Last week’s Spring 2015 Pitti Uomo in Florence was overflowing with young international labels working with small ateliers to create high-end, limited-edition collections. Sweden’s Jimi Roos produces his embroidered shirts in Florence, where he now lives; Period Features’ Masakatsu Tsumura, a Japanese furniture designer, recently launched a range of men’s shirts made from rare sari fabrics from India; and Studiopretzel’s Emiliano Laszlo is a passionate advocate of local Tuscan design.
Laszlo, 35, was one of the finalists for this year’s Who Is on Next menswear prize. His eclectic, pattern-filled collections are shaped by the fabrics he finds rather than the season. For instance, his waiter’s jackets in balloon ascension and feather-motif tapestry are actually more suited for Fall than Spring. His bright cotton jujitsu pants and shirts with Isola d’Elbe patches, however, are suited for warmer temperatures, and are dedicated to the island next to Tuscany where he likes to vacation. “I wanted to do something really personal,” said Lazlo, who launched his label in 2011 and now sells at almost a dozen stores in Italy.
Jimi Roos, 42, moved to Italy from Sweden when he was 20, and while living in Florence, where he freelanced for houses like Chanel and Valentino, he became fascinated by embroidery. Thanks to the uneven loop stitch used to create comical embroideries (fat lips, Band-Aids, and flamingos, to name a few), his embellishments seem like arty mistakes. Roos is doing brisk business in Asia and Italy.
Period Features’ Masakatsu Tsumura, 57, is an established furniture designer, but a lifelong love of sari fabrics that began during his honeymoon in India twenty-five years ago convinced him to return there to gather rare Indian silks. He turned them into shirts and jackets whose quality met the highest Japanese standards. “This brand represents my life,” said Tsumura, who sourced fabrics and production for three years before launching his brand this season. “India is in a subtropical zone, and all the fabrics are for warm weather, which is why I produce only one Spring collection per year. There really are no trends. It’s a timeless business.”
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