Massimo Giorgetti, a bona fide coastal animal (he was born and raised in Rimini, a popular Italian summer resort on the Adriatic coast), recently fell under the spell of mountain life: “At my green age of 44 years old, after a whole life spent in bathing suits on the beach, I must confess that I fell in love with mountain landscapes and high altitudes – and with the lives of famous mountaineers, ”he said of Zoom. “They were men who were as adventurous as they were handsome – which is always a good combination.”
Having recently spent much restorative time through the valleys of Northern Italy, Giorgetti was utterly smitten by their beauty. “Mountains are about loneliness, oxygen, breath – their energy is so powerful,” he mused. In the MSGM men’s collection, he wanted to convey the powerful feeling of such a naturalistic size.
“Vertigine” (the Italian translation of Vertigo) was the title of the collection, a word that captures the dizzying sensation that great heights can cause; but it was also chosen by Giorgetti as a metaphor for what we have experienced in our quarantine conditions – a troubling sense of loss, almost to the point of becoming unbalanced. While Giorgetti is naturally endowed with a copious dose of optimism, he recognized that times are tough and #pandemic fatigue takes its toll. But even escaping to his beloved mountains has proven to be a stimulant – part adrenaline boost, part calm introspection.
The collection was based on the winter sports repertoire, slaloming between high-performance techno gear and retro-tinged sophistication. Heritage throwbacks were powered by MSGM’s energetic streetwear punch and flavored with an underground 90s rave vibe. Short tweed suits with a vintage St. Moritz feel were worn under oversized puffy hoodies in lysergic colors; Postcards of luxury ski resorts from the 1930s were turned into enlarged prints. Jeans and anoraks were lasered with the contours of the Mont Blanc silhouette – they looked cool in combination with XXXL boxy shirts in dazzling colors, printed with abstract motifs imitating the texture of rocks and the icy reflections of glaciers.
The atmosphere of the collection conveyed images more reminiscent of a cool trippy rave in the mountains than a healthy snowboard picnic in the Swiss Alps. The feeling was enhanced by the electronic soundtrack of the online-streamed video presented today at Milan Men’s Fashion Week – a pulsating high-octane affair composed and performed by Italian artist Nico Vascellari and his band Niños du Brasil.
Asked to expand on the creative concept behind the video, which reproduced models randomly walking under a blizzard (perhaps a hopeful future scenario after boys’ lockdown on their way to an unknown party spot in the mountains?), Giorgetti said he did this season opted for the artistic collaborations that were often part of his fashion practice: “I wanted something normal. Fair. Easy. Experimentation is well and good. But nothing beats a good, old-fashioned, no-nonsense fashion show, ”he said. “Even under the snow it would do.”