Instead of riffing off one sport, as it has for many seasons now, this time round Z Zegna underwent a pragmatic and productive reset. The collection was presented in a Pitti pavilion backdropped with an illustration of some future eco city—a little bit Wakanda, a little bit Bosco Verticale (Milan’s “vertical forest” buildings)—and the clothes around it were garments envisioned for its inhabitants.
This was a really interesting coalescence of myriad hybrid ingredients, with the main dialectic swinging between sartorial tradition and technologically driven potential. One attractive lightly quilted shell jacket in camel came with a self-heating option. Press the button in your pocket and your jacket will give you a blast of insulation, increasing the temperature by up to 10 degrees. Another attractive shell jacket, this one black, featured a charging pocket in which you only had to slip your phone for it to start gaining juice wirelessly.
Both of these features were invisible, but there was plenty of displayable technicity, too. One feature that ran through the collection were pants tapered by a double-tabbed velcro fastening, inspired by cycling clips. These looked very cool, especially with the little flashes of reflecting material on the back of each tab. Other trousers and shirts came inset with webbing into which you could attach portage: a military-sourced, functionally driven feature that happens to look badass. Sneakers featured a new sole designed in conjunction with Vibram; made of a honeycomb of nodules connecting the sole of the shoe and the bottom, these allow air to run through the structure and, apparently, reduce humidity in the shoe. Another sneaker feature was a magnetic clasp that functioned like laces and which also featured on some garments. This sounded a very satisfying metallic snikk when engaged.
Sartorially shaped topcoats in water-repellent gabardine, tapered pants in super-light drill, and worsted wool versions of Z Zegna’s machine-washable Techmerino leisure suits were more traditional-appearing, but just as progressive additions to a collection that really did look as utopian and desirable to inhabit as that illustrated future-city on the wall. I would happily live in Z Zegna—just saying!
