A packed edition of Pitti Uomo kicks off Tuesday, hopefully free of a heat wave, with international buyers expected to crowd the Fortezza da Basso fairgrounds over the next four days to discover the trade show’s mix of established and emerging names.
From a storied tailor that has helped define the concept of Florentine elegance, to an up-and-coming name embedding sustainable practices in its knitwear pieces, and the solo gardening-inspired venture of two fashion professionals, WWD rounds up some brands marking their debut at the fair.
Rovi Lucca
There were plenty of seasoned fashion professionals who during the early days of the lockdown in 2020 took a pause and found time to develop individual projects.
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That’s the case for Fabrizio Taliani and Bradley Seymour who, stuck in the former’s countryside estate outside Lucca, in Italy’s Tuscany region, managed to reconnect, as many others did, with nature.
That experience sparked the idea of embracing a different and slower approach to fashion and coming up with new interpretations of luxury.
An art and creative director hailing from the fashion media landscape with stints at Marie Claire and Esquire Italia magazines, Seymour said that “linking with nature spurred a total reset.” For his part, Taliani had time to finally reconnect with his roots by living for a while in his childhood house. “I understood the importance of nurturing a rapport with nature because it gives you balance,” he said.
“I saw how Fabrizio lived the experience as a homecoming, but for me as well, after so many years spent in Milan, I was happy to get closer to nature and loved the contrast between a certain French rigor of the villas and gardens in the area and the ‘rustic realness’ of Tuscany,” Seymour offered.
A former Hugo Boss and Trussardi designer, who most recently served as head of design at Zegna, Taliani had been fascinated by gardening his entire life, with a particular penchant for British gardens, but never developed a green thumb. He embedded that passion in his design approach to Rovi Lucca’s fashion instead.
Drawing inspiration from a gardener’s life and wardrobe, the brand comes across as a mix of the Renaissance and utilitarianism, with elevated leisure and outdoorsy pieces forming the backbone of the offering — the overshirt jacket being the best representation of the idea.
The minimalist, workwear-leaning garments embedded with Italian handiwork and artisanship won Bergdorf Goodman over. The retailer’s men’s fashion director Bruce Pask secured an exclusive on the brand’s spring 2023 collection.
At Pitti Uomo, the spring 2024 collection builds on the distinctive look of previous seasons, with garden jackets crafted outside Milan from “filaticcio,” a silk and cotton fabric that was originally a second choice but turned into a signature Lucca textile, with its striped and tactile appearance, flanked by new iterations made in pastel-toned oxford fabrics and matched with shorts, a scarf and a hat.
“There’s a lightness to the collection that stems from our personal attitudes,” Seymour opined. “We’re living in a perennial ‘spring’ state of mind. It should evoke the idea of mingling in the gardens of Palazzo Pfanner in Lucca.”
At their Pitti Uomo booth the pair will recreate a Tuscan garden to “convey the Lucchese [from Lucca] lifestyle,” Seymour said, and bring “authenticity,” Taliani added.
They have great expectations from the trade show experience, their first, as business is in its early stages. “We’re mindful because the project is self-financed, and we want to keep our ‘slow fashion’ vision intact. Our goal is to grow logically and organically,” Seymour said.
Liverano & Liverano
For those in the know, Florence-based tailor Liverano & Liverano rings more than one bell. The company has been a beacon for sartorial elegance in the city since 1948.
Hailing from southern Italy, the Liverano brothers, Luigi and Antonio, moved to Florence after World War II and contributed to defining the tailoring scene in the city. According to the brand’s experience adviser Silvio Mangano, “the Liverano blazer is the Florentine blazer and vice versa.” It comes with oversize lapels, a rounded silhouette, soft shoulders and without a front pleat.
The Liveranos grew their international footprint in the ’70s and ’80s, finding followers and customers in far-flung regions, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Antonio Liverano’s business intuition played a pivotal role in further expanding toward the U.S. and debuting ready-to-wear.
Liverano & Liverano’s offering is centered on three pillars: the bespoke service that can require as much as six to seven months and three to four try-ons for a suit to be manufactured; the rtw division, and a made-to-measure service that refits pieces to the client’s measurements.
