Cerruti 1881 Menswear Collection 2018
Cerruti 1881 S/S 2018
(Image credit: TBC)

Mood board: Nino Cerruti, who founded his namesake label in Paris in 1967, today manages the Italian family business Lanificio Fratelli Cerruti. As a result, the house boasts a vast archive located in the Piedmontese town of Biella, which creative director Jason Basmajian delved into this season. The look was influenced by the tropical style designed by Cerruti for the cult 1980s TV series Miami Vice: think oversized unlined double-breasted jackets worn with T-shirts or V-neck shirts and smart bermudas. The collection had a lightness, communicated in a rainbow of fresh colours, including creams, lime and electric blue. Basmajian’s thing is tailoring and at Cerutti 1881 he has struck the right balance between up and and downtown; there’s a nonchalance to the bravura, a pep to the precision.

Best in show: Natural fabrics, including cool wool, cotton, silk, linen and ultralight nubuck lend a luxe, sporty feel. Fittingly, the looks included stripes and a graphic palm leaf pattern printed on shirts, woven into knitwear and on jacquard pieces. The 1980s were, after all, all about being bold, and wearing your label on your lapel. Following on from Donatella Versace’s reissue of a logo from 1989 and Kim Jones’ nineties house style revival of Louis Vuitton’s monogram, here the graphic Cerruti logo was emblazoned on T-shirts and sweatshirts.

Sound bite: ‘I was so excited to go through Nino Cerruti's archive and draw inspiration from the work he did for Miami Vice in 1984,’ Basmajian said. ‘I’ve worked with refreshing pop rock shades including sangria, cream, like, electric blue - with a range of natural fabrics – to create a casual luxe and sport mood. The relaxed silhouette, fresh colours and sporty chic mood with an 80s twist felt right for how men want to dress now.’

Cerruti 1881 Menswear Collection 2018

(Image credit: TBC)

Cerruti 1881 Menswear Collection 2018

(Image credit: TBC)

Cerruti 1881 Menswear Collection 2018

(Image credit: TBC)

Cerruti 1881 Menswear Collection 2018

(Image credit: TBC)

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.