Pitti Announces Full Lineup at New York Luncheon

Earlier this week, some of the menswear industry’s most prominent people joined Rafaello Napoleone for a luncheon at chef Michael White’s Italian SoHo staple, Osteria Morini. Joined by, among others, the Italian Trade Commissions’s Pier Paolo Celeste and Saks Fifth Avenue’s Eric Jennings, who are launching a special project in all Saks stores celebrating Italian Sartorial Style, and a surprise cameo appearance by Mr. Loro Piana.

Accompanied by surreptitious nibbles of some freakishly good focaccia, and followed by polpettini and branzino, the eminently affable Napoleone talked us through the schedule of events at the Florentine fair’s 88th edition. By now we should all know that Jeremy Scott will be showing his collection for Moschino as the menswear guest designer and Thomas Tait will be the women’s wear guest designer. Both exciting, and particularly so in the case of Moschino, whose show will mark the first time the Italian brand has shown in its native country since Scott took the creative reins.

Beyond these anchors, Napoleone announced a new section called Open which will showcase gender-neutral collections that offer on-trend androgyny that is more lifestyle-centric than gender driven, and a guest nation project called Constellation Africa, which will spotlight the nations of the world’s second largest continent in conjunction with the ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative.

Napoleone also discussed the fair’s record number of applications from around the world – 40% of the vendors at this edition will be coming from more than 30 countries, and a total of 1,150 brands present.

For a full list of events, check out the Pitti website, here.