The Salvatore Ferragamo runway was finely furnished as a sort of inside-out summerhouse, courtesy of Leclettico gallery's Claudio Loria. And Massimiliano Giornetti's clothes were almost as artfully curated this season. "Cool is a word I don't like, but I haven't found a different definition yet," he said backstage. "English is not my language." That may be so, but he used plenty of English mohair in the section that was perhaps the least cool in this show, the tailoring. Stamped with Memphis color and block, it was impeccably cut stuff. But compared to the embellishment-spattered T-shirts—embroideries of cacti and blue-faced simians—or the kaleidoscopically striped sweaters, particularly the piece with a deep V drawn in multiple bolts of fabric, the suiting looked tame.
Ties worn outside knits was a trite, not-wrong-enough-to-be-right styling notion, but the '50s-touched blousons had a languid cool (who can find a better definition?). Exotic sandals and saw-soled, vulcanized sneakers were, crucially, perfect for a collection that pitched for retro-radical bohemianism, and which sometimes could just have been described as streetwear. The suits might have been skipped because, although lovely, they muddied Giornetti's message: not cool
