Each Pitti Immagine Uomo (hereafter Pitti Uomo) invites young designers to take to the runway and exhibition stage. This year's collections featured four African-based brands with global sales: Thomas Tait of women's fashion and Carlo Brandelli of Kilgour.

●The ethical trend of rising African designers

This year's guest nation, "Rising African Designers," was organized in cooperation with the ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative. This year's Pitti Uomo theme focused on color, and patterns like batik and tribal continue to be trending themes. This timely event was also a good fit, given the popularity of the African print collections by Haitian Italian and Stella Jean, who were invited as guest designers at the previous Pitti. The four brands that took to the runway were PROJECT MENTAL, a duo from Angolan designers who also presented their work at the 2013 Fall/Winter Tokyo Collection; Orange Culture from Nigeria; MaXhosa by Laduma from South Africa; and DENT DE MAN, a designer with Ivory Coast and British citizenship. Each brand created an impactful collection, incorporating British Savile Row techniques, knitwear, and tribal patterns with a contemporary street and modern art perspective. DENT DE MAN, the finale designer, was also featured at the "Latest Buzz" booth, which showcases notable brands recommended by GQ Italia and L'Uomo Vogue, and attracted significant attention with its luxurious styles featuring Javanese batik prints. Thomas Tait: This year's Pitti Uomo women's designer, Thomas Tait, is the Canadian designer who won the 2014 LVMH Young Fashion Designer Award. Perhaps conscious of the overall trend toward archival fashion, the Boboli Gardens exhibit featured a collection in which Brandelli revisited pieces he had presented at the London Collection over the past few seasons, using Italian techniques. The minimalist exhibition sought to convey the essence of his designs, striking a balance between mass marketing and art.

●Carlo Brandelli

Pitti Uomo selected Anglo-Italian designer Carlo Brandelli, a Savile Row master, as one of the next generation of men's designers to watch. The exhibition, held in the courtyard of Palazzo Medici Riccardi, showcased the signature style of his brand, KILGOUR, in an artificial installation made of glass and mirrors. The installation, featuring elegant summer jackets crafted with the utmost lightness and delicacy, swaying in the breeze amid Florence's historic architecture, seemed to demonstrate the gender-transcending contemporary nature of men's fashion.
--In the next issue of Pitti Uomo 2016 Spring/Summer on April 4th, we will report on the collections of promising designer Arthur Arbesser and others, who presented their best collections.
■Text: Fashion Headline Editorial Advisor Tatsuya Noda
■Pitti Uomo 2016 Spring/Summer Report
--Archives are the trend in men's fashion in the "invisible" era 1/4
--C.P. Company and Nino Cerruti archive exhibition unravels the history of Italian fashion 2/4
--Up-and-coming designers Arthur Arbesser and Casamadre 4/4

野田達哉