Another Pitti Uomo is in the books and ,although the venue and crowds are noticeably smaller, the inspiration Pitti supplies is as strong as the men’s fashion weeks in Milan or Paris.
Each morning starts around 9am with the “entrance parade” when all the sales agents make their way to the fortezza and their brands booths. This is a great time to capture the best styles of the day because the sun (if there is sun) is low in the sky and makes for beautiful winter hazy light. Also most of these vendors will be stuck in their booths all day and it’s dark by the time they leave so it’s really the only time to capture their looks. By 10am the buyers and press start to arrive and the crowds really begin to descend on the fair. By 11am I leave the entrance parade and head into the fortezza and begin roaming the grounds until it’s too dark to shoot anymore.
Once the fair is over it takes me a while to review the images and really react to what I’ve been seeing. One reaction I had right away is that I need to buy an orange scarf! Two of my favorite Pitti guys looked great sporting their orange scarf and when I think about it’s so smart! Orange is a perfect menswear accent color because it goes great with brown, green, blue and grey! however its not so good with black but I rarely wear black so all good! For me, I prefer a more red orange than a yellow orange, I would also keep it on the smaller more sporty size and solid (however the green plaid scarf with strong orange accents pictured below makes me reconsider).



Another growing trend I saw at this Pitti was the belted-coat. When done right I think it can be very nice but it’s very tricky to do right. The middle image above is an especially good example of how to execute a belted-coat. The belt should be able to create a visible waist and some negative space between the arms and torso. If it doesn’t help accentuate the waist then it can look more like a bathrobe which is a look maybe better left at home.
The coat trend I really loved this season was a small-shouldered, A-line wool coat with a raglan sleeve. Sooo chic! I think it looks great on this gentleman but I have broad shoulders and I’ve found that really works against the idea of the raglan sleeve. Anastasia thinks this sound ridiculous and has challenged me to find a coat like this for next winter! I’ll keep you updated.
I love when I find fun micro trends like this one. I call it Urban Cowboy 1940 because it looks like what I imagine a gentleman cowboy in Austin or Tulsa would have worn around that time.


This is where I get a little nerdy but I love moments like the images above. A beautiful wool coat with a wonderful weave and surface texture with a small pattern contrast color scarf picking out is really so chic.
I also really love these more graphic scarfs playing against the coat patterns; plaid against herringbone or the scale of a stripe against another stripe or mixing up the scale of checks !



Overall this Pitti Uomo was pretty successful and makes me hopeful for the future (at least that’s what I keep telling myself)
Scott, that navy coat you liked is the Kaptain Sunshine Traveler. They make it every year but change the mix of color and pattern options available. It works so well with just about any casual or smart outfit.
Wonderful menswear! The quality is apparent, and I love the mix of scarves and hats. Lovely!