The mainline menswear landscape of Kiton is set in a cycle that reflects the conservative tastes of its by necessity wealthy clientele. As CEO Antonio De Matteis framed this collection, the Kiton man might start his weekend with a subtly dressed-down Friday: perhaps a superfine knit T-shirt under a deconstructed yet pretty-fitted blue suit in “solaro” 13.2 micron wool and a pair of woven sneakers. Maybe even a pair of carefully washed jeans held up by a K-buckle belt under a superlight silk sports jacket and a printed shirt whose collar, gasp, is not entirely constrained within the terms of that jacket’s lapel. Of course if he’s still closing a deal the full suit-and-tie remains a go-to option both for Kiton man and Kiton itself.
Once his toil is finally ended De Matteis characterized Mr. Kiton mainline man’s next stop as a transfer to the tax haven of Monte Carlo, where he might hit Nikki Beach to splash a jeroboam in white jeans, loafer/sneakers, and a confidently checked jacket, or hang on his boat in variously exquisitely manufactured but unadventurously drawn pieces of sportswear. The wider world is changing, but the universe of Mr. Kiton apparently remains constant, and in truth there was nothing on show today that felt even vaguely different to the collections described in recent seasons.
Kiton’s womenswear is inherently more interesting to observe because Maria Giovanna Paone is working to create clothes for women that utilize her profound understanding of Kiton’s masculine expertise. And the naive but sincere attempts of De Matteis’s twin sons Walter and and Mariano to millennial-ize Kiton’s constituency in the capsule line KTN, a few of whose looks are at the end of the book here, aren’t bad either. Mr. Kiton however—and lucky him—seems stuck on that yacht. But why not?
