The goal here is being immune to trends, right? My ebook is billed as learning the skills to build a trend-proof wardrobe. I give advice which I myself follow on ways to dress that will stand the test of time. There are good reasons to do that, and for me, about a decade in, I think I’m doing a decent job.
But of course, the influence of trends is inescapable, unless you truly are just one of those British nobility who get a bunch of bespoke suits made and wear only that til your dying day. Even then, however, the fabrics that mills make will change over time under the influence of trends. Colors come and go in fashionable waves, patterns and textures do as well. Beyond that, what’s perceived as a good fit can fluctuate, too, even in the realm of tailoring.
And so I’m not in the dark about the influence of trends on how we all perceive what looks “right”. I think there is a mostly trend-proof silhouette and cut of tailoring that exists (it probably does not have poofy spalla camicia sleeveheads). But it’s also fun to let the prevailing trends of the day influence your choices a little bit, and to let your tastes evolve.
In that spirit, I present three style trends I noticed at Pitti 104 in June 2023. Some of these supersede Pitti itself, and are simply manifestations of what’s popular at large in the world. But given that Pitti has its own culture—tailoring and tailored silhouettes are still heavily favored—these are worth noting.
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1. Bold patterns—fancy stripes, large prints, wild colors
I’ve noticed an uptick in the number of times per week I see someone on the streets whose shirt is reminiscent of an Ikea employee’s, and the attendees of Pitti are not immune to that trend. It was prevalent and if you review, for instance, Vogue’s street style photos you’ll see it.
Besides stripes there was an increase of bold, very out-there patterns. There’s a danger of going to a fashion event and thinking that the really wild things you see are a trend—after all, Pitti is explicitly known as a place people go to be photographed—but again this tracks with the wider trends in clothing choices as well. Personally I think there’s a bit of a strain of post-pandemic thinking at play—someone already inclined to putting thought into their clothing letting go of a few more of their inhibitions. Life’s short, so just go for it.
2. Loose silhouettes—loose pants with a super high rise, lots of fancy pleats, more flow and drape, a toe dipped into the water of the 90s suit silhouette
Mom jeans came back years ago and the super baggy cuts of my youth are in full bloom everywhere you look. Pitti’s tailoring-centric world is its own subculture in some ways because with something like Ghurka-waisted trousers you’re already wearing super high-rise, multi-pleated pants, and those have been seen around the Fortezza since like 2013. The Italian-centric suit silhouettes have mostly stayed consistent, as well—there are still lots of guys doing the more fitted, short jacket style you’d associate with a brand like LBM 1911, but there are also always the more bespoke-inspired guys doing true Neapolitan silhouettes with wide lapels and full sleeves.
Of course when tailoring starts trying to be worn in more creative, casual ways, is when the trends gain more of a toe-hold. And this is where I noticed a tiny dip of that toe back into the 90s influence that’s so aggressively taken over the rest of the world. A friend once described a suit silhouette as “one and a half sizes too big” and I think that nails the 90s suit silhouette perfectly. There are of course other visual cues—the lapel width, gorge height, jacket length, buttoning style can all be tweaked to give an overall impression—which is part of what I noticed as well. I prefer the silhouettes of true Neapolitan or Florentine tailoring to whatever that 90s thing was, which is a big reason why I cover such niche brands, who are dedicated to bringing those things to market (Natalino, Besnard, Cavour).
All that said, maybe it’s the dadbod talking, but I’m all for a bit more room and a bit more comfort in our clothes. I recently saw an old photo of Andreas Weinås from Pitti likely sometime around 2013, and boy was his jacket tight. I think his current preference for fit is better.
3. Tailoring worn as casually as possible
One of the most commented-on posts I’ve written is the one I wrote in 2020 called “Will anybody wear ties anymore?” During the pandemic, I ruminated on whether ties would ever recover from their death during the period that office workers stopped going into the office. I think the overall trends of society show that the necktie won’t return to the universal business wear uniform status they enjoyed before. And tailoring worn at that same level is also mostly going away. But you know, the silver lining there is that both can come back for the stylish and be used in a more playful, fashionable way. I think of how tailoring was dressed down in the 80s—Don Johnson wearing a black henley under a soft peach jacket is peak 80s. The trend now is similar but with the silhouettes we’ve all grown accustomed to from the bespoke world, rather than the Armani look of that period.
I think my whole menswear journey supports this idea. I originally started pursuing soft Neapolitan tailoring because I felt that the more structured, padded-shouldered jacket cuts I could find off the rack were too formal for how I wanted to dress. I wanted to wear a blazer with denim and not feel overdressed—and the soft tailoring that Napoli defined fit the bill perfectly. It works well with knitwear underneath, too, it turns out; so if your style can support it, why not a tank-top too?
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