Pal Zileri S/S 2019 Milan Fashion Week Men's

Models wear green coat, blue shirts and tailored trousers at Pal Zileri S/S 2018

Pal Zileri S/S 2019

(Image credit: TBC)

last updated 17 July 2022

Mood board: There is a dandy raffishness to Rocco Iannone’s Pal Zileri. His debut for the house last season brushed off the uptight bourgeois mood of heritage tailoring and took inspiration from the Villa Valmarana ai Nani in Zileri’s homeland of Vicenza. S/S 2019 takes a darker turn. Portraits of men gazing at their reflection in fragmented mirrors were shared online in the run up to the show. Iannone wanted to explore the status of vanity: ‘Vanity is a virtue corrupted. In this collection I have exorcised it through a gallery of portraits, seen through the lenses of virtues, splitting essence and appearance,’ he wrote. The look is easy. Three piece suits are worn open, trousers cropped. Floral motifs are original 19th century patterns. A silk flora print scarf is set into the front of ribbed knit.

Best in show: As with Marni’s Francesco Risso and Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, Iannone’s shownotes are impenetrable whimsy but his clothes have a plush clarity to them. Take the lustrous jacquards, heavy weave linen blazers worn with tailored joggers, or the gently acid-wash, carrot-top jeans matched with a butterfly motif silk-jacquard dinner jacket. The candid pairing of textiles is opulent yet relaxed.

Sound bite: Counter to the digital get-up-and-go of our times, there’s a literati loucheness to Iannone’s vision. ‘I believe we can translate poetry and romanticism into this world – it doesn't have to be flat. It can be an incredible source of beauty and inspiration, a fountain of information that allows us to discover and be connected to millions of ideas that otherwise would be impossible to know,’ he said after the show. ‘The digital world is shaped by us, so it can be marvellous if we let it.’

Models wear knitted jumper, patterned jacket and tailored trousers at Pal Zileri S/S 2018 — Pal Zileri S/S 2019

Models wear knitted jumper, tailored shorts and trousers at Pal Zileri S/S 2018 — Pal Zileri S/S 2019

Models wear red jacket, plum shirt and striped trousers at Pal Zileri S/S 2018 — Pal Zileri S/S 2019

Models wear tailored trousers, black shirt and dark grey jacket at Pal Zileri S/S 2018 — Pal Zileri S/S 2019

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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.