A Trip to Florence and Milan
I went to Pitti Uomo and Milan Men's Fashion Week. Here's what I did, wore, and saw.
Years ago, when I first read about Pitti Uomo, it looked pretty damn cool. An opportunity for dudes to dress up, be in Italy, and talk about clothes. I didn't really think I'd travel that far, take a whole vacation just to go to parties, wear clothes, and hope somebody snapped a photo... but here I am.
I met all the Pitti celebrities, although I already knew some by now. And I met a few of you: dozens of... uh, fans? do I have fans? came up and introduced themselves, telling me how much they loved my videos. I can't tell if this was stranger, or random people coming up to me in the New York City subway. I also met friends I've made around the world... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Pitti was everything I imagined, and Milan was pretty great in its own way. I am going to share my experience as best as I can, which... will probably seem like rambling. That's kind of how I live, sometimes.
I'm writing this partly for those of you who care, and partly for myself. I want to remember this trip, and this is one way I can do that. If you enjoy reading it, or learn something... all that is just a bonus.
I never thought I'd share airplane window shots here, but the Italian Alps were so very pretty. Also, the zoom on my phone is surprisingly good, huh?
Pre-Pitti
I landed in Milan on a sunday morning. My buddy Matt, it turns out, was on the same flight. We took a couple of trains to get to Florence, where he recommended taking a cab to my airbnb. It was not a very long walk, so I thought I could manage... let me be very clear: Do not attempt to drag multiple pieces of luggage through the narrow, bumpy streets of Florence and their "sidewalks," which are barely big enough for a person.
But on the other side of that ordeal, I found myself in a lovely place. Florence is the old Italian city in your head, injected with modern touches all around, like modern stores, streetcars, and, well, light. Rather than modern street lamps, the nights were lit largely by string lights... fairy lights... leftover christmas lights? Whatever you want to call them. Some streets had their names spelled out in these lights. It all made things feel a little more magical.
I was alone for my first night dinner, and found myself too tired to actually research and figure out where to go. Instead, I went into a random place across the street from the not-so-great cell phone store I stopped in... I'm pretty sure their cacio e pepe was microwaved, the sauce was hot and the pasta was not. Oh well, a total of one bad meal in Italy.
Really, Monday was my first and only free day of the trip. That was unfortunate, because I didn't have the clearest plan. I left the airbnb, got myself a cornetto (a crossaint, but it's not actually crescent shaped, and it's Italian, so it's a cornetto), and wandered South.
I don't know where I was planning to go at first; I wandered past the Duomo (read: big fancy Church in the middle of town), towards the river, stopping in interesting stores along the way, until a friend texted me saying that Raggedy Threads from Brooklyn was having a popup event that night at Clochard9.2, a Florentine vintage shop with its own take on Americana. Maybe a funny place to start my Florence trip in earnest, but I wandered over the bridge, over the beautiful river, down to that store. Too early for the event, but just to get a look.
Denim jackets from Lee; Wrangler; Ralph Lauren. Suit jacket from Valentino (I wish it fit). Loden coat. The fit I walked in with.
After that, I wanted to head over to Stefano Bemer to see some fancy bespoke shoes. I stopped on the way there for a (much better) lunch at a random spot off Google Maps (I still had pasta... I know, I know, Florence is more about the meat); I stopped on the way back for gelato. Fun fact: I somehow gained no weight in Italy. I ate like a king and it was all fine. Our food here needs a serious overhaul (as opposed to the current, unserious overhaul being attempted). Anyway, Stefano Bemer was fantastic.
A few pairs of shoes from Stefano Bemer
Stefano Bemer, for those who don't know, is a bespoke shoemaking house based in Florence. They make the absurd shoes pictured above, including the model in the middle, the Khamai, designed in collaboration with The Anthology. I've been lusting after those shoes for years. They had one of their master shoemakers working in the front of the store, and I got to try some on—I'm a 40.5, in case anybody is trying to decide what to buy me for my birthday.
