Ermenegildo Zegna A/W 2019 Milan Fashion Week Men's

backstage at Ermenegildo Zegna A/W 2019 in Milan

Ermenegildo Zegna A/W 2019. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans

(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

last updated 15 July 2022

Scene setting: No-one has filmed the ordered chaos of a busy train station better than Alfred Hitchcock in his 1959 masterpiece North by Northwest. Though the police try to hunt their dashing fugitive from justice, they cannot break through the bustle and tempo all around them. Stations in major cities are vast energetic spaces. Paths cross, glances exchanged, routines played out. Now the grand foyer of Milano Centrale station became the stage for Alessandro Sartori’s autumn/winter 2019 show at Ermenegildo Zegna. Bureau Betak dressed it in large LED columns, onto which the endless scrolling of numbers – train timetables lost in translation – trickled up and down as the models walked. For a moment, we joined the 330,000 people who pass through the station every day.

Mood board: The collection of tailored pieces, confident outerwear and hardy, detail-laden boots were inspired by life in perpetual motion. ‘Borders keep being narrowed throughout the world. I felt the urge to advocate the power of openness and multiplicity,’ Sartori said. This multiplicity played out in a hybridized composition of sartorial codes. Cargo pants in smart wools had straps around the calves, reminiscent of a cyclist on the move; the wide lapels of classic men’s coats were grown onto short, cropped blousons. Storm cuffs poked out from the hem of smart trousers. Standout was a metallic jacquard with a repeat illustrated pattern of commuters reading the papers, cut into a lean suit.

Finishing touches: The company’s classic Cesare sneaker was worn in many variations and was available online for customization after the show. The high-top leather style with mesh inserts and XXX logo can be created in diverse ways. Sartori’s cross-generational, metropolitan vision goes from head-to-toe.

models backstage at Ermenegildo Zegna A/W 2019 in Milan — Ermenegildo Zegna A/W 2019. *Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans*

models in mustard coats backstage at Ermenegildo Zegna A/W 2019 in Milan — Ermenegildo Zegna A/W 2019. *Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans*

puffa coats backstage at Ermenegildo Zegna A/W 2019 in Milan — Ermenegildo Zegna A/W 2019. *Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans*

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London based writer Dal Chodha is editor-in-chief of Archivist Addendum — a publishing project that explores the gap between fashion editorial and academe. He writes for various international titles and journals on fashion, art and culture and is a contributing editor at Wallpaper*. Chodha has been working in academic institutions for more than a decade and is Stage 1 Leader of the BA Fashion Communication and Promotion course at Central Saint Martins. In 2020 he published his first book SHOW NOTES, an original hybrid of journalism, poetry and provocation.