Gaetano Navarra: Desert Island Dandies
June 29, 2004 - Milan
Though most people regard the average Italian man as much better dressed that any Briton, Italian designers are obsessed with referencing English style in their collections.
Few do it more than Gaetano Navarra, whose spring-summer 2005 collection was a Latin vision of an English gentleman looking terribly cool on a deserted island.
Using faded cottons, sanded denims and faded damasks, Navarra created a cool collection ideal for a lazy weekend at old resort on the Mediterranean coast. His blend of Italian fabrics and English references – loosely-woven Scottish linen, micro trench coats and worn Victorian wallpaper prints – was subtle and convincing.
Navarra's big idea was taking the romance of the Great Tour and updating it for today’s Cool Tour culture of island hoping and and discount flights to laid back ports of call.
Navarra, a Bologna-based designer of Spanish origin, gets how men want to dress a long way from the office. Stripy
Bermuda pants cut-off at the knee, crew cuts with stripes that ran from cuff to shoulder and pajama pants in faded prints were all great. The models looked like they had just got out of a late morning shower and were headed down to the portside cafe for their first cappuccino.
The show was not remotely revolutionary, but the collection was finely evocative - making you dream of looking great on a ideal vacation. Bring that on.