I ambled back over towards my airbnb, threw on a bowtie and an ill-advised white silk scarf to pretend my outfit was evening-appropriate (I was only able to pack one dinner jacket, which is a travesty, really). And then I went to the Michael Andrews / Angel Ramos party at the St. Regis. I hate how my own fit came out (some of you will say you like it. I'm not my own worst critic, but I'm pretty harsh), so here's some other batch of photos from instagram:
The kickoff party! The first of many creative black tie affairs, the opening salvo of bowties and booze, and (breakup aside), it was a blast. I saw multiple tailors of mine (what is my life?), drank, laughed, got a stern talking to from a man three times my height, and met so many internet friends (Cléa, among others)... Life was good. And the next day, Pitti Uomo began in earnest.
What is Pitti Uomo? What's the vibe?
It's about now that I'm going to acknowledge: not all of you have any idea what Pitti Uomo is. Well, the short version is, it's an international menswear trade show held twice a year by Pitti Imagine. But it's so much more. Over the years, and especially after the #menswear movement on Tumblr, Pitti became a sort of a Mecca for menswear lovers. People would make pilgrimage from all over to wear, at the time, boldly-colored slim-fit suits with double monks, and talk about clothes. Some people still dress like that... but for the most part, Pitti has grown with culture as a whole. Tailoring is still at the core of the that culture, and there are still peacocks running around wearing random bs (there was a dude in a luchador mask and some sparkly striped suit on day 1, that was not the vibe but it did get attention). But my boy Nick showed up on day three in a supreme hoodie and... hang on, gotta go one day at a time.
Pitti Uomo Day 1
Day 1 of Pitti, I got to the Fortezza da Basso relatively early (keeping in mind that I had flown in from New York). I saw a bunch of friends; friends from New York, friends from all over industry friends, influencers, people I'd known online but never met in real life... We all just hung out in the fortezza for a bit, catching up. And I was able to meet new people, too, like the boys over at Natalino.
I checked out some booths, too. I got photos, but apparently, you're not supposed to do that? Some brands love the free publicity, other brands freak out when you reveal next season's clothing early. Actually, one very traditional brand got very upset when I snapped a photo of their footwear, even though they have definitely had that exact model on their website for... probably since they created the website.
Anyway, I'll just describe some highlights with my words. Barbour is making everything in Tartan patterns, and I mean everything. I guess they already do a lot of that, but it stood out to me in their booth. Sebago and Woolrich had some excellent styling in their booths. That's most of what I saw on day 1 before I left for the Suit Walk.
These are the best photos I got from the suit walk.
The suit walk was... well, Vogue wrote about it here, you can just barely see me in one of those group photos, but it's kind of what it sounded like, a bunch of us walked through Florence in suits. Well, in tailoring. Actually, I think I was the only one there without a tie. I had a tweed jacket and a scarf that you could barely see under my Balmaccan, which I refused to loosen because it was kind of cold. I tried to pop my jacket collar and fluff out my scarf a bit, but I probably just looked like one big coat.
I met Louis at the start of the walk, and that was incredible. Here, in retrospect... that happened about a dozen times, a dozen people I was excited to meet. I also met Luic on the walk... And I'm sure a few other people, that was fun. There was a post-walk afterparty event nearby that... was set to start an hour and a half after the walk, and also you needed an invite to get in, so... idk what that was about.
Instead, we just hung out for a bit by the Duomo. I talked to Manish about one idea I had for a fit check, and was surprised to hear he was into it. I am very happy that I got Manish to curse on camera. He's a great, warm, friendly human being, especially in person.
Then, I went to 100 Hands. I met Jack at... some point, maybe in the Fortezza, not sure when, and he told me to stop by. They're making me a shirt! But you know, by now, that I like to tease you all with my commissions. But you might also know that 100 Hands makes really, really good shirts. This is gonna be a good shirt.
I also saw Peter when I was there. He was wearing his Nina Penlington Bespoke western suit. That suit had people incredibly excited, it was one of the biggest hits at Pitti.
And then for the parties of the night. This was the one night of Pitti I didn't have a creative-black-tie-optional party to attend. I went to dinner at Osteria la Vigna (an excellent little spot I'm recommending in equal parts because they're a small new restaurant that could use the attention and because that The pear and mascarpone dessert they had is probably the best thing I ate on the trip), partly because it was near the one casual party I did have planned, at WP Archivo. But once I did get there, somebody invited me, on the spot, to the Plaza Uomo thing.
