The 88th Pitti Immagine Uomo, the comprehensive exhibition marking the start of the 2016 Spring/Summer Men's Fashion Week season, was held in Florence from the 16th to the 19th. This year's theme was "THAT'S PITTICOLOUR!" Approximately 1,150 brands (approximately 40% of which were international) participated in the color-themed Fortessa da Basso.

While previous Pitti Uomo events have featured elaborate themes like rock, ping pong, and walking, this year's theme was color. Colorful traffic cones were placed in front of the main pavilion, and colored smoke billowed into the sky, but the atmosphere inside the venue remained relatively subdued.

Thanks to the favorable and mild weather, new Pitti people from around the world gathered daily in front of the main pavilion to compete in styling in keeping with the "Pitti Color" theme. While the event is bustling with photographers and bloggers, the burgeoning snap craze is turning into a cosplay event, and the sartorialists who sparked it are avoiding it. It's becoming increasingly clear with each passing year that the big names in Classico don't leave their booths. However, the number of buyers attending increased 5% from last June to 20,000, the highest number ever for a summer Pitti Uomo, bringing the total number of attendees to over 30,000. The number of Japanese buyers rose to 819, second only to Germany, a 2.5% increase from last year. A common thread throughout Pitti Uomo this season was a return to the "archive." Brands and manufacturers with longer histories were particularly notable for highlighting iconic items from their archives. Herno, which has been selling lightweight, high-performance down jackets for the past few seasons, brought back the raincoat that laid the foundation for the brand's founding. The brand has revived the label from the 1940s and released around 10 styles in two materials, water-repellent cotton and lightweight polyester, as the "Herno Rain Collection," launching them as hot topics of the season.

"Altea" has returned to its roots as a specialized manufacturer, offering knit jackets with tie patterns. Knit jackets with small patterns and stripes are proposed as archives of the brand's concept, which continues to expand steadily as a total brand, adding depth to the brand.

Shoe brand "MORESCHI" has announced a new line featuring its own brand logo designed in the 1970s.

"To commemorate the 185th anniversary of the brand's founding, WOOLRICH has reproduced its mountain jacket and railway worker's vest in Teflon-coated water-repellent cotton-nylon. Additionally, WP, the current distributor of the brand, has released a Blue-Black Collection to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the opening of the WP store in Bologna. News merchandise focused on archive and special anniversary items.


--In the next issue of Pitti Uomo Spring/Summer 2016 on February 4th, we will report on official events featuring C.P. Company, Nino Cerruti, and others.

■Text: Fashion Headline Editorial Advisor, Tatsuya Noda

■Pitti Uomo Spring/Summer 2016 Report
--C.P. Company and Nino Cerruti Archive Exhibition Unravels the History of Italian Fashion February 4th Pitti's Highest-Priced African and Next-Generation Designers 3/4 Arthur Arbesser and Casamadre, Up-and-Coming Young Designers 4/4

野田達哉