Shorts surprise at Pitti Uomo

Designers redefine formal wear for young urban target

(ANSA) - Florence, June 23 - As the 86th Pitti Uomo trade fair closed Saturday after five days of shows and parties to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Florentine center for Italian fashion, the recognized birthplace of all things made in Italy, a new mood and a new look emerged: a preponderance of shorts worn with extremely fitted blazers, all in assertive colors, signaling that a certain optimism and flair have made a comeback. Postwar periods of yesteryear saw women's skirts shortening to save on fabric. But this time, in terms of menwear, the story is different.

Although economic times continue rough the world over, this particular shift could be a harbinger, not of a lack of raw material, but rather of a shift in taste and customs demanding that men put their bodies on display, and perhaps also of the tropicalization of weather through planetary climate change. The new client identified by the companies showing at Pitti Uomo is young, trendy, particular about details, and fussy about the care of his body: the fair's main pavilion even dedicated an area to a barbershop installed by the century-old barber supply company Proraso.

Shorts dominated the runway of Au Jour Le Jour Garcon, a collection designed by the new enfants terribles of fashion, Mirko Fontana and Diego Marquez. Hosted by Pitti Italics, they seated their public in a former customs warehouse, at genuine school desks lent by a Florence high school. Au Jour Le Jour's imaginary of a "schoolboy" was both playful and refined, choosing shorts below jackets printed with toy cars, the letters of the alphabet, lions, jellyfish, and rhinoceroses. Theirs is a fellow both retro and tongue-in-cheek, whose wardrobe favors tailored suits in fabrics stolen from women's couture, in a palette of brilliant reds, greens, and yellows, with a dash of sequins jazzing it all up in a mischievous masculine-feminine mix. Likewise, the guest designer at this edition of Pitti Uomo, the Trivero Group's Z ZEGNA, turned out a collection by designing duo Murray Scallon and Paul Surridge targeting the active urban dweller: both formal and experimental, elegant and high-tech, tailored and sporty, it features slim-fitting trousers and Bermuda shorts paired with tailored jackets as well as parkas - all in lightweight fabrics, including high-performance wools, technical cottons and advanced sportswear. The palette was cement and carbon with a dash of jade green, citrus yellow, and royal blue, and of course, black and white.

Italian manufacturing company Lardini placed itself in the hands of Kansas-born designer and Instagram sartorial style icon Nickelson Wooster, also known in the blogosphere as the WoostGod. A former fashion director at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, Wooster is slated to become the brand's ambassador to the United States. Based on the concept of "imperfection," his collection of jackets and trousers, some shorts and a variety of accessories featured crisp shirts in mixed fabrics under narrow, single-button jackets in bold stripes and polka dots, paired with everything from below-the-knee Bermudas in excessive volumes to dropped-crotch Ghurkas.