The Plaza Uomo thing, which was invite only, was a black tie affair, for which I was entirely unprepared, but I'm the only person who cared about that fact. Damn, missed opportunity. Oh well. It was held in a beautiful venue that I should probably know the name of, and as always, the models and photographers took great advantage of that fact. I also got to hang out with Kamau and Nina on the night they met. They should have known one another already, but I guess it never happened until Pitti.
After that, I went to the nightly haunt for world travelers visiting Florence... that's right, it's The Fiddler's Elbow, an Irish pub in the Piazza di Santa Maria Novella. Now, does that make sense? No. But is it fun? Yes. Everybody comes here from whatever fancy event they were just at and lets loose. It's great.
I spent a lot of the night with Oscar and Elin from Myrqvist. Had fun with them a lot throughout the trip, and also, they kept providing me with water. Water deserves a special shoutout. These events are all about free-flowing booze, but you ask for some water? Suddenly, we have an impossible problem on our hands.
Now, supposedly, Fiddler's closes at 3am, at which point some insomniac remnant of the crew must go to a club that stays open until 6... That's a whole other situation, I prefer sleep. This was a source of conflict Thursday night, but... we'll get into that.
Pitti Uomo Day 2
I was supposed to start day 2 with a fit check with Peter, but he had to run off to Milan a little early because a niche Americana brand wanted to do a fit check with him instead. I guess that's a valid excuse. I guess.
Instead, I spent time touring brand booths in the Fortezza. Again, I guess I'm not supposed to show what the brands are up to... But here's what I can show you.
oh hell yeah
I met two of the greats, Titans of Japanese menswear and incredibly well-dressed men, Hirofumi Kurino and Shuuhei Nishiguchi. Kurino-san doesn't actually run his own IG, I'm not sure he uses it at all, but Shuuhei Nishiguchi recognized me, and that feels like my one true claim to fame—who cares how many followers I have?
As for clothing... Inis Meáin is still doing great things, Luciano Barbera is too (although they're mostly playing towards the finance bros these days, can't really blame them). One of the booths under Kurino-san's whole umbrella was working on this protein-based wool substitute fiber. And... one photo I couldn't help but share to my IG story:
That night was the WM Brown negroni party at Harry's Bar. This was the real (creative) black tie affair. Every night had some event that was kind of, oh, it'd be nice if you showed up in black tie, but this is the one where everybody showed up. That's good.
My outfit for the second night of Pitti.
I wanted a martini, which, fun fact, is more or less a negroni minus Campari (and probably a different ratio of gin to vermouth) (and a different glass and garnish if you care about those things). But, as with any Negroni-focused menswear event I've been to, they refused to make me a Martini for some vague and annoying reason. They did, however, pour me a glass of gin. I am a fan of their gin sponsor, Isle of Harris Gin; they sent me a bottle recently (I asked for it, because I like it). Yeah. That's that.
Aaanywhoozle, I got to hear Alexander Paez Guerra of Jacques Soloviere sing his signature rendition of Dos Gardenias. And Brian Sacawa of He Spoke Style played the sax. He did that Monday night, too, at the party he co-hosted, did I mention that?
And then I got to hear some more Jazz while drinking gin while also dressed in proper eveningwear at a beautiful, famous hotel bar in Italy. That's a pretty good night, in my book. Let's do it in New York, too, Matt.
Of course, Cléa and I had some fun Mogging it up:
But you know what else was a highlight? I met Nigel Cleaver! I told him I was a big fan, and then, because we are living in a very confusing timeline, he told me he was a big fan of mine. So much positive energy... It's such a pleasure to watch him talk about clothes, and he's watching this bald American hater... yet more vindication that I'm doing something worthwhile, here.
Again, the night ended with a trip to Fiddler's. We got more music, a band of pitti guys playing an excellent rendition of When The Saints Go Marching In outdoors. They were asked to stop, or else the neighbors might call the police. They did not stop.
Oh, and this was the night when I realized that this was the same city where I killed all those people in Assassin's Creed. Same Duomo and everything. Neat.
