear pieces that have embarked on a wild poly-amorous story. And the result is quite nice, I imagine many possibilities for looks with such a jacket.

Kentaro, however, surprised me by telling me that this jacket was mainly inspired by... Hospital jackets for soldiers. With the language barrier, I wasn't sure I understood correctly, so I replied

- “Hospital jackets, you say?”

- "Quite !"

- “So when the soldiers were injured, they wore this?

- “No, not exactly,” he replied, “it’s just inspired by it.”

- “Well. I want to wear that too, when I'm sick.”

The other piece that surprised me was a sweater. A simple sweater, but with a very pretty worked collar, and which had the particularity of being offered with a small knit scarf, made in the same yarn.

Seeing this separate piece of mesh, I didn't immediately understand what it could be used for, but Kentaro was wearing this very suit at that time, and once I saw it on him, it immediately seemed clearer.

In any case, if the brand continues to offer surprising and inspired pieces like these two, I would be curious to see more Orbium in the future!

PT Torino: high-end Italian pants, surprising in both good and bad ways

Pantaloni Torino is a brand that I have heard a lot of good things about for several years. It is often mentioned as exemplary for the quality of its pants, and the variety of its offering.

But until now, I had never been able to see their products up close.

So, obviously, when I saw his stand (which was also very crowded), I stopped to take a look around.

Well I must say that I was a little disappointed... Not by the quality, whose reputation did not seem to me to be usurped, but by the design choices.

Like the review I made at Tramarossa, Pantaloni Torino shares this Italian impulse to do "always more": its most dressed models were truly exuberant, and in my opinion, rarely successful.

Especially since the exuberance did not stop only at the material, but also at the details: horn buttons whose edges are tinted bright red on pants whose fabric is nevertheless green (seriously?), enormous neon orange checkered patterns... I think this little video will give you a clearer idea:

The worst thing is that we see the know-how, the palpable quality of certain fabrics, and that it is full of good ideas and creativity. Every pant was a frustration that made me think "But it could have been great, why did you just do that part like that...?"

I have no doubt that it is for a reason, and that their clientele is sensitive to this design approach. And after all, there is something for everyone.

Simply, I think that if you want to find pants that are both original AND wearable without looking like a multi-colored peacock, you will have to do some sorting.

Against all expectations, it was their activewear line that surprised me the most: these pants which take on a design and technical materials, and even make visual arguments of them, while retaining a certain classic influence in their shape.

I have the impression that this is an increasingly strong offering from Italian brands, particularly on pants, which are one of the pieces that most influences your daily comfort.

It's a bit as if the new luxury for certain customers was to reconcile elegance, comfort and technicality... But a technicality not hidden as one can have in a classic approach to urban techwear, but glorified! And if so many brands meet this need, it’s because there is a demand. So I would expect it to grow in the years to come, and that we'll see more and more of it.

J. Press: the Ivy League revisited... And an interesting anecdote

I wanted to tell you about J-Press because I learned a funny story about it.

J. Press is an Ivy League style brand and...

J. Press is an Ivy League style brand.

Reading these two sentences, you may think that I have gone crazy, or that I made a copy and paste error in my article. But not at all !

There are actually two J. Presses: the American J. Press, and the J. Press... Japanese of course! (Because they are probably the most Ivy League fan people in the world)

The first is therefore a brand with a fairly classic style, Ivy "Premier Degree" we say: sack suits, very classic tweeds, colorful vests...

The second (which I don't know exactly how it came to exist alongside the first, even if the lady who presented the stand told me about a takeover of the brand at one point) offers a more "revisited" version " from the Ivy League, and it is more of a "heritage fashion" brand strictly speaking. This is particularly noticeable in his Instagram , very different from that of "J.Press Clothiers" (the American one), with regard to styling: more creativity, less formalism, vintage Americana influences in small touches...

I found two or three very interesting pieces, and the rather comical situation seemed worth the anecdote to me, so... Here it is!

Please note, however, that the Japanese J. Press, although it does indeed use Japanese fabrics for the majority of its pieces (at least from memory), does not manufacture in Japan but in China (here too, from memory, do not don't take it at face value).

Now, if someone talks to you about J. Press one day, you can respond with a clever “Yes, but which one?” 😉

Ten-C: technical and avant-garde outerwear

Remember what I said about PT Torino's "active" line, about a trend that glorified technicality as an element of style?

For me, that's a bit of what Ten-C does, but for its entire brand, and specializing in outerwear.

The most striking pieces at home are very warm winter parkas or down jackets.

