Gucci's Sabato De Sarno kicked off Milan's final week of men's runway shows on Friday afternoon with his first men's collection for the house, tinted burgundy.
Like his first womenswear collection in September, this menswear collection was titled Gucci Ancora (meaning again in Italian) in reference to the designer's embrace of the brand's DNA and his personal obsession with 1980s Italy. .
Once again, Sabato chose to reveal his new ideas in a large renovated factory space, one of many available in Milan. In this case, the Fonderia Carlo Macchi, a disused forge in the north of Milan, where the cast paraded along a rectangular path of light, to the rhythm of upbeat dance pop. This season a looped version of night prelude by Mark Ronson, who sat front row at the show.
An audience that included a group of K-Pop singers was led by Idris Elba, who paraded in a large monogrammed purple satin coat.
As it turned out, there was relatively little burgundy in this collection, a sea of somber, artfully tailored, cleverly voluminous garments that looked commercially savvy.
“It is a story of objects: shiny, tactile and cold to the touch, but warm to the heart and soul; it is desirable to collect them, not for a museum but to enrich life,” Sabato argued in a program note, titled Manifesto Ancora .
De Sarno opened with a defining look: a large, ankle-licking gray metallic wool coat anchored by studded brothel vines. Using gabardine, silk or fine wool, he cut a series of large double-breasted suits and tuxedos, with the center buttons shifted to the side where the hip was cleverly gathered. While for next fall, Sabato wants boys with large-necked, single-breasted trench coats; workmanlike leather jackets and many bold looks with monograms in beige or burgundy.
For evening wear, their shimmery robes and jade-coloured sequined rock star coats will look brilliant at editorial shoots. Between the foam-soled shoes, the shoulder bags, and the chunky new gold necklaces, there was a lot of merchandise and fashion, but not as much magic.
De Sarno clearly knows how to build a collection and define a silhouette. But the parade itself never took off, lacking that dose of surprise that is essential to a great parade.
Before Christmas, Sabato sent a beautifully bound and printed book to the same friends and publishers. The two categories are not mutually exclusive. Contained in a box of its characteristic burgundy color, it featured all types of creatives of the 80s, from the painter Lucio Fontana to the prominent critics and writers who congregated around Bar Jamaican and Giorgio Strehler. The founder of Italy's most important modern stage, Il Piccolo Teatro, was perhaps most famous for a video he recorded of himself as Christ nailed the cross trying to drive the final nail in with a hammer he dangled from his teeth.
In short, a thousand miles from the American revivalist glamor of Tom Ford, or the kooky Brooklyn-dwelling Contessa aesthetic of Sabato's immediate predecessor, Alessandro Michele.
In a word, Sabato De Sarno is very much his own man.
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