MAN FRIDAY HOW TO WEAR COLOUR WITH CONFIDENCE
With the mercury hitting 37 degrees in Florence, as the city hosts its bi-annual men’s fashion fair Pitti Uomo this week, there’s a curious sight. For, while the gelatos are melting and the cobbles around the Ponte Vecchio are hot enough to fry prosciutto on, everywhere you look there are Italian men giving an impressive masterclass in dressing in the heat. Because even when it’s like the surface of the sun and pale Scotsmen like myself are contemplating whether a muumuu is acceptable form of dress, summer dressing doesn’t come at the expense of style.
From cobalt blue and sunflower yellow to poppy reds, looking around the fair it’s clear that colour is a big part of summer attire here. Not only that but the art of sprezzatura – the Italian knack for relaxed and unaffected, but still impeccable, dressing, which goes hand-inhand with Italian culture.
From a neatly
tailored jacket accompanied by an espresso in the morning to a classic shirt and chinos pepped up with a neckerchief and pair of espadrilles worn to a languorous lunch of pasta e pomodoro, it is a way of life here.
In the UK, however, it’s a different story. British men often shy away from colour, believing it to be too garish and look-at-me. The examples that spring to mind when some men do wear it do it a disservice, too; think Love Island contestants in neon vests and retina-scalding tropical shirts. Those kind of colours are great if you’re a millennial in Ibiza, not so great for a mid-30s man like myself trying to look presentable at a whitetablecloth lunch in the Piazza di Cerchi.
So how can you take a tip from our Italian brothers and bring colour into your summer wardrobe?
First up, steer clear of Crayola brights – they are the stuff of children’s TV presenter territory and can look simplistic and studenty on anyone over 30 – and nobody wants to look like an ageing Timmy Mallett.
Instead, conjure up the colours of Cinque Terre, Amalfi, Venice or Tuscany – shades of rust, sepia, nutmeg, buttercup, terracotta and peach evoke a richness and subtlety that translates nicely into men’s clothing. The palette of yellow to brown, with a hint of tangerine, keeps things masculine and low key.
Sepia tones like these work well with most other colours you have in your wardrobe already, a pair of tobacco-coloured chinos makes a change from the traditional beige, and a soft fawn-coloured blazer for, say, a summer wedding is a good alternative to samey corporate navy.
You could also take a tip from the glorious Italianate food culture for your colour inspiration, too: market stalls heaving with shiny aubergines and grey-green artichokes, or gelatos of pale pink and mint.
A pastel-hued T-shirt or sage-coloured pair of trousers, for example, offset with neutral basics, looks sophisticated and grown up. You’ve got your whole working life to wear neat navy suits; this summer is the time for dipping into the Italian way with a paintbox.
The best way to do brights? Dip into the colours of Italy, says Stephen Doig