‘Splitting the collections up rather than showing them together has really changed the way I’ve thought about menswear. It’s been great to give it this undivided attention to detail, because menswear is so much more detail-orientated than womenswear anyway. There’s really nowhere to hide with it.’ This is Simone Rocha talking, over video call the week before her first standalone menswear collection was unveiled at Pitti Uomo. In March it was announced that Rocha was to be the guest designer at the historic Florentine fair, following in the footsteps of Giorgio Armani, Raf Simons, Craig Green and more. This evening (18 June 2026), it finally happened.

Menswear has been a part of Rocha’s offering since 2022, but until now, shown in conjunction with her celebrated womenswear designs, which are rooted in a romantic yet oftentimes dark femininity, with references to folklore and her family’s mixed heritage. How would this interplay translate in a fully realised menswear collection?

Simone Rocha at Pitti Uomo S/S 2027

‘What I love the most in design is contrast, or tension,’ Rocha tells Wallpaper*. ‘Just as I’m always trying to conjure a femininity that’s not too sweet, with menswear I am drawn to the more tender aspects of masculinity. I’m trying to peel back the layers and see what sensitivity and poetry is available to play with.’ This has resulted in subversions of classic men’s shapes: a two-button jacket with classic break, which has the back scooped out and a tie fastening that echoes the strap of a waistcoat, but also calls to mind apron strings. The ubiquitous cotton poplin shirt is translated into broderie anglais, and an embroidered jacquard motif is engineered into a Fair Isle knit. Traditional underwear like long-johns, gingham boxer-shorts, and dress socks is not concealed, but worn on full display.

Speaking of how her Chinese and Irish family heritage finds its way into her work, Rocha shares that her maternal grandfather was in her mind throughout the creation of this collection. ‘He was a pharmacist in the Irish midlands, and because he was the pharmacist he was also the person who had the darkroom – everyone in town would take their pictures to him to develop, and he was also an incredible photographer himself. He had an amazing eye for composition. But it’s interesting to me that, because he was always behind the camera, there are very few photos of him. So the idea of being viewed versus being the viewer is something I’ve been thinking a lot about.’

This theme was furthered by the show’s venue – the Teatro Della Pergola, supposed to be Italy’s oldest opera house. Rocha has made opulent show locations something of a calling card, with previous outings at the restored Victorian theatre of Alexandra Palace, the official lord mayor’s residence at Mansion House, and even The Old Bailey. ‘I’m very sensitive to where I show,’ she says. ‘I see it as an extension of the collection. I think the Teatro might actually be too romantic to use for a women’s show, but for men’s it’s perfect. Behind the stage is this window to the outside, which is pretty unusual in a theatre, and so you have this wonderful shaft of light coming in and hitting the stage. It’s that bright light of Florence that I remember from visits to the city as a child.’

The Tuscan capital has infiltrated the collection in other ways too. ‘I am a Merchant Ivory obsessive!’ Rocha enthuses – explaining the cornflower motif that appears throughout the collection, a nod to the blossoms that appear in the 1985 adaptation of EM Forster’s A Room With A View, set in turn-of-the-century Florence. ‘There’s so much whimsy, and rebellion, and innocence in that story. It’s set in a different time but touches on so much contemporary feeling.’ Would actor Julian Sands’ unconventional, free-spirited George Emerson have been a Simone Rocha boy? It’s a nice thought.

The historic menswear fair Pitti Uomo, which takes place twice-yearly in Florence, has a long tradition of drafting guest designers to be its headline act.

This stop on menswear month – it begins proceedings before editors travel onwards to Milan and Paris – attracts them with the opportunity to show in some of Florence’s eclectic landmarks, from Renaissance palaces and church cloisters to countryside piles and disused tobacco factories.

There was Craig Green, who showed in the Boboli Gardens at dusk; Grace Wales Bonner, who lined the Palazzo Medici Riccardi with an installation by artist Ibrahim Mahama; and Martine Rose, who turned an ancient marketplace into an Italo-disco nightclub. Raf Simons, Virgil Abloh, Yohji Yamamoto and Paul Smith, as well as fashion houses Givenchy, Fendi and Jil Sander, have also previously been part of the line-up.

