Men’s fashion weeks are just around the corner, and while for some, the bi-annual events have become merely an opportunity to stand around, get street styled and pray for future Instagram fame, actual events do still take place. This June will mark the 90th edition of the illustrious Pitti Immagine Uomo trade fair. Fortezza de Basso will house over 1200 collections, showcasing the very best and latest in contemporary men’s fashion. Here’s what we’re most looking forward to.
Florence Calling: Raf Simons
Pitti Uomo 90 will not only see Raf Simons present his SS17 collection, it’ll also play host to a special project he’s worked on specifically for the 90th edition of the trade fair. It’s been over a decade since Pitti celebrated the tenth year of Raf Simons’ career with a three-part event that traced his work from 1995-2005 and was held in Florence’s Boboli Gardens. Now with twenty-plus years of experience under his belt, we’re excited to see how the innovative artist plans to make his mark once again on his return to Florence.
Guest Designer - Gosha Rubchinskiy
Not to be outdone, Gosha Rubchinskiy will also present a double-bill of his work. His SS17 collection will be shown alongside a photography project which will no doubt draw on his expansive list of references garnered during his youth in Russia and developed through over a decade of creative experimentation.
Rubchinskiy’s profound social commentaries come to life in his dynamic use of multimedia and his SS17 collection has been inspired by the history, cinema, art and fashion of Florence and Italy. He explained, "I am very excited to have been given the opportunity to bring a new Russian Renaissance to such a historical city.”
visvim Designer Project
Undoubtedly this list would be incomplete without some Japanese talent, and it’s impossible to not be excited by the work of Hiroki Nakamura. The founder and designer of visvim is looking forward to showcasing visvim for the first time as a performance-showing that will allow for a full, multi-sensory, experience of his contemporary, American-inspired, work wear. Nakamura has commented, 'I want our guests to feel what visvim is.” Well Hiroki, we can't wait to feel visvim.
KARL LAGERFELD - Visions of Fashion
A photographic exhibition curated by Eric Pfrunder, the long-serving Image Director at Chanel, and publisher Gerhard Steidl; Visions of Fashion represents Lagerfeld’s entire body of work and perhaps most interestingly features a vast array of unpublished photography. A collection of over 200 images will celebrate his diverse approach to photography, among which will be work he’s done for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Numero and V Magazine.
Lagerfeld has been behind the lens for almost thirty years and see’s photography as a hugely important part of his being, “I can’t see life without the vision of photography. I look at the world and at fashion with the eye of a camera."
Lucio Vanotti - Pitti Italics
Pitti Italics is part of Pitti Immagine’s Discovery program and puts the next generation of Italian design talent centre stage. Following an invitation from Giorgio Armani to show in the Armani Theatre, Lucio Vannoti debuted on the runway in January 2016. He’ll unveil his latest collection with a fashion show that will explore Italian history and tradition through modernity.
As if this wasn’t enough, we’re also looking forward to seeing what Mandarina Duck, Fred Perry, Le Coq Sportif, and House of Holland & Umbro will have to offer, all of whom are on the Pitti schedule. Coverage to follow but in the meantime, have you seen the mysterious theme that Pitti Uomo will adopt for it’s 90th fair?
