Last January's edition of men's fashion was characterized more by the Omicron variant than by clothes, with several shows canceled at the last minute and a riot of swabs and infections that made people want the sofa more than Front Row; but a very crowded Design Week gave rise, even in the most snobbish Milanese, to a certain nostalgia for the fashionable Milan-Salotto that was so cursed in the pre-Covid era, when the subway filled up even outside rush hour, finding parking became a utopia, a restaurant table a mirage, and the Navigli a Dante's circle. In response to this very Milanese saudade, the men's Fashion Week dedicated to spring/summer 2023 has arrived, reduced to the bare bones (yes and no two and a half days of fashion shows) but still present and in presence, ready to keep the flag of Made in Italy and to remind us of the value of collective experience, even in the fashion sector. And yet, what happened cannot be erased, so, at the dawn of the high school exams and after the Rolling Stones concert at San Siro, on a summer solstice so torrid that the Milanese Archbishop decided to invoke because the Madonna grants the gift of rain, one wonders about the general state of the fashion industry and how it is (or is not) recalibrating following recent global vicissitudes. As Silvia Schirinzi writes in Rivista Studio, despite the fact that the big brands now show mostly off-schedule and off-the-notes Fashion Capitals, and although the format of Fashion Week itself has bored most people, "everything seems to be back to normal, the same one we swore we no longer wanted: the overflow of products placed on the market is the same if not increased, but looking closely, yes they can clearly see the signs left by the crisis.” Not all evil has a silver lining, however. If in nearby Florence, Pitti Uomo remained entangled in a now hackneyed streetwear and in the Instagram-friendly which tends to favor glossy aesthetics (and those who can afford it) to the detriment of truly innovative contents, in Milan they triumphed the conceptual presentations for a few intimates outside the carnival of the fashion quadrilateral - a less "spectacular" dynamic that places the emphasis on themes fundamental to the progress of the fashion system such as sustainability, recycling and the rediscovery of high craftsmanship translated into a language contemporary. Along this line, Vitelli has created a pop-up shop dedicated to its knitwear made with textile industry waste in the multi-ethnic neighborhood of Porta Venezia, Magliano has populated a disused Enel cabin with jackets made from scarvesof recycling while Matthew M. Williams, the creative director of 1017 ALYX 9SM, has staged unisex in the Scarioni swimming pool, which has long been abandoned despite the fact that the Niguarda neighborhood is tirelessly fighting for it to finally be returned to the citizens.
Highly anticipated and much talked about, the presentation of the Gucci HA HA HA capsule collection created in collaboration with Harry Styles and hosted by the Cavalli e Nastri men's boutique in via Mora 3. The collection takes its name from the initials of its creators (Harry and Alessandro) and the laughing face with which, promptly, ends the infinite WhatsApp messages that the two have exchanged in over a year of gestation. The friendship between Alessandro Michele and Harry Styles dates back to 2017, when the former One Direction frontman decided to embark on a solo career and the Florentine fashion house dressed him for the entire duration of the tour, and then used him as the face for the couture campaign of 2018; it was therefore only a matter of time before Michele proposed to Styles that they create the "dream wardrobe" together. The collection summarizes years of friendship and love for fashion through a very British and strongly Seventies aesthetic, a mix between bohemian and English Lord seasoned with a good dose of eccentricity and gender fluidity that characterizes Michele's style as much as Styles. A hymn to a different and changing masculinity, to a deep and playful sense of freedom, which sees tradition mixed with silk pajamas with squirrel and teddy bear prints. A concept that fits well with the microcosm of Cavalli e Nastri: if Gucci has long since made the transition from a purely high fashion brand to a high street brand appreciated by various generations, it is also true that, for those who have not yet understood it, it is vintage is currently the most real, genuine and positive expression of contemporary streetwear. Gucci HA HA HA will be available in stores from October.
