Time for a Review and a Preview: Pitti 83: What’s Coming for FW13
It was great to work with the SF Pitti team covering the shows and the collections in January. Over the next few months, I’ll be highlighting a number of these that you’ll see in stores and online for FW13, updating about twice a week. I thought I'd start with a review of the shows as a whole, along with a preview of some of the highlights I'll cover:
My vibe of the season: Charles Dickens meets Pitti Uomo: it was the best of shows; it was the worst of shows. As a customer, there was a lot I wanted to buy; from a fashion point of view, I doubt this season will make it into the history books. There were some pleasant surprises from brands I’ve never heard of (like the French brand La Comedie Humaine); there were some disappointments from some major players, some that looked boring from a distance ended up being wonderful when you reached out and touched them (including some great wool blazers from Barena Venezia, see below).
Overall take: I wasn’t the only one feeling a more conservative vibe this season: it wasn’t Spring 2005, a season to push the envelope with patterns, paints, and art; nor was this Autumn 2006, a season to break the bank with furs, exotic leathers, and couture details. These collections were austere in the sense of the European economy: sometimes less innovative fabric, sometimes a corner cut to save on production, or sometimes a trip back to the archives for a safe and standard staple. Buyers were mixed, too: some lamented the quality of fabric, others cost increases, others happy that designers were forced to focus on priorities. Thus, it was a paradoxical season: the designers seemed unsure exactly where things over the next year will go, a sense that brought out their best and their worst.
I found the best of the lot, though, and will be sharing some surprises here through the spring in a series of articles. Here’s a preview of what you’ll see:
Manbags: Some great accessories at all pricepoints. Want Les Essentials, a brand we know well on the forum, introduces some great new colors (forest green and plum) along with some bright seasonal fabrics and linings to its staple collection. Kozo Ohba, Graae, and Serapian expand their family-owned brands, which have been in operation in their native countries for decades, onto the world scene with premium leather briefcases, portfolios, and travel bags. Daniel & Bob, a brand well-known in Europe and Japan, expands its line to more casual bags, with a new soft calf that (or so its owner tells me!) is farmed from the same mill where Hermes gets in nappa leather.
(Daniel & Bob nappa leather shoulder bag)
Shoes: As usual, great stuff coming out of Japan. A small artisanal maker, Eichi Katsukawa (after working for Paul Harnden), expands his line, and Quilp by Masao Morishita, collaborates with Tricker’s to produce shoes that are one part English tradition and one part Harajuku pop. Yuketen, another forum favorite, goes back to the drawing board with new, more labor intensive, construction on its shoes, ensuring that not only will they look great, but they’ll be ready to pass onto your grandchildren when you can no longer put them on.
QuilpXTrickers
Menswear: Barena Venezia was a standout for me; from a distance it looked like safe, solid casual wear, while up close the wonderful wools and cottons required you to touch them and put them on in order to see why they’d be a must buy. A(LeFrude)E, Masaki Kyoko Homme, and Spellbound by Simplicity continue the tradition of quirky Japanese sportswear, adding some local influences from northern and western japan in fabrics and dyes. Finally, a new French brand, La Comedie Humaine, takes influence from 19th century novelist Balzac to create collections one part Viktor & Rolf, one part old-school YSL, and one part Issey Miyake.
(A(LeFrude)E jacket)
There are also some great fragrance companies (Lorenzo Villoresi and Profumi Del Forte), and some visits with other forum favorites (Buttero, Mismo). There may also be the story of how I nearly got kicked out of the Santa Maria Novella flagship by an angry Swiss sales associate. Stay tuned!
It was great to work with the SF Pitti team covering the shows and the collections in January. Over the next few months, I’ll be highlighting a number of these that you’ll see in stores and online for FW13, updating about twice a week. I thought I'd start with a review of the shows as a whole, along with a preview of some of the highlights I'll cover:
My vibe of the season: Charles Dickens meets Pitti Uomo: it was the best of shows; it was the worst of shows. As a customer, there was a lot I wanted to buy; from a fashion point of view, I doubt this season will make it into the history books. There were some pleasant surprises from brands I’ve never heard of (like the French brand La Comedie Humaine); there were some disappointments from some major players, some that looked boring from a distance ended up being wonderful when you reached out and touched them (including some great wool blazers from Barena Venezia, see below).
Overall take: I wasn’t the only one feeling a more conservative vibe this season: it wasn’t Spring 2005, a season to push the envelope with patterns, paints, and art; nor was this Autumn 2006, a season to break the bank with furs, exotic leathers, and couture details. These collections were austere in the sense of the European economy: sometimes less innovative fabric, sometimes a corner cut to save on production, or sometimes a trip back to the archives for a safe and standard staple. Buyers were mixed, too: some lamented the quality of fabric, others cost increases, others happy that designers were forced to focus on priorities. Thus, it was a paradoxical season: the designers seemed unsure exactly where things over the next year will go, a sense that brought out their best and their worst.
I found the best of the lot, though, and will be sharing some surprises here through the spring in a series of articles. Here’s a preview of what you’ll see:
Manbags: Some great accessories at all pricepoints. Want Les Essentials, a brand we know well on the forum, introduces some great new colors (forest green and plum) along with some bright seasonal fabrics and linings to its staple collection. Kozo Ohba, Graae, and Serapian expand their family-owned brands, which have been in operation in their native countries for decades, onto the world scene with premium leather briefcases, portfolios, and travel bags. Daniel & Bob, a brand well-known in Europe and Japan, expands its line to more casual bags, with a new soft calf that (or so its owner tells me!) is farmed from the same mill where Hermes gets in nappa leather.
(Daniel & Bob nappa leather shoulder bag)
Shoes: As usual, great stuff coming out of Japan. A small artisanal maker, Eichi Katsukawa (after working for Paul Harnden), expands his line, and Quilp by Masao Morishita, collaborates with Tricker’s to produce shoes that are one part English tradition and one part Harajuku pop. Yuketen, another forum favorite, goes back to the drawing board with new, more labor intensive, construction on its shoes, ensuring that not only will they look great, but they’ll be ready to pass onto your grandchildren when you can no longer put them on.
QuilpXTrickers
Menswear: Barena Venezia was a standout for me; from a distance it looked like safe, solid casual wear, while up close the wonderful wools and cottons required you to touch them and put them on in order to see why they’d be a must buy. A(LeFrude)E, Masaki Kyoko Homme, and Spellbound by Simplicity continue the tradition of quirky Japanese sportswear, adding some local influences from northern and western japan in fabrics and dyes. Finally, a new French brand, La Comedie Humaine, takes influence from 19th century novelist Balzac to create collections one part Viktor & Rolf, one part old-school YSL, and one part Issey Miyake.
(A(LeFrude)E jacket)
There are also some great fragrance companies (Lorenzo Villoresi and Profumi Del Forte), and some visits with other forum favorites (Buttero, Mismo). There may also be the story of how I nearly got kicked out of the Santa Maria Novella flagship by an angry Swiss sales associate. Stay tuned!
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