Coffee with Sig. Rubinacci.

It’s hard to stay cynical in Florence. I arrived prepared to look down my nose at Pitti’s tradeshow circus and the inevitable sartorial showmanship from attendees, to see through the veil of #menswear and tell the unvarnished truth about what I saw. Which, of course, I will. But as a longtime fan of makers like Isaia, designers like Daiki Suzuki of Engineered Garments, and shoes like Edward Green and Crockett & Jones, not to mention those not exhibiting but present all the same, to have all the product and people in one place, and a place as easy on the eyes as Florence? It stuck a smile on my face almost all week.

One of the quieter, most pleasant moments of the week was when Fok and I met Mariano Rubinacci for a morning cappuccino at the Excelsior Hotel on the Piazza Ognissanti. Before we all visited Pitti on Thursday, we spent a little time talking about the recent and less recent history of the suit (has the suit really changed all that much in 100 years? Will anyone still be wearing suits in another 50?), the nature of Rubinacci (they run a tailoring shop, but Sig. Rubinacci? Not a tailor. What he is, he says, that’s a difficult question). Didn’t get a chance to ask him what Ye ordered.

We hope to have more from Sig. Rubinacci in the near future, as one of our contributors will be visiting Naples soon.