Pitti Uomo Day 3
On my way to the Duomo for day 3, I ran into yet another internet personality whose fits I'd long enjoyed: Charles Yap of The Decorum. And, in case you hadn't noticed the pattern, he recognized me as well.
We got photos of each other. This might be my cleanest full-body fit pic from the entire trip. Thanks, Charles.
I spent most of the morning by the pitti wall. People took plenty of photos of me and my Kapital jacket. I got interviewed once or twice. And I had good conversations with a few of the guys there, including Brian Sacawa (yes, the saxophonist), Mitchell Moss of Menswear Musings... Cory at Michael Andrews had this crazy thick navy blazer in some Dormueil alpaca blend... I'll say, generally: alpaca seems to be the hot new fiber everybody is playing with over the past few years. It's good.
And then Mitchell told me that press gets free lunch. Yeah, I found out on the last day. Damn. It was good food, too, they didn't skimp.
I saw some great fits that day. Dirk, who I met the day before, wore his old school tailoring. And Thrash became the subject of a live episode of FTOFT.
After that, I took a detour to see a little more of Florence. Particularly, I visited the Sinagoga e Museo ebraico Firenze—the synagogue and Jewish museum. It was beautiful, featuring some architectural flourishes I rarely see in synagogues. Oh, I also got to take the streetcar! I should not have, I was supposed to get onto a bus, but whatever, I got where I was going.
That night was the J. Mueser party, another not-really-black-tie-but-maybe-a-little-bit affair, I planned to go in the camelhair sport jacket they made me (the same jacket I wore as a midlayer through the day) with balack cords and a black turtleneck. Unfortunately, the party was mostly outdoors, and it was raining, and I was not willing to get camelhair wet. I had left my trench coat at home (it was heavy, and I had luggage weight limits to worry about), but I did bring my black gore-tex rain jacket from Haven. It did its job and kept me dry, but also made my outfit distinctly un-Pitti. So I didn't get any clear photos of the jacket there, just the photos above where it's a midlayer.
Oh well, I had fun.
I also didn't get to sleep until, idk, 4:00 AM because Nick got into some illuminati type shit but that's not my story to tell.
Milan Fashion Week, Day 1
Friday was technically the last day of Pitti, and was also technically Milan Fashion Week, but my day was less about either of those events and more about travel and exploration. I somehow managed to wake myself up, pack, and made it back to Milan. My AirBNB there was much nicer than the one in Florence, which I suppose is to be expected. Milan is a much more modern city.
After settling in, I made plans with Simon to visit Cova, which, conveniently, was right near the tightest little ganglion of excellent stores. I had an excellent Risotto, and after I spent about two seconds mulling over the dessert menu, our waiter told me I was ordering the mille-feuille. He was correct, but also, even if he wasn't, I didn't really have much choice; he was pretty insistent, it was kind of impressive to be honest. And he chose right. Would recommend.
Valentino overcoat; cool Valentino sport jacket but it's a size too small; valentino balmacaan with a frog closure at the neck (genius); FrizmWORKS Kara Koram at the END store.
I went to a series of wonderful stores after that. Valentino stood out. After some wandering, I ended up at the END store. Yeah, Milan had an END store, definitely a fun visit. After that, I walked up to Matt's hotel. We had dinner—pasta, even though that's really not a Milanese dish, but it was still fantastic, because what, was it gonna not be fantastic?—and went to see the Duomo. We attempted to get a Dracula-vibe photo of me with my collar turned up with the Duomo in the background... we couldn't get it right, but the point is, the Duomo di Milano is worth a visit.
I didn't get an invite to any of the shows that night, unfortunately. I guess I didn't really announce that I'd be there, so how would anybody know to invite me? But everybdoy was loving the Ralph show, which was awesome, because I managed to get on the list for the presentation the next day.
When I got home that night, I found myself chatting with my buddy Max. Max moved from New York to Zurich about... idk, maybe a year beforehand? Too long. Anyway, at some point, we realized that he could just hop on a train to Milan any time. Oh, boy, he sure could...
Milan Fashion Week, Day 2
Okay, I was going to use that as a fun little segue into day 2, but Max didn't get there until the afternoon. And... The Ralph presentation was postponed until after my flight home.
