Following the Ermenegildo Zegna show at La Triennale, the curtains parted to reveal greenery, and cloth covering the glass ceiling was pulled back to reveal sky, instantly changing the atmosphere for the Z Zegna half of the presentation. Letting nature in was an apt introduction to a collection that made much of the natural in its color palette (chalk, slate, basalt, terra-cotta) and fabrics (cotton, linen, silk, mohair), and maybe even in its attention to outerwear—you're going to wear a parka outside, aren't you?
There's something organic about the way Z Zegna has evolved from a technical experiment into something much more genial and human under the stewardship of Alessandro Sartori. There was still an extraordinary amount of fabric technology in the clothes today (hybridizing different weights and textures of cloth, for instance, or layering super-light fabrics to create a 3-D effect with print), but what was most striking was their folksiness. They all looked well lived in, the jackets slightly roomy, the trousers slim but slouchy. Or maybe it was that terra-cotta with its muddy warmth.