“The ready-to-wear division stemmed from our need to reproduce bespoke garments, including the Florentine overcoat — a double-breasted design with a martingale belt — to a wider audience who cannot afford time and money on bespoke creations,” Mangano explained.
He stressed the sartorial qualities of rtw, which combines handiwork and industrial processes. Ditto for the made-to-measure service that the company has taken to geographies where bespoke was not established yet.
In addition to its Florence atelier located on Via dei Fossi, the company runs a store in Osaka, Japan. It has also forged ties over the years with retailers in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and the U.S. for trunk shows, shops-in-shop and wholesale partnerships. They include The Armory, The Somchai and Decorum, among others.
Marking its debut at Pitti Uomo for spring 2024, the company, which employs around 15 people, is aiming to telegraph its history to a broader audience. Installing a booth at the fair’s Central Pavilion, it will showcase its bespoke service via artisans who work at the atelier, as well as rtw pieces for the season spanning blazers, jungle and safari jackets, shirts and accessories, including ties crafted from archival silks and pocket squares.
“It’s a total look, from A to Z,” Mangano offered, adding the company has rebranded in 2023 with a new logo and identity highlighting its forward-looking vision in addition to its heritage and history.
The latter is the subject of a new book, to be presented at Pitti Uomo, curated by Taemin Han, the entrepreneur behind the South Korea-based retailer San Francisco Market. Called “Liverano,” it traces the history of the company through the lens of Han, a longtime client and supporter.
Cavia
Cavia’s founder Martina Boero is no fashion novice, having consulted for a range of premium and luxury brands for some time.
In 2020 she felt the need to venture into a solo project and established the knitwear-leaning brand Cavia — originally as a personal experiment — which grew into a full-fledged fashion label in light of its commercial viability.
“It stemmed from my two passions: fashion and sustainability. I wanted to deliver garments that were respectful of the environment,” Boero said. “The name itself [which in English translates to guinea pig] nods to my desire to experiment with materials and yarns and my ambition to combine advanced textile research with artisanal manufacturing techniques, all done with deadstock [materials].”
The collections have a whimsical and off-kilter touch with a romantic flair applied to menswear and womenswear. Although knitwear represents the bulk of Cavia’s offering, the designer expanded the range to a total look — the former crafted from premium deadstock yarns sourced in Prato, Italy, the latter using pre-consumer fabrics and by upcycling vintage clothing, including worn-out Levi’s jeans bought in the U.S.
“There’s a certain uniqueness to each garment, they can require two to 80 hours to be made and each comes with a ‘passport’ label detailing the manufacturing time and the artisan who made them,” Boero explained. “I hope this creates a deeper emotional connection with craftsmen and that consumers realize the importance of responsible purchases.”
A finalist for the 2023 Camera Moda Fashion Trust grant, Cavia’s creations are sold through a network of international retailers, including Italy-based Eraldo, Penelope and Tessabit, as well as Hong Kong’s Joyce, Hawa Gallery in Indonesia and even a multibrand boutique in Texas. Since September 2022 the brand has been represented by the Milan-based Riccardo Grassi showroom.
Invited by Pitti Uomo to be part of the S/Style Sustainable Style section, Boero’s spring 2024 collection includes several signature Cavia styles, from knitwear embedded with frills and crocheted flowers for both genders to lightweight drilled, net and open-weave knits, as well as patchwork denim.
Compared to previous seasons, the designer said she worked on more tonal and solid pieces flanking the multicolored knits the brand has been known for. In the woven section, in addition to denim pieces and frocks crafted from repurposed bridal dresses — think patchwork of macramé, crochet and lace —Boero sourced vintage towels and turned them into unisex sets with a ’70s vibe.
The collection retails between 400 euros and 600 euros for knits, 300 euros to 500 euros for shirts, more than 500 euros for dresses and around 500 euros for patchwork denim pants.
As reported, Kering’s Materials Innovation Lab, or MIL, has partnered with Pitti Uomo’s S/Style Sustainable Style section to offer designers an opportunity to embrace sustainable fashion practices. Boero developed a cashmere-feeling knit crafted from the protein-based Spiber yarn as part of the project.
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