Average Joe at Pitti Uomo

[Caustic Man]

I have no desire to attend Pitti, but these photos make it seem much more appealing than the staged, peacocked, background blurred images that make it seem like an extended exercise in vanity. Very interesting to see this behind the scenes look. Well done.

 

[shirtsnob]

I have no desire to attend Pitti, but these photos make it seem much more appealing than the staged, peacocked, background blurred images that make it seem like an extended exercise in vanity. Very interesting to see this behind the scenes look. Well done.

very well said.......my feelings eggsaktlee

 

[ThinkDerm]

thought there were some well dressed ladies

- the woman in red, white and black outside and the woman in the white blouse at the Ring booth

 

[patliean1]

but these photos make it seem much more appealing than the staged, peacocked, background blurred images that make it seem like an extended exercise in vanity.

It's ironic you say this considering your IG is filled with exactly this LoL. And I say that as an avid follower of your account.

 

[Caustic Man]

I knew I ran the risk of this criticism with my comment, and you aren't wrong. I do think there is a difference of kind, however. First off, I would like to recognize that, with very few exceptions, all of our pictures are staged to one degree or another. I think that some people are better at effecting a nonchalance in their photos despite this. That's what I try to do, even though everyone who follows me knows that I know I'm being photographed. Whether I succeed or not is not for me to tell you.

On the other hand, I think that the runway poses that people often try to effect at things like Pitti mostly end up looking bad and affected. Just my thoughts on this.

Oh, and I rarely think my pics are peacockish. YMMV.

 

[NycLondon]

I have no desire to attend Pitti, but these photos make it seem much more appealing than the staged, peacocked, background blurred images that make it seem like an extended exercise in vanity. Very interesting to see this behind the scenes look. Well done.

I disagree completely, I find this pictures even more depressing than the posed ones. The content is less than mundane and they are poorly framed.

 

[Caustic Man]

 

[J o s h]

I did spot a few other people... one or two of the Spanish guys with beards (names and store?).

Do you mean Carlos and Jorge from Man 1924?

 

[emptym]

Thanks Josh. Yep, those are the guys that I think I saw. Generally, I like their style.
Thinkderm, that may not have been the Ringjacket booth, but I can see how the way I posted the pic implied that.
NycLondon, I think there's something to your criticism. I definitely have no training as a photographer and just pointed my phone at things that caught my eye or just because I wanted to document a scene. Sometimes, I would just turn around in one spot and take a few pictures (as in the first several shots below and the first several in the OP). I even took a few pics while walking and without looking at the screen. As mentioned, my main goal was simply to give people something like the experience of being there and not to select the best of things or to promote some viewpoint. I wouldn't claim that's the best way to cover Pitti, but I chose it because it was easy and I guessed/hoped others might find it interesting. Personally, I found pretty much everything at Pitti to be interesting, but I'm generally that way.

Florescent red or orange sneakers were pretty common. I didn't purposely take pics of them, but they happened to be in these three images.

Perhaps my favorite woman's outfit

The two most unusual men's outfits I saw, one in mustard 80s Armani-like clothes + contemporary hipster hairstyle:

and a pirate

 

[ThinkDerm]

 

[emptym]

Here's some random pics of various booths.
I was surprised to see Eastpak there, but I liked their stuff. The white bags up top looked like they were made of cuben fiber, but I didn't check. It would be neat if they were using it, like ZPacks or Hyperlite Mountain Gear.

This company's logo reminded me of BAPE and Supreme put together, so I was ready to hate it, also because of the oversized zipper. But I kind of liked the designs.

Clarks had some triple soled chukkas that seemed as rigid as wood

This origami purse reminded me of something, but I can't think of what.

Other fun things

Not the best brand name, imo:

 

[emptym]

I was surprised by how popular New Balance is in Italy. Half the mannequins in storefronts and a good portion of Pitti attendies and regular people seemed to be wearing them. I liked some of their designs but the woman with the scanner (white NB t-shirt) told me no pictures.

This brand is all over Italy and I liked their display

Cargo shorts (as above) were really common among Italian men. There's definitely an increasing globalization of culture. Americans are dressing more like Europeans and Europeans like Americans. My last time in Italy was 2012, and I wasn't struck nearly as much then as I was this time by how similar people there seemed to dress as people here. SF hipsters with their beards, tattoos, dangling key chains, and tight selvedge jeans, and sneakers, would be very at home in Florence, at least at Pitti. When I studied abroad in 1995, you could usually tell where someone was from by his/her dress. But now it's really tough. A few days after Pitti, while walking around in Milan, it seemed that most people were wearing graphic tees. And I counted 30-something with English words, incl. brand names, before I saw one in another language (Le Coq Sportif). I told my cousin who works for a children's clothing company based in Milan, and she said they only put English words on their clothing, since nothing else sells. Kind of sad imo.

 

[troika]

I disagree completely, I find this pictures even more depressing than the posed ones. The content is less than mundane and they are poorly framed.

Oh boo.

The whole point is that this is what you actually see at Pitti. Not the handful of highly curated photos carefully chosen from a dozen photographer's full SD cards so that they accurately reflect your brand image.

 

[emptym]

Some MC/CM stuff:
A Japanese tie maker that uses kimono material, iirc (copying Vanda?)

A French maker of shoe care supplies, family owned, over 100 yrs old, uses only natural, non-petrolium ingredients, if I understood correctly:

An Italian shoemaker, with tiny slip-ons in different colors, just like a display at Paul Stuarts in NY. This was the only display with a working craftsman, that I saw at least. Forgot the name of the company. They didn't allow pictures of their new line either. They were all about dyes and patina, as you can see. I didn't love the designs, except for the plain toe slip ons of the tiny models.

Sadly, these guys didn't seem very popular. I've owned one of their sweaters for almost 30 years. It's been great. No idea if the quality is still the same.

Can't remember the name of this brand. Italian, starts with a Z, not Zegna or Zanella...

It seemed like they had a room each for different types of art. I recall ones for painting, architecture, and video, maybe others.

I liked this shirt

The words seemed random, but I thought it'd be neat to have a poem printed, or part of one's favorite novel, scripture, or something.

 

[emptym]

Some final views of Pitti, most of them as you're leaving the fort:

Just outside the main exit

Free shuttle bus service to many hotels

It had almost no lines when we went, but the taxi line was huge:

That's all I've got for Pitti, but I'll post a few more pics of our following trip to Pisa, Cararra, Parma, and Milan.