Pal Zileri (Q3541)
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Italian brand specialized in both formal and casual menswear
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Pal Zileri |
Italian brand specialized in both formal and casual menswear |
Statements
Designers go to great lengths to find a (not always) credible subtext to their collections, a narrative that can somehow substantiate the predictable, inevitable physicality of the clothes. Pal Zileri’s Rocco Iannone is no exception, but he did it smartly for Spring, finding inspiration in the artistic roots of Northern Italy’s Veneto region, where the fashion company he works for was founded.The area around Venice was the cradle of one of the most influential painting genres in art history, with Renaissance artists like Tintoretto, Veronese, and Titian being the superstars of their time. Iannone recently read a book about the 18th-century Venetian painter Giambattista Tiepolo. Written by Roberto Calasso,Il Rosa Tiepolo (Tiepolo Pink)is a black tale about the artist’s secret sketchbook of monsters, nightmares, angels, and demons. Iannone took cues from the book’s complex iconography; his collection is as serene as the pink hues of Venetian palazzos and as disquieting as Tiepolo’s mysterious world of chimeras.The rather highbrow references were visually distilled into motifs printed on silk twill foulards depicting capriccios, or allegories of fantastical animals and classical architectural imagery, that were the figurative accent running through the collection, cut into bermudas, roomy shirts, ties, swimsuits, and waistcoats worn under blazers. Against this feel of smooth fluidity, textural surfaces of bold-checkered jute played a contrasting note in zippered jackets, or in layered double-breasted suits worn with high-waisted, slightly retro trousers. Rendered in a bold color palette, often with spugnato effects (the painting technique traditionally used on old frescoed walls), they were the visual high of an otherwise rather classic collection, with assertive tailoring and ’80s proportions. Sporty accents were tempered by elegant design, playing the informal-formality/formal-informality game, which seems to be today’s menswear lingua franca.
17 June 2019
Rocco Iannone’s third collection for Pal Zileri was a highly romanticized take on our “era of extreme feelings,” he said. He’s right; we do live in a time of heightened passion (or ire); we are a culture of polarized opinions. Iannone’s way to distill this was through an enriched vision of fantasy, namelyAesop’s Fables, which addressed basic ethical behavior through invented stories. The idea clicked. This was his most substantial effort yet.Wardrobe-wise, the designer continued to unbind the tailored history of the house. “I wanted it to be a little surreal, with a pronounced casual impression, too,” said Iannone. There were Ancient Grecian–style animal appliqués (the best being a leather dolphin sewn onto the back of a plush aubergine-hued wool bomber); rich velvet mosaic-lined parkas accented with leather-covered pockets; blazers in mustard with peacock feathers in relief; even a “zebra camouflage” jacquard, which was cut into a topcoat. Couture fabrics—another sort of metaphorical tool for escapism—were featured, too, such as with a moiré silk sport coat treated with fauna-mimicking grooves. Pieces that stuck closer to the brand’s heritage—like a camel peaked-lapel overcoat—smartly anchored Iannone’s more whimsical flourishes (even if said overcoat was accessorized with gilded equine pins).The takeaway: “Extreme feelings” needn’t necessarily be interpreted with hardness and gloom, which may be the knee-jerk reaction to such a phrase. They can also be taken in another direction, into the realm of the dreamlike, and cast in a wizened—and ultimately positive—light.
14 January 2019
Since we last covered Pal Zileri here at Vogue Runway, the house has brought on a new creative director, Rocco Iannone. Today, on the denouement of Milan Fashion Week Men’s and in his second effort as lead, he staged a tranquil outdoor Spring show in the annex of the Museo Diocesano on Corso di Porta Ticinese. A choir, seated centered on a gold-foil platform, enriched the recorded soundtrack. The models walked languidly. The sun shone and the Milanese swallows skittered overhead.“I wanted to stop, see ourselves, and break the mirror,” said Iannone backstage. “Contemporary narcissism” served as his spearhead, but in a way that did not, by any outright means, make for Instagram selfie fodder. Rather, what was put on display furthered the industry-wide devolution of suiting; Pal Zileri is still a tailoring brand, but now with a breakage of formality’s codes in mind.Parkas with graphic Velcro tabbing had waistcoast-style belt clips at the side, making for a sort of evening-esque volume around the back. One flowery blazer—invoking, palette-wise, the reflection of vegetation on water—was layered over another, this time double-breasted and in black. Trousers were enormous but light, even including jeans, and knits hung loose on thin frames. The show’s best look—and one that captured this motion of deliquesced tailoring? A blue-gray sport coat over a Hawaiian button-down and drawstring pajama-like pants (given more flare by insect pins, which appeared throughout). This casual, sartorial, and conscious man distilled that abovementioned vanity into something tolerably terrific.
18 June 2018
The color palette and post-Mondrian gridded patterns of Fascist-era Italian painter Manlio Rho were the catalysts for creative director Mauro Ravizza Krieger’s this-season expansion of the Pal Zileri horizon. Like others in Milan, Pal Zileri is a house rooted in tailoring—but it is looking to shake off any intimation of anachronistic formality for something more future-facing to ensure its 500-plus-employee manufacturing facility stays busy.Here, Krieger played with faded purples and greens, plus a punchy ochre and some dense berry, in printed silk shirts, loose pants, and jackets that were a very attractively soft alternative to traditional eveningwear. There was more silk—plenty more—in parkas of black and green shantung and camp-collar boxy-cut short-sleeved shirts plus shorts. Kreiger’s search for quirk sometimes didn’t work; jeans with 3-inch black leather turn-ups serve no one. However, his edge-cut leather outerwear and perforated suede polos and Bermuda shorts (particularly the Bermudas) had a fine look and feel.
21 June 2016