The right intuition. Years ago I had to find an idea to unite the entire issue of the magazine I directed: every two months, the magazine had a single subject that involved every part of it, from the various columns to fashion, up to news and even the horoscope. I was in Paris for fashion shows, and Paul Smith displayed his collection in a swimming pool: chlorine smell, the dives sound, and the idea arrived, water. What I mean is that you can be everywhere, in every circumstance and you can have an eureka moment that solves a little enigma when you least expect it. A scent, a noise, a colour, sometimes can be enough. Who has a mind open to every spark, especially who – like me – has the privilege of having a creative job, can have the right intuition everywhere. Paul Smith was right, when he entitled his volume “You can find inspiration in everything”, and in his honour this week we’ve shot some pieces of cloth among the most brilliant and fascinating that I found in the winter collections. The cover of Paul Smith’s book.

Grey-blue. The nostalgia for one-time Milano is a generation vice, doomed to be handed down forever. Today’s twentysomething will say the same thing repeated by nostalgics now. Who was twenty between Seventies and Eighties regret a Milan that doesn’t exist anymore (“how fine we felt, how nice it was”). Actually, they regret having lost their youth; Milan’s energy was a projection of adolescence, it was not true. There was both cultural and political unrest, but dont’ forget that they were the so-called “Years of lead”. Today it’s more beautiful and liveable than once even if it remains a hard city: you can love or hate it, there’s nothing in the middle. Maybe “it doesn’t laugh and have fun anymore”, as Lucio Dalla sang in his ’79 piece, but it’s almost ready for Expo, peripheral areas have become beautiful and new glass buildings look like shining rockets pointed towards the future. The new Milan is grey-blue. Fast and glossy more than ever. Work in progress for Milan Expo.

Men’s fashion changes direction. Fall/winter collections are sold since the first days of July, but I feel like ruling out that italian men have already cleaned out the stores, thinking about a new wardrobe. Why did I write a “new” wardrobe? It’s simple, because fashion – also men’s – has changed direction; the proof comes from last fashion shows in June that reaffirmed a drastic transformation (but it’s a matter of summer 2014, it’s too early to talk about). By now, anyway, the turning point is clear. The general trend exclude the sportswear in favour of a style with no midtones: very elegant or very fashionable. Or both together. To sum up: – Among classic shades, grey, blue and camelhair last but, in compensation, winter lights up with colours like yellow, red and light blue. – The fur is back, as a coat or as an embellishment on lapels of long coats: the three quarters jacket has, infact, almost vanished; it’s time of the calf-lenght coat or the waist-lenght jacket, there’s hardly anything in the middle. – Patterns on fabric (heavy wool and flanel mainly) goes from macro-tartan to glenchecks and houndstooth, and the double-breasted suit is in again. Michael Caine in 1966, wearing a double-breasted suit, one of the winter trends.

Many men wish they could look like someone else. There’s who prefers Steve McQueen, or Marcello Mastroianni; who dreams to be Jude Law, or Colin Firth. They are male audience’s favourite actors, so I gather that their classic style is the successful one. It’s not a coincidence that styling’s simplicity and shapes’ linearity are the common denominators of avant-garde designers’ collections, except for rare cases. Advertising campaigns and “strong” window fittings are ideas’ displays that strenghten the image’s media power but, in those same shops that propose that creative level destined for selected connoisseur, there are suits dedicated to timeless demand. Choose your attire paying special attention on modernity (“classic” is not sinonimo of antique, but you can’t keep on wearing the long jacket if now it has shortened), and, above all, try to be nothing else that yourselves. Marcello Mastroianni in 1979 on the set of “La città delle donne”, shot by Tazio Secchiaroli.

Autumn/Winter 1994: the “second half” of the campaign, in the advertising language. The outerwear style was still very similar to the 80s one with its big volumes, so far from the tight-fitting one that came along with the new decade and changed completely the men wardarobe. Same goes for trousers, shirts and ties. And of course the waistcoat which used to dominate the fashion scene: knitted, deconstructed or made of fabric but always loose-fitting and never tight. Shooting locations were basically non existent, neutral backgrounds and quite natural lighting. The main peculiarity has been the models attitude: intimist, thoughtful, reflective. Sometimes photographed with the eyes closed, like the top model Werner, (on top) shot by Mario Sorrenti for Dolce&Gabbana. Photographer Max Vudukul, shooting for Romeo Gigli (another waistcoat fan), has been aiming for the melancholic feeling expressed by the model’s eyes, staring beyond the horizon…