Power-dressing men take note: The suiting formula is shifting
On the day that Donald Trump became one of the most powerful men in the world yet again, designers in Milan during the city’s men’s fashion weeks were ruminating on what defines masculine prowess and conveys power today. For 90-year old Mr Armani that translates as “soft power”, a formula that’s something of a buzzword today but a notion that’s nothing new to him – he created the concept back in the 70s and 80s and has adhered to that potent formula ever since.
At his men’s show in rain-lashed Milan (Trump anointed to power perfectly coinciding with Blue Monday), the designer emphasised a deconstructed take on tailoring that’s his sartorial North star. Jackets sheared of collars, kimono-style, lightness and ease all spoke to the relaxed stance he takes on masculine style – no creaking, clomping shoes or overly mannered suits, just clothes with presence.
So much of fashion is about noise today – #content and Tiktokery via the cult of streetwear and the stylings of Gen Z – whereas Giorgio Armani is all calm and quiet, muted neutrals and an appreciation of fabrics over distinct “trends”. The plushness of a herringbone weave coat speaks volumes over, for example, a cult trainer. It might not excite the social media accounts in the same way, but it’s an assured style of dressing for men that’s stood the test of time.
There was the odd touch of exuberance – vivid cobalt blue jackets amidst the greiges, plum and seafoam tones – and a segment devoted to lustrous eveningwear in richest velvets featuring inky navy and crimson – but Armani’s message is consistently that men shouldn’t have to shout to get noticed; the shoulder of a raglan-sleeved coat, for example, should be able to do that for you, alongside blousy jackets and loose trousers, hems pooling around slippers. Giorgio Armani in his tenth decade demonstrates that, while the suit undergoes metamorphoses today in terms of how men wear tailoring in the 21st century, he’s been taking that tailoring formula to task in his own way for decades and it still looks pretty damn great.
Talking of re-imagining the suit, no-one has done more to tweak, engineer, re-assess and refresh the formula of classic tailoring than Alessandro Sartori at Zegna, whether he’s going back to the drawing board with silhouette or adding a shot of adrenalin in terms of technical materials over traditional wools.
The Italian brand underwent a sea change several years ago when the designer, with the approval of CEO and third-generation family member Gildo Zegna, shifted the emphasis away from the polite, mannered suiting under the formerly (and oh so formally) titled Ermenegildo Zegna. The new pre-occupation was with what the suit means to men today, and fresh practices in working in terms of sustainability and responsibility. This time around focused on a new kind of fabrication that’s lighter and softer than cashmere, termed “vellus”, a derivative of wool that’s thinner than baby cashmere, and just about as cloud-soft as air. It’s seriously sublime, and employed in soft shirting and deconstructed jackets.
Sartori’s main preoccupation has been to think about the life the 21st-century man lives in his suit – less Captain of Industry, more dynamic – and that translates into his tailoring. “I think about how the man I design for uses the garments, the attitude and the lifestyle. There should be comfort,” he said.
Sartori’s other preoccupation was to adapt the silhouette of the suit to lower the pockets and slope the shoulders, undo linings and adopt a more “at ease” stance in the cut, so that suits were floating from the body and fluid. He’s a technician as well as a designer, and tasks the company’s impressive mills in Trivero, northern Italy, with producing innovative fabrics: to that end, the Harris tweed shot through with jolts of rich colour, the houndstooth motifs that warp and undulate in scale, and the tufted textures on coats.
Sartori likes to toy with a “now you see it, now you don’t” approach – silks designed to look like heavy wool, weighty tweeds that are actually super light. He relishes playing inventor – or tasking his formidable R&D department to do so – and it translates into tailoring that’s interesting and nuanced rather than one note. No-one needs another pinstriped blue suit, after all. Suiting doesn’t mean what it once did in men’s wardrobes, so it’s encouraging to see a designer so devoted to responding to that in innovative, exciting ways.
He scores extra points for always focusing on “real” men on his catwalk alongside the usual whippet-thin teenagers; the characterful 67-year-old actor John Turturro walked in the show, alongside a line-up of greying-on-the-temples men in their 40s, 50s and 60s. They are, after all, the demographic that will buy these four-figure suits.
Speaking of expense, if Keir Starmer is going for your pension pot this year you’d do well to invest your money in gold. That’s spun into a jacket, naturally. The noble Roman house Brioni has, under creative director Norbert Stumpfl, focused itself on elevating the suit with precious materials.
These iterations, showcased on dancers to show off their fluidity, were sprinkled with discrete stardust – the gold fleck in a princely dinner jacket or embroidered with tiny beads of metal. It’s all about preciousness without the pomp – a five-figure suit worn with a relaxed pair of slippers – and it’s a welcome point of difference amidst the sameness of suiting and what constitutes “special” eveningwear for guys.
And if we’re fine-tuning how powerful men dress today, Simon Holloway at Dunhill has finessed the formula for the traditionalists, celebrating British heritage in his continued journey in making the brand a serious ready-to-wear outfitter.
He went back to the codes of classic English dress, with references to the Duke of Windsor and a focus on British mills and fabrications – tweeds, herringbones and houndstooths worked into sweeping coats and suits in whimsical tartans or smoking jacket silks, as well as more everyday iterations.
We’ll see over the coming days, months and years how powerful men – whether new presidents or shadowy tech billionaires – intend to steer the world. It’s interesting that suiting and tailoring is under the microscope for what today’s titans, of all political leanings and industries, may need in their wardrobes.
