(Source: TheImpression.com)

Picking Italy as a destination for my last year studying the degree in Architecture was a result of many aspects. First of all, because it's one of the richest European countries talking about art and architecture of course. There's something truly mesmerizing about getting lost in the streets of any Italian city. On the other hand, and as I said in previous posts, picking Firenze as my home for the Erasmus year to come was a decision made out taking into account fencing trainings, academic programmes, the cost of life at the city and, as an added element, fashion of course!

Il mio italiano è ancora un po maldestro, ma spero di migliorare prima di arrivare a la città! That said, I feel very lucky about having the chance of experiencing the Italian fashion scene first-hand. Italians not only live and breathe fashion. THEY ARE fashion itself! You just have to take a brief look at their streetstyle, their vast textile heritage and tradition, the whole Italian culture around design and their love for things done the best way possible, ever looking at the minimum detail. So, on my way to live my Erasmus year in Firenze to its fullest and experience first-hand all the aspects of Italian culture, attending to a fashion show or related event there seemed like the logical next step to take. After some research on the Italian fashion agenda, I found out an event I know I won’t miss even if it’s standing downtown watching people come and go on their fabulous outfits while eating a gelatto. It is the Pitti Immagine Uomo, which takes place at the Fortezza de Basso, coming 9th to 12th January 2018.

Firenze Pitti Immagine isn’t just another fashion catwalk or event. It is THE fashion event when it comes to menswear. I must admit menswear has never caught my eye, and I’ve never been very into it but, after watching some shows while doing my previous and always accurate (I hope) research for this post, I found it’s quite interesting how menswear develops compared to womenswear collections. There’s that feel of slow-paced, timelessly cadence that lacks in almost every show of womenswear, where everything goes faster and faster every season. At the Pitti Uomo streaming shows I’ve had the chance to watch I’ve noticed that even with the most disruptive fashion designer, every single piece could be worn over, and over, and over again for decades. There’s something behind the patterns of those velvet blazers; fine lines between the seams of colourful suit pants and an expert hand crafting those laced leather shoes which are just mesmerizing. And I think that’s the magic and the real value on all Italian brands: to be the epitome of timeless while lasting for years. Isn’t that, after all, the reason behind all the magnificent buildings of the city of Firenze?