FASHION

ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA FALL/WINTER 2017-18 MENSWEAR COLLECTION

By Crash redaction

CRAFTED MODERNITY : WHEN TAILORING MEETS SPORTSWEAR

Ermenegildo Zegna’s autumn-winter 2017 fashion show opens to a piano soundtrack. Inside the Pirelli HangarBicocca museum, the models walk through an art installation by Anselm Kiefer, called « The Seven Heavenly Palaces. » His brutally poetic, conceptually expansive architectures of pure raw materials and effortless engineering becomes the perfect environment for Alessandro Sartori’s new aesthetic. The austere architecture of the place echoes with the classic garments of this collection. A clever mixture of off-white, flesh color, and anthracite gray, the sober and neutral tones accord with the towers whose dilapidated and washed-out walls give the impression of a total no man’s land. Only the classical music – played on the piano by Mattias Mimoun – brings a touch of romance to this austere place.

For his first collection as artistic director, Alessandro Sartori focuses on an eclectic atmosphere. On one hand, he reconnects with the roots of the Italian fashion house: masculine suit in plain and neutral colors. On the other hand, he brings a more casual and sporty look to traditional male tailoring. The fluid cuts of trousers or the alteration of colors and textures on jacket sleeves revisit the classics, while caps, backpacks, sneakers, hoodies, and bombers all serve to bring the suit into the sportswear universe. Rolled sweatshirts mingled with frame glasses and vintage caps bring a retro touch to the outfit – very fifties.

At the end of the presentation, the models invested the art installation of Anselm Kiefer. Transcendent eras, the modern man plays with the codes of the past, and does not hesitate to mix past and present.

Written by Lisa Tomasi