Brains at the Shows. Gabriele Verratti - Illustration by Anna Higgie

02/13/2014

With a sense of anticipation, while Milano womens fashion week is about to start, some of our favourite style analyzers tell us about what they saw during last menswear catwalk shows and presentations. 3 compendiums: here’s Gabriele Verratti, fashion journalist who contributes regularly to Grazia.it and Icon Panorama.

The masculinity emerging from the runways of Milan said a resounding no to the insecure exhibitionism of carnivalesque gimmicks, to the mask of approval disguised as rebellion, to the communication of non-existent messages. Because if clothing wants to escape the boundaries of cutting and materials and become a symbol and representation of the self in a collective setting, before the wardrobe the Delphic imperative always applies: know thyself. The simple yet complex rhyme of a white shirt and an exquisitely tailored jacket, the style of Italian tailoring that bends the rules with irresistible pleasure, the excellence of the article, wisps of modernism that waft in and out of tradition, a coat cloaked in the vociferous luxury of fur, Yes, then to precision and discipline, but with a license to eccentricity, an awareness of taste and contempt for the imposition of respectability.It is not easy in a world deafened by screaming to re-educate your ear to whispers, paying attention to those who carefully scan words and meanings. It is not easy in the proliferation of cheap images to dent the boredom of actions undertaken by imitation, readjusting personal expression to the extent of one's feelings. It is not easy to ride the novelty of the digital revolution and resist sensationalism, endorsing a question that skims the surface of things rather than digging deep into the truth to recognize, protect and meditate. It is not easy, but it is necessary - and this effort today sums up all that is elegant and noble. Never before has fashion invoked a silent face that creates new harmonies, a reflection that emerges from the chatter of the professionals. Everyone has a responsibility to be what they really are, strengthening identity even at the cost of giving up consensus. And Milan must take advantage of the crisis with intelligence. To rediscover and usher in a new season of kindness, the cult of expertise, pauses and changes of mind, dignity that makes the most of every beauty, instead of self-praising anachronism.