In my memories, the pieces were quite full of small details, which I unfortunately did not fully appreciate.

Besides, to be completely honest, I realize with hindsight that the presence of representatives on the stand is sometimes so costly in discussion that we end up no longer looking at the pieces as much as if we were in silence facing they.

But it doesn't matter, because what I wanted to show you for Ten-C is mainly the fabrics they use.

First this nylon with a wrinkled appearance called “Nylon Tactel”. The label will explain the product to you better than I could do it myself, so I will just translate the label into French: "This fabric is 100% Nylon from the Tactel family of Nylons" developed by ICI then Dupont in the 80s, it aimed to have all the advantages of synthetic fibers but with the look and feel of a natural fiber."

There is no doubt that the advantages of the synthetic fiber are present (water repellency, robustness, lightness, etc.), but I would not say that this nylon really seems "natural". On the other hand, its wrinkled and soft hand at the same time recalls something similar to a silk crepe, and to put it simply... I find it very pretty, and it's a change from what we have on classic down jackets , in smooth and shiny nylon. See instead what it gives:

Next, the brand's most surprising fabric was its "OJJ" which the rep said only Ten-C and Stone Island had the use for.

Surprising because its appearance is somewhere halfway between waxed cotton which would have weathered well, and something like rubber. But the most surprising thing is still the method used to obtain it: it is in fact a nylon knit that has been washed at 120° to be shrunk until such a result is obtained.

There is also no doubt that this provides a certain impermeability. However, my curiosity is not entirely satisfied because, without having been able to read the technical characteristics of these fabrics, nor having tried them in real conditions, I have no idea about their respectability, how far their waterproofness goes, their resistance to wear and tear...

But my little finger tells me that Benoît will be able to inform me.

Grenfell: authentic, stylish and functional English outerwear

I'm going to confide something to you.

At Pitti Winter 2018-2019, I couldn't help but compare Grenfell and Private White VC. Besides, for those who know my outspokenness, you can imagine that I did not fail to speak about it to the representatives of Grenfell that year.

They didn't like it too much, because according to them, the two brands had "nothing to do with each other".

Well, I tried to tell them that, all the same, both made English outerwear, particularly rainwear, in the same price range, with the same type of colors... But no, definitely, they did not accept the comparison. Because in their eyes, Grenfell, with more than a hundred years of existence (and therefore archives... you will see why it is important), could not be compared to another newly arrived brand, even if it were high end too.

At the time, I must admit that I was not entirely convinced, but having the impression of having touched a sensitive point, and noticing that we seemed to tell them too often for their liking, I I changed my mind. And to tell the truth, I am well placed to understand it, there are few things that make me lose my patience more than when BonneGueule is compared to brands that are "similar" from the consumer's point of view, and yet very different from the point of view of view of those who think about clothes.

Anyway, a year later I come back, and then I see the Private White VC stand, and I feel a little disappointed (which you can read in the section dedicated to PWVC if you haven't already)...

On the other hand, my eye having matured over time, this time I see Grenfell with a new perspective: it's still really creative AND authentic at the same time.

Let me explain: the lifespan of the brand turns out to be a real argument, in the sense that with a hundred years of history, it can draw on a hundred years of design iterations via its archives (yes!) . Designs which have not only had time to confront the world from an aesthetic point of view, but also to be selected or not on their technicality, and their practical aspect. And that’s where it changes everything!

Already, Grenfell has been producing its own trench fabric for over a hundred years.

This fabric is still almost unchanged today, although Mo, the managing director of Grenfell, told me that it didn't have quite the same irregularity, and that they were looking to reproduce a "true vintage" iteration " of this one.

Then, you will find many details with unexpected features on their pieces. Here are the two most notable.

First, this strap inside the raincoat, whose role is to be able to attach to your legs when you are on a bike or on two wheels, so that the raincoat continues to cover you completely even when the wind beats it. !

Then, these little rings which seem innocuous (the alliteration was accidental, but come on, we'll keep it), on this model of cape have the function... of transforming the cape into a tent. Yes yes, you read me correctly: if you have ice axes (and a suitable support no doubt), apparently you can transform this rain cape into a shelter. Just that !

Obviously, I didn't have time to inspect all the parts, but when I know that the brand has at its disposal a hundred years of wacky but devilishly inventive little gadgets like this one, I can't help but placing Grenfell a level above other outerwear brands. (It would even be difficult for me to decide which I want more between a Grenfell trench and a Cohérence trench). I can't wait to see it again!