A 14 meter x 14 meter section of the ceiling of the Bovisa warehouse we were in tonight was hung with ribbon—37 kilometers of it in all, said Alessandro Sartori—that were made of surplus fabric from his last six collections for Ermenegildo Zegna. This was created by Anne Patterson, entitled Art For Earth, and made for a startling demonstration of the scale of waste that this industry creates, even at a house as highly placed in the system as this one.
Typically, Sartori confessed, the wastage rate at Zegna’s five weaving companies is a whopping 50%. A year ago he committed to flipping that negative equation by ensuring that 20% of this collection was from recycled fabric, and this season he reckoned that number was up to 50%. “Zero waste may be is impossible, but we have to aim for it. I think we can get to 10%, but we need to keep working.” This is an admirable ambition that seems to be shaping itself into something approaching achievement.
As he refines this sustainable process Sartori also continues to develop his “new tailoring lexicon,” developing rethought evolutions of the genre of attire for which he is so deeply reverent yet to which he delights in applying almost blasphemous innovations. Here these included jackets such as the penultimate which featured hollowed two-layer notch lapels and zippered pockets, or even skinnier than last year’s one-and-a-half breasteds and jackets attached by a buttoned flap that reached almost entirely across the body.
The precision of Sartori’s proportions is as impressive. Here his maneuvers included exacting expressions of outerwear against the suits below. These featured Sartori modified versions of the perennial Milanese man’s winter coat, the loden, with its full, box-pleated skirt and voluminous shoulder made so in order to accommodate the tailoring beneath it. Sartori’s shared that template, yet were expressed in rich recycled materials such as the broken check version in look 6 which was to me by a nose the most attractive. Against the loden’s length was played a series of full-shouldered bombers in fabrics whose recycling process made them more attractive and whose hems ended above the jackets below to make a progressive upward-negative outline of long to short.
There were many gorgeous fabrics, sometimes a little severe, however both undeniably commanding and beguiling were the moiré effect weave wool of the opening suit and the many that followed. Perhaps the loveliest fabrics were the thick zig-zag pattern, hand-woven second life cashmeres created by 25 female spinners at the San Patrignano recovery community, a rehab center which has also partnered with Bethany Williams and Redemption. These were used in combat pantsuits and overcoats. Accessories included many cross-bodied bags including one whose puckered rugby ball shape bemused until a following model emerged accessorized by unmistakable profile of a Leica—the Q2, no less—that dangled from a woven wrist-strap. A certain flavor of red dot geek will relish the collaboration Sartori has cooked up with the German camera brand.
The collection shifted onwards against its shivering backdrop of dangled recycled ribbon from past pieces. The connection between the one and the other was as important as the beauty of the clothes presented. Sartori says he wants to make garments that last forever and certainly at a company as elevated as this he can achieve that. Those lodens will still be cutting out the cold when the Q2 is no longer the latest model; they will probably, well cared for, outlive their owners. And by applying a sustainably circular discipline to his manufacture which Sartori noted can see some fabrics worn, broken down, then recycled up and worn again up to seven incarnations over, he is creating a context for a new definition of timelessness in fashion.
Also... Vale to Ed Filipowski: the best.
