Style Trends at Pitti 95

Looking around Pitti, I wanted to photograph the people that were more visually interesting to me. Sometimes, those were characters who bordered on the absurd. But in general, my goal was to photograph those who I felt would be more interesting to users of Styleforum, people who tended to have a more conservative or classic aesthetic.

Check out our streetstyle galleries from Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.

I am a fan of photojournalism and photorealism, therefore I didn’t want to photograph people posing; rather, I tried to capture people genuinely talking with colleagues, putting on their clothes and shoes and adjusting their outfits, unaware until just after or during the moment that they were getting photographed. Here, I want to remark on some of the various style trends that I noticed around the pavilions.

Belted and/or Patterned Coats

Many of the attendees, both working inside the fair and those who were just there to pose, wore wonderful belted coats. There were a number of classic cut balmacaans, highly popular in tweeds and more classic check patterns, but oftentimes, either these were cut with belts in the same fabric, or were accessorized with other options to tighten the waist and provide a bit of shape to the wearer.

Additionally, trenches were popular, both in wool and cotton gabardine. Darker solid colors were more common, either in burgundy or a dark navy, but other more classic honey/stone colors were also visible among many attendees. If the coat didn’t have a belt, it usually featured a martingale, providing a bit of visual interest from behind

British Aesthetic

A fair number of attendees opted to wear clothing that had a lot of English influence. Clothes appeared heavier than in past years, with a lot of herringbone tweeds and a fair number of donegal-type fabrics used in tailoring. Some opted to not wear coats because it was unnecessary, seeing as how the weight of their suits were heavy enough to keep the wearer warm. Perhaps we might start seeing heavier weight clothes come back into favorability among the masses–which wouldn’t be bad, seeing as how much better it oftentimes drapes. On account of this, a fair number of attendees, especially those inside the pavilions (who generally “do not want” photos) were wearing clothes with a nice drape, oftentimes with more structured shoulders.

The pièce de résistance was the amount of Barbours and other waxed cotton jackets (including Belstaff) that were worn among attendees. Whether worn over tailoring or just over a flannel shirt, the Barbours were in full force, most oftentimes not showing much character from wear and time. While I don’t think that many people were rewaxing the canvas on their own coat, I would say that now is the time to invest in a waxed cotton jacket if you haven’t already, seeing as how they are stylistically en vogue, but also timeless.

As a side note, one of the many interesting things that I saw at Pitti was the Barbour “Directors Jacket,” which was a coat they released specifically for director Ridley Scott. It is a unique jacket with a pocket to hold the script while in the field. While this may seem trite, it serves to remind you that the jacket has its role in keeping the wearer (and their belongings) dry in a wet, raining climate like the English countryside.

Cuffs on Pants (And Not All Were Highwaters)

Albeit cuffs have been popular in Italian style for several years now, it seems as if they were everywhere, including on suits that had heavier weight fabrics. Attendees from China, Japan, England, Northern Europe, all were wearing about three or four cm cuffed pants. Pants that were more casual were also oftentimes roll cuffed.

The second thing to note was that there seems to be a return to some normalcy with pants. While there were people who chose not to wear socks, a fair number of people were wearing pants that had a slight or minimal break, rather than the short, cropped pants that were popular in years past. Of course, you did have those peacocking dandies wearing absurdly short pants, but most attendees seemed to be aware that it was winter, and that their socks don’t need to show when standing up.

Newsboy/Fisherman Caps

These were everywhere. Most of the attendees, if they wore any sort of hat (other than a more traditional fedora), opted to wear these. Even I have to admit that I am guilty of wearing them… but partly is because they are easy to stuff into a pocket of a jacket or coat if you end up getting too hot.

Regardless, the fisherman look was quite popular, seeing as how many of the attendees wore these caps with giant beards and waxed cotton outwear with turtlenecks. If anything, I would say these will probably be a more popular choice for people who live in winter environments, especially as an alternative to beanies or other casual knit caps.

Turtlenecks under Tailoring

This has been seen and mentioned before on Styleforum, and is quite visible on social media, but throughout Pitti you had a fair number of individuals wearing rollneck or turtleneck sweaters underneath tailoring.

In the real world, this look may be interesting especially since it is unlikely that you will be in the same place at the same time with twenty others wearing the same outfit. I would say that it looked extremely good here when under the clothes with more drape, which featured softer fits.