June 14, 2019 |
In the past 47 years, Pitti Uomo transformed from a menswear fair into a platform establishing the hottest names in menswear. Despite the strong presence of tailoring remaining at its core, the focus of the biannual event in Florence has extended its tentacles into exploring all facets contemporary men’s fashion includes. This year’s, 96th edition of Pitti is arguably the most exciting yet, with the line-up of guest designers being longest its ever been. One of the headliners of the SS20 edition is Massimo Giorgetti of MSGM, who swapped his hot spot at Milan Fashion Week for an even hotter ticket as one of the designers showing their vision with the culturally rich background of Florence as their background.
It’s a bun fight backstage: it’s the way of things. But this is MSGM, the go-to for fashion kids and runway grown-ups. It’s a shopping tick-list, incorporating of-the-minute 1990s-flexed streetwear separates in tie-dye with super-cool bags and sneakers. It’s fun! And for SS20: tailoring. Super-soft lightweight tailoring, you mix up. A jacket with baggy jeans; a tech-y lightweight coat and a bucket hat. We grabbed 10 minutes with Giorgetti in the energetic scrum after his standout SS20 show for MSGM:
Richard Gray: What was the starting point for the collection? It was such a celebration of all things summer holiday.
Massimo Giorgetti: “I grew up in Rimini, so you can be by the sea, you can be in the pool, you can go swimming a river. That’s Rimini! You know, water for me is a kind of relaxer. I have time to think. I really like the water attitude.”
Many of Giorgetti’s fabrics for next spring played around with the various reflections and refractions of the year-round Rimini sun bouncing its beautiful light off the water (see his tie-dye water-print excellent denim jeans and jacket combo worn together.
RG: There was a real 1990s vibe to the looks – you could have almost been there. Hear the music. Wear the flares! Were you a raver?
MG: “I was! [laughs] I’m so glad you saw this in the collection.”
RG: Why are the 1990s so very special to you? You can feel your joy about then coming from the catwalk.
MG: “People that know me really well, they know. They know the 1990s for me were the best years.”
It’s the decade that just won’t die in fashion. Its influence is everywhere. It’s a dressing up spirit. *at this point Giorgetti looks at the looks board behind him: each model dressed in their looks – it’s a kind of check list in the pre-show frenzy of backstage. Backstage, models are now changing and joking about stealing the clothes. They want to wear them now. This is always a great sign. These young boys are brilliantly dressed and wrapped up in the idea of a bucket-hat ‘90s look.
MG: “The ‘90s look was just easier to wear. It’s not about streetwear, sportswear, blah blah blah. In the ‘90s people picked really cool clothes but also they were ‘easy-wear’ clothes. And I think now is the same. I observe people. I was watching cool young guys and girls; they want to wear tailoring again and to mix it together. It was exactly like that in the ‘90s.”
RG: We are in an completely 1990s mood. The fashions, the kids, the politics. It’s in the air.
MG: “The look! The loafer, the white socks, the denim, the hat. Exactly, exactly the same as the ‘90s. Since I started designing – for the past 10 years – I’ve been revisiting the ‘90s.”
The runway music was a blast. The set-up, too. A projector shone a film on to the floor of a sports hall, with stadium seating around. The boys walked round the projection: an azure blue swimming pool. It was hypnotic. One of Giorgetti’s inspirations was the film The Swimmer, the 1968 American epic, in which protagonist Ned Merrill – played by Burt Lancaster – decides to swim the length of every pool in his neighbourhood. The colour-saturated movie is as beautiful as it is homoerotic.
RG: Do you listen to 1990s music?
MG: “I think the 1990s was an amazing time for music. Now the music is still good, of course, but now a lot of music, a lot of the songs…. You know, back then, we waited to buy the latest CDs and albums. Now we just download what we want in a second. And back then we listened to all [of] the album – all of the songs! Now we just listen to one song, once.”
RG: Things were special, don’t you think?
MG: [He smiles.] “I have amazing memories of the 90s. I feel very lucky.”
Giorgetti grew up in Rimini, a fashion kid who studied The Face and I-D. Reading and re-reading; fascinated by the cool London kids of the time: how they dressed – drinking in everything about their outfits. He loved reading about the clubs and the burgeoning “Madchester” music scene.
MG: “You know, I just think the youth, the youth-energy in the ‘90s was unforgettable. Incredible!”
Isn’t he great? A true fashion fanatic.
