Itty Bitty Pitti

Ironically Pitti Uomo is not at all Itty Bitty -in fact, it's a mahussive menswear tradeshow that is mind bogglingly confusing once you are inside the Fortezza da Basso in Florence.  However, my impressions from the tradeshow are on the itty bitty side because I don't really know how to wax lyrical about men's tailoring, ties, belts and cuff links.  There are more interesting labels to be found if you have a good looksy through all the pavillions and Style Salvage Steve has already made a headstart in investigating some of them… I'm approaching them all with the very basic and superficial level of "I.Want.These.For.Myself."  Bah humbug to information seeding out…

H? Katsukawa is someone I spotted from last seasons's Pitti Uomo and also one of the few designers that got what a blog was and would thus let a slimy blogger like me take images of his stand.  Turns out designer Eiichi Katsukawa also has a blog himself.  Ah…we thus speak the same language… he asked for a photo of Steve and I…  a bit of an imbalanced exchange I feel considering I took away pictures of beautiful beautiful star-printed brogues.  I probed Eiichi "Why stars?" to which he replied "Because they make me happy!"  Nuff' said.  I'm liking succinct answers… 

I love these distressed suede punctuated brogue boots too…

This season's edition of Who's On Next, an initiative started by Pitti Immagine in collaboration with Vogue Italia and Alta Roma threw up some names that seemed to very handily fit into this little Itty Bitty Pitti accessories round-up… given that bags and sunnies can be nicked from the dudes, I therefore loved the offerings from leather goods label AI_ (it won the accessories award) and eyewear label Ozona (got a special mention).  

AI_, designed by Andrea Incontri is about quality compacted into simple designs that let the materials do the talking – in this case, the buffalo leather.  Functionality and lightness is taken into account as well as superb finishing.  AI_ runs in a similar sort of vein to Jas M.B., Ally Capellino, the sort of simple and functional bags I take a strong preference too… I particularly love the grey oversized ruck sack that looks like it would work well as an overnighter bag…

Designer Sandro Gonnello of eyewear label Ozona has specifically tapped into Italian styling of the 50s for inspiration for his sunglasses and glasses.  

Find of the three days defintiely went to Pierre-Louis Mascia.  Well actually, it was a re-find for me as I knew of his fashion illustration work and his early foray into scarves and bags.  However, I had lost touch with his more recent work and was therefore glad of the reintroduction.  The reintro credit goes to a special lady with whom Steve and I had a run-in with.  Sitting next to us in the press restaurant was a vaguely recognisable Russian lady (who I believe lives in Paris…) completely having a rage attack against fashion bloggers with her Russian compatriots.  I'm not gonna name the names she was ranting about but I did feel distinctly uncomfortable – she wasn't attacking me directly but you know, bloggers come as brethren ya know….  Then she looked over and err… realised who I was and said "I know who you are…  you young people… you need to open your eyes!  You need to learn more!  Fashion moves too quickly and you don't notice things…"  Steve and I did try to explain that we do want to learn more and all them ore eager and so as the day progressed and we kept bumping into her, she would put her arms around us and ask us whether we had seen this label or that label.  We promised we would see everything she pointed out to us – which we did – and thus we got a temporary fashion grandmother for the day…

One of the designers she insisted we meet in person was Pierre Louis Mascia – we had admired his scarves earlier at the Who's On Next show and was sure he was gonna bag the accessories award.  It wasn't to be but it makes no difference of course to Mascia's work.  His scarves go along my personal scarf tract very nicely.  A mix of his own prints and selected old textiles rejuvenated by his placements, Mascia encourages a very personal way of wearing scarves as seen by the cute little videos on his website. 

I also love the shirts and windbreakers that Mascia has that clash/match the scarves beautifully because the colours are kept fairly neutral…

Some come double printed on both sides and others come backed with a silk jersey to make them extra luxurious… and the sizes are huge too should you wish to double/triple wrap…

 

I promise I will be keeping my eyes wide open… even if I'm not doing it in this pic!