Last season saw 36,000 guests descend on Florence for Pitti Uomo and menswear giants Raf Simons and Gosha Rubchinskiy ditch Paris to stage their shows there. But what can we expect from the next tradeshow, the 91st of its kind, in January? Well, this season it’s been given the theme “dance off” and will include street dance, dance contests and a variety of projects exploring the overlap between fashion and dance.
In addition, British fashion maverick Paul Smith will be heading to the city to launch his new PS by Paul Smith collection as this season’s Special Guest. He’ll be joined by Belgian designer Tim Coppens, who’s known for his tailoring meets athletic wear aesthetic and will be debuting his AW17 collection as Menswear Guest Designer (following on from Rubchinskiy).
Ben Cottrell and Matthew Dainty’s contemporary luxury brand Cottweiler, which is inspired by digital art and sportswear fetishism, will also be in town to showcase their collaboration with Reebok – a collection that is hotly-anticipated among hypebeasty types.
The event will also see a host of new talent take to the catwalk, thanks to the Pitti Italics initiative. Carlo Volpi, Lucio Vanotti and Plus Sansovino 6 are among the emerging brands heading for the spotlight, as well as labels from Japan and South Korea.
Watch the video below to get more of a picture of what’s in store.
