A Pitti Flashback

It’s happening again. That menswear mania where everyone in the blogosphere eagerly sits at their computer waiting for images to come streaming in via GQ x Tommy Ton and The Sartorialist. If you looked at some menswear blogs for the first time during Pitti, you would think that the lot of them would auction off a kidney just to get access to those hallowed grounds for one day. Quoting Derek of Die Workwear!, “It’s like Christmas Eve over in my apartment. I’ve hung up my purple cashmere Marcoliani socks and put out cookies for Saint Tommy Ton. I can’t wait for when he drops off all his jpeg presents for the menswear boys and girls.” But while many of us in the menswear community may become frighteningly similar to a 12-year-old girl at a Jonas Brothers concert, it’s not without a cause.

You see, the reason why we all love Pitti so much is that it brings together many of the most knowledgeable and stylish guys in the business, which leaves us with many interesting takes on masculine style that can’t be found surrounding most of the Fashion Week shows. While the fashionistas of the world get Milan, Paris, London, and New York (not to mention the vast array of secondary fashion shows), those who have a soft spot for classic men’s style really don’t get much more than Pitti. So we obsess. We pretend like it’s Christmas come early and ogle over elbow patches and  shirt collars. While our clothes may never cure cancer or bring an end to starvation in Africa, they do bring us a little bit of happiness during the workday.