Very Italian
What makes Italian men always look so elegant? Which are the secrets of their casual sophistication?
The Italian style is a mix of sobriety, not in the manner of Northern European minimalism, sartorial quality, without the Anglo-Saxon rigor, and relaxation, not in the American casualwear tradition. It is a compendium of all the qualities typical of Italy: the aptitude for artisan quality, the creative twist and the aesthetic balance, mixed in a magical formula of elegance admired all over the world.
In these days spent at home, there is plenty of time to rearrange your wardrobe starting from the staples of the Italian wardrobe.
The key to the aesthetic balance of the Italic man comes from focusing on 5 basic colors: white, blue, grey, beige, military green, plus denim.
Don't worry! This will be the structure on which to then graft colors and patterns: Italian elegance never gives in to boredom! So let's open the closet doors and pull everything out: we will proceed by category.
Let's start from a mainstay of fashion: the jeans. Classic and rock at the same time, versatile yet distinctive We all have the most different styles of jeans, but the essential ones are a pair in a basic and medium-dark wash, a more casual, worn and distressed pair to which you can add white jeans, which are perfect in both summer and winter.
The Italian man treats jeans (the most classic one, without distressed rips, with a soft fitting, not too loose nor slim fit) as if they were formal trousers: worn with a blazer, a shirt and the right accessories (#look1), he could join a board of directors (do you remember Gianni Agnelli?). The dandy touch: the most sophisticated men will add an unexpected element: a patterned clutch, contrasting socks and a pair of colored sunglasses.
Then, the chino pants that are somewhere in between jeans and formal trousers. Made of cotton, with or without pleats, they owe their name to the Chinese or Filipino farmers who in 1800 usually wore this type of rope-colored trousers. In the Italian man's wardrobe you will always find them in beige, blue and military green, as in #look2.
Chino pants are an alternative to jeans in casual looks that, mind you, for Italians are "casual" only in appearance: in reality they hide an almost obsessive search for the detail, material, color point or the uniqueness of a limited series.
Sneakers are never simply sneakers, the simplest white T-shirt has the perfect fitting, the neck is always right, and the faded polo is at the perfect point of wear.
Speaking of polo shirts: these, together with knitwear, are one of the few pieces of clothing where colors are (almost) all allowed.
While no Italian apart from an icon like Lapo (Elkann), would ever wear red or yellow or even printed trousers (or short trousers), it is quite common for him to wear sweaters, sweatshirts and cotton polo shirts in bright colors (#look3).
The same rigor applies to the shirt, for which Italians have a real devotion. Often made to measure, every Italian man has his own opinion on the collar: button down, regular Italian style, with semi spread collar or open in the French way. Never with short sleeves, never with an exceedingly high collar and never in a chromatic scale: exclusively white, light blue, in denim or with thin white & blue or white & red stripes. If in linen, also blue or military green are allowed.
In his search for refined elegance in every situation, the Italian man prefers the shirt to the t-shirt also over the swim trunk. In this case, the shirt can recall exotic atmospheres especially so if with a mandarin collar (#look4).
Swim trunk, never briefs but only swim shorts, can be plain or, better yet, patterned. The Italian man will never pair them to beach slippers, only to moccasin or, better yet, to sophisticated espadrilles.
