Tailoring is having quite a moment and not just for the overwhelmingly ubiquitous “quiet luxury” trend. Yet its reinvention has proven a harder goal to achieve.
Todd Snyder clearly added that ambition to his Pitti Uomo show, already a high-stakes affair. His first runway in four years, the showcase held at the Stazione Leopolda venue on Tuesday, the opening night of the menswear trade show, represented his first major international stage.
Leaning on tailoring, he masterminded a youth-spinning wardrobe reinvention, whether with proportions — loose, oversize, sometime bulky even — or styling tricks, as in the silver chain necklaces and dandyish neck scarves, as well as a captivating juxtaposition of surfaces and textures.
Pinned to his mood board were pictures of a Porsche 912, Moscot eyewear (he wears them regularly), Arne Jocobsen’s “Egg Chair” and a midcentury modern house nestled amid a verdant garden. It’s not only the lifestyle — cultured, eclectic and a Millennials’ favorite — that he is trying to convey but rather the designers’ mindset that went into the creation of these iconic objects.
His effort translated into a craft-centric narrative, for which he linked with Tuscany-based textile maker Lyria to unearth fabrics and patterns that were worked into wide-leg shorts and oversized double-breasted blazers; high-waisted, cargo-pocketed pants, and stiff-looking British topcoats styled with the occasional short tie.
“What a great opportunity to really dive back into my craft. And that’s what Italians do so well, the craft. The craft is so important and celebrated and that’s what design is for me,” Snyder said in pre-show remarks backstage.
The belted herringbone power coat and matching pants that opened the show, followed by several iterations of the slightly loose short suit, pin-striped or mélange; the wide and round-lapeled shimmering tuxedos worn with T-shirts or unbuttoned ruffled shirts, and the richly hued velvet ensembles had whiffs of vintage Britannia, but were cut just right to have currency.
In playing with textures Snyder tossed in stiff leather car coats and elongated blazers, which contrasted handsomely with the soft and fuzzy turtlenecks. Ditto for the military-inspired shorts and silk shirt paired with a brocade topcoat.
The show also teased Snyder’s ambitions for Woolrich Black Label as its newly minted creative director. He channeled a mountaintop- and hiking-ready sophistication in the lineup, filled with workwear suits, parachute pants, quilted outerwear and winter resort knits with a leisurely and outdoorsy vibe.
For several seasons Snyder was one of the very few menswear designers showing during New York Fashion Week and he has had room and stage to nurture a sharp vision of American menswear, hinged on a “rebel approach to design” which blends military and utilitarian references with sartorialwear, as the creative put it.
“For me American [style] is about breaking rules, breaking traditions and coming up with your own tradition and your own style,” he said.
Making things look good within a certain rubric juggling between old-school ideas of elegance and a masterfully executed reinvention turned out to be Snyder’s primary craft.