I found that out after getting dressed in my vintage Ralph Lauren flannel DB. If you know me, you know the suit. I love that suit, and thought it would be a nice nod to the presentation. But nope. It was moved to Monday. That was going to be the perfect cap to my trip, too... I'm still sad I missed out. Next year, with any luck.
I did get to visit more stores! Highlights included Brioni (I didn't try much on, and there was some great stuff, but I'd been to Brioni stores before); Cesare Attolini (very exciting, nice store, wonky lighting in the mirror I used for the sport jackets, but the overcoat was glorious, as you can tell): and Jacques Marie Mage.
Cesare Attolini
Jacques Marie Mage. Which pair makes me look most like Peter?
The JMM store was actually a fun story. I first noticed a nice little cafe in a little alley off Via della Spiga. That street might be the first place you wanna go in Milan. It's paved in brick, it's cozy, and it's full of great stores. (I spent more time than I care to admit in the Ralph Lauren store later that day; nothing I haven't seen before, but this time, it was in Milan).
It took me a second to realize, but that hidden cafe was the Jacques Marie Mage cafe; part of their generally beautiful presence in the city. I looked around for a minute, and sat down to let my legs rest. After a minute, one of the store's salesmen came up to me and said "Riley?" Which, fun fact, is not my name.
I was confused for a second, until he clarified. "Riley? Your glasses. Oliver Peoples?" For more than a decade now, through multiple pairs, I have worn one piece every single day: the Oliver Peoples "Riley" in the "Storm" colorway. I have, twice, had people in eyewear professions recognize the pair and name it. This was occasion number 2.
He was extremely helpful and knowledgeable. He knew all the coolest pairs for me to try on. He could estimate my prescription, knew that I needed an extra high index lens, and, while other eyewear professionals warned me that I can't wear larger framed sunglasses because the eliptical lenses would look like goggles, he assured me that they could handle the job. I am very tempted to just splurge on a pair now...
Anwyay, after that shopping, I went to meet Max for lunch. And after that, we got to attend the one presentation I actually did get to attend in Milan, Peserico.
A denim western shirt with a very visible bias cut on the yoke; a brown velvet dinner jacket; texture; knitwear; a striped double breasted metal button blazer; more knitwear; a hat that reminded us of those Wythe hats but they're different. All from Peserico's presentation.
peserico show
reel
Max really wanted to go to Dopiaa after all that, and I was happy to oblige. Their clothes had fun textures and looked better on him than they did on me.
The staff was very nice to us but let us know that the upstairs was currently being used for their presentation for buyers. Max, who knew that his friend Justin at Cueva Shop bought plenty of Dopiaa, made an offhand comment, wondering if Justin was upstairs. They offered to check, but Max said they don't have to, what are the odds?
A few minutes later, they came down and said... yeah, Justin is upstairs, you wanna go see him?
Keep in mind that Max abandoned his friends in New York to go live in Europe of all places. And keep in mind that they did not plan to meet here. But when European high-speed rail is this accessible and convenient... sorry, American here, still sore at how horrible our public transportation is. Why did we rip up all our streetcar lines again?
This was also the first time I had met Justin. He spends most of his time in Cueva's Brooklyn store, all their events are at that location, and it's not very convenient for me to get there. So idk, I guess we just met up in Milan instead.
One last stop we ran to before dinner: a thrift shop. I'll edit this article whenever I remember the name... They had a good amount of Tom Ford and... I can't remember what else I tried on, but Tom Ford!
We weren't sure what to have for dinner, but we looked at some nearby spots... for my last night in Italy, I ended up having pizza for the first time. Pizza is not a Milanese dish, but I'll be damned if that wasn't good pizza.
After dinner, we somehow found ourselves back at the Duomo. It's not just a cool building, but really the center of the city. A nearby shopping center had two very prominent bars: a Campari bar and an Aperol bar. I hate Campari, but we went to the former. It was a lovely bar, the upstairs area had a great view and soft jazz and waiters in dinner jackets.
And I ordered a martini.
this is what my head looks like after ~8 days without a shave.
I flew home the next morning. I was satisfied with my trip, but I still had so much more to see. Next time I go, I'll actually be on top of things, get invites to more than a couple of presentations. But for now... This was an incredible trip. Thank you for reading. Cheers.