In this photo at Harry’s Bar in Firenze, Jake Grantham is laughing. You don’t know why, or with whom, because the left side of the photo has been cut off. But if you were there, you’d be laughing too, relishing that memorable night of negronis and hysterics, right along with everyone else.
Pitti is, of course, work – for writers and photographers, buyers and sellers, and all the support staff at the Fortezza. New wares are paraded, orders are taken, contracts are signed, and so it repeats, twice a year, as it has for over thirty years, like a carousel that never ends.
But what a fun ride it is! And you know the secret room in the middle? That’s where the parties happen, and the room is full of fascinating people, captivating in all their completely off-topicness; where silly antics ensue and eyebrows are raised in accidental innuendo with a heavy dose of good-natured ribbing, and well-wishes are offered with glass rims.
That’s the Pitti I enjoy, and what I tried to capture a little by camera but mostly via Instagram Stories. A static feed, like many forms of media, is a tightly curated method of disseminating information, and while this obviously has its benefits, it presents at best a two-dimensional view. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but its prose is shallow. Live and extemporaneous video allows the personalities of those so often captured in photo to shine freely, unbound and unfrozen, couched in context and surrounded in sound. For example, did you know that Wei Koh loves Toto? Or that Greg Lellouche wears an undershirt? Take a look at the Pitti96 highlights for all that, and upcoming releases from various brands in the booths.
Someone asked if there are still the peacocks, to which I could not but confirm. However, the world already has more than enough bile and deprecation, and while some of the outfits might merit a few jibes, I wished rather to focus on things that please me. Fortunately, at Pitti, I was not wanting for options, only time. I hope you enjoyed this season’s coverage as much as I did, and if you have any comments or suggestions for next time, feel free to leave it in the comments below. Until then, here are a few pictures from the streets of Florence to tide you over.
Photo credit p_wijk
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Peter, yours was the best coverage of Pitti I have seen, hands down. I hope you are able to do more coverage of similar events in the future (if there is anything in the world similar to Pitti!). Well done and thanks for showing us what a discerning eye, and a point of view, can do to coverage of events like this.
P.s. Thanks for not covering the peacocks.
Many thanks — glad you enjoyed it.
Awesome coverage as always Peter. I’m always super jealous of your Piti trips, although I appreciate it’s hard work too!
Thanks! Stay tuned for another installment in January 🙂