This proved one unexpected and impressive show at Milan Uomo: Pal Zileri after the BDMOTP team got lost in the cold in the industrial outskirts of Milan, where we expected a simple presentation but where we were met head-on in a grand rebuild industrial loft equipped with the latest cutting edge sartorial technology – it’s hard to describe really but suffice to say it was a hybrid of a fashion show / presentation where the models were standing behind solid white screens (look closely at the pictures below) which become transparent depending on the light that is being projected in the room behind making the models visible while they are gently turning around on their axis on a small pedestal: Only in Italy of course – the home of Michelangelo’s David, Bernini’s Madonna and other great works of sculpted art, would you come to find and expect such latter day Renaissance ‘camera obscura’ technology –  and sartorial art form – functioning as, according to the press release, a symbolic bridge between the present and the future.

The contrast between the dank, cold, and damp industrial city outskirts and the inside of the showroom could not have been greater and a large host of invitees gratefully conversed and discussed while the show repeated and repeated every 20 minutes until every guest could have its say, every photographer his best shot, and each lover of fashion his or her favorite look of the new Pal Zileri collection while peering into the void through the screens.

Pal Zileri is a “democratic” tailoring group in that its collections are designed FOR ALL (the name of the original company) and has a tradition which goes back to 1970 and the Italian province of Vicenza. Every quality garment is entirely produced in Italy and the new collection has the ambition to merge the concept of avant-garde with traditional sartorial craftsmanship: AVANT – CRAFT, an international contemporary approach in a time-honored tradition. The press release mentions as key words for characterization of the collection: Nonchalance, elegance, synthesis, modularity, and function.

But BDMOTP would like to add the word class to that mix despite Pal Zileri’s democratic roots. For simply everything and anything sartorial in Italy always oozes class. Especially when standing like Michelangelo’s David on pedestals behind white transparent screens while slowly turning and slowly adjusting their brick red leather gloves; a hounds tooth pattern on your alpaca sweater; your leather or angora overcoat loosely hanging over your shoulders; your hair swinging with a casual drop of the shoulder from right to left in front of your face as you gaze over your shoulder to see if a Vespa is not running your way here on the industrial outskirts of town in Milano so that maybe you can hitch a lucky ride back into the city center towards the Duomo – because cars have trouble getting here – and even getting out of here – so that you have no choice but to bring that cashmere scarf – by Pal Zileri – against the cold and the wind while riding the back of the Vespa, no not democratic at all any of this, except that anyone who really wants to, can do this – YOU TOO can have that touch of Italian class democracy, when you will be wearing Pal Zileri …

Posted by Sandro Joo and photos by Paloma Canseco.