Gainsbourg Icon. Serge Gainsbourg, the bad boy of french pop, was said to be arrogant and violent and that his lifestyle dissolute; the label of “beautiful and damned” doesn’t fit him that much, because he was certainly not “beautiful”. But “damned”, probably, yes. Anyway the unkempt appearance it’s still somehow quite attractive related to the idea of a kind of devious and eccentric men, defined as artists and uncommon person, so that he’s become a real icon, and his style it’s being re-proposed to represent a certain nonchalant fashion. Tom Ford In 2002, during his time as creative director for Gucci, designed a collection feauturing extremely comfortable silhouettes made from soft and fluid fabrics like jersey and wool cloth. Although the reviews were enthusiastic, the collection didn’t have the expected results. The same thing happened, more recently, for Zegna collections by Stefano Pilati. I have already written about how oversize fashion still can’t find its way to the general public’s heart, for now. I personally like it, but I recognize its limits.

The elegance of mixing. Softness, romance and disorder, three keywords that depict a man that’s inclined to handle his own look, and to take the risk of not being completely in line with the codes of traditional menswear. In this column I’ve already written about what I think in terms of a more contemporary attitude, but I understand that mixing genres could be not so accepted by the Italian general public. Elsewhere this mix has been legitimized for quite a long time. But, you know: we’re one of the most conservative countries in Europe. But don’t say that Tony Musante doesn’t embody a universal and traditional masculine aesthetics. And yet, the “frilly” accessory doesn’t jar. This week’s picture portrays him in the backstage of Anonimo Veneziano, directed by Enrico Maria Salerno, out in 1970, one of the first (Italian) movies that focused on the hypocrisies of traditional family. Upstream and nonconformist, indeed.

Hey, Macho. “The cowboy style is an implicit pledge of allegiance to the mentality the myth embodies, which can be denominated as rugged individualism”. This is how Lawrence Wright, American writer and journalist, depicts the Tex-Mex, the so-called fusion of texan genre and streetwear. Differently from what he writes in his book God Save Texas – “The counterpart of machism is that we reject the female side of our nature” -, fashion questions the rules of western iconography and softens a style that comes from  the workwear of cowboys, – “but that still today is chosen by many Texans that actually live in offices or indoor”.

Feminine Masculine. Feminine/Masculine, Masculine/Feminine. Magazines have talked about this for years, fashion and show biz have represented it for decades. Art for centuries. The most discussed and bickered Sanremo Music Festival of the century bet a lot on the character/artist Achille Lauro: his look and his musical touch (the fact that he mantained the feminine version singing the cover of Mia Martini didn’t go unnoticed) entered the houses provoking dizzy spells on one side and jubilation on the other. If a message needs to be perceived and felt, it has to be screamed. The exploit of the Roman rapper won’t change the popular mind. Good job, anyway: it was a good message of change; we’ve really entered the era of the years to come. Like it or not, let’s take note. We’ve to metabolize the change or we’ll bound to get old prematurely.

Gentlemen, let’s mix. I think I’ve already talked about it, but these days I like to revisit it. The styling you find in men’s fashion magazines usually gives ideas for basic or classic outfits: hardly ever – especially the italian magazines – they suggest a mix of fabrics, colors and shapes that abroad (not everywhere, to be clear), instead, where different ethnicities and customs cohexist in harmony, are a rule. So that when we fly to London or New York, Paris or New Orleans, we think: “Look at that, how certain clothes suits them well”. Influences from non-western countries have such charme and personality that – if properly matched – can revive even the most normal suit. Try that. Despite every conformism.