Simone Rocha will have her menswear moment at June’s Pitti Uomo

And today (18 March 2026) it has been announced that Ireland-born, London-based designer Simone Rocha will be the first guest designer for the S/S 2027 season, which will take place this June. Known for her transporting collections that marry the sweet and the subversive – often drawing on folklore and traditions from her native Ireland – Rocha established the eponymous label after graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2010, winning numerous accolades, including British Womenswear Designer of the Year at the 2024 Fashion Awards.

Rocha first introduced menswear in 2022, shown concurrently on the runway with her womenswear offering as part of her S/S 2023 collection (she has done so at her presentations since). ‘There is a crossover of ideas and emotion, and influences of fabrications and silhouettes – they are coming from one place but each is their own individual character that responds and reacts to [the other],’ she explained to Wallpaper* at the time.

Her menswear pieces find similar juxtapositions to those of her womenswear, marrying utilitarian garments – cargo pants, bomber jackets, parkas and the like – with more romantic flourishes, from floral prints and embroidery to beaded and pearl embellishment, as well as a use of lace and tulle. They are pieces she hopes ‘challenge the archetypes of masculinity’.

The Pitti Uomo show, though, will mark Rocha’s first standalone menswear presentation. ‘I would like to thank Pitti Uomo for their generous invitation to present my first independent menswear show on the men's calendar,’ she said in a statement today, noting that she will use the occasion to show ‘the length and breadth of [her] menswear proposition... [and] a new chapter in my work and world.’

As yet, it has not been announced where in Florence she will choose to hold the runway presentation; though, having shown in numerous historic addresses in London, including the Old Bailey, former royal residence Lancaster House and the Alexandra Palace Theatre, expect the location to be suitably dramatic.

‘From the very beginning, Simone Rocha’s garments capture the eye, ignite the imagination, and stir emotions,’ says Francesca Tacconi, special events coordinator at Pitti Immagine. ’At a time when part of menswear seems to be leaning toward more cautious stylistic choices, Simone remains true to herself and to her vision. She does not follow trends, she creates them and draws us into her world.’

Pitti Uomo will run from 16-19 June 2026 in Florence.

uomo.pittimmagine.com

The 109th edition of Pitti Uomo, the historic menswear fair that takes over the 14th-century Fortezza da Basso in the centre of Florence twice a year, drew to a conclusion yesterday (15 January). With two rising Japanese guest designers on the bill this season, and a spotlight on a disruptive next gen of Korean fashion, it was a bumper year for East Asian talent at the fair – a theme organisers leaned into with a series of tangential talks and events, including bringing Tokyo’s Sebiro Sanpo (suit walk) to Italy for the first time, where hundreds of men walk the streets in their sharpest tailoring.

As for the shows, Shinya Kozuka staged a poetic snowstorm in a hall behind the medieval fortress, while on Thursday afternoon, 2025’s LVMH Prize winner Soshi Otsuki received a standing ovation for his masterfully crafted exploration of 1980s power suiting, making for one of the most talked-about displays of the week. But it was Israel-born Hed Mayner who took centre stage, presenting his headline runway in a 1930s palace next to Santa Maria Novella train station – a collection that twisted familiar wardrobe icons through beautifully ‘wrong’ construction.

As fashion crowds take the two-hour train north for Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2026, catch up on the best of Pitti Uomo here.

Tokyo’s Sebiro Sanpo (suit walk) comes to Florence

Walking around Florence throughout the week of Pitti Uomo, you’ll see hundreds of well-heeled men on every corner, with cafés a flurry of flamboyant suits and bars filled with Scandi gorpcore groups enjoying aperitivo. On the first afternoon of the trade show, however, a sight emerged outside the usual visiting hubbub – 200 menswear lovers and industry figures walking through the streets of the city in their finest tailoring.

Drawing intrigue from onlookers as they moved from Fortezza da Basso down to Santa Maria Novella square, the spectacle marked the first official Sebiro Sanpo (suit walk) in Italy – an event originating in Tokyo that invites menswear fans across Japan to gather and stroll in their favourite suit. Organised with fabric mill Vitale Barberis Canonico, which supplies materials to Zegna and Drake’s, it marked a joyful kick off this edition of Pitti, and a week where Japanese menswear culture was firmly in the spotlight.

Brunello Cucinelli’s candlelit palace dinner party

The Brunello Cucinelli dinner is a perennial highlight at Pitti Uomo. While in the summer edition the brand throws an outdoor banquet, in January, it is famed for hosting hundreds of guests in the grand ballroom of the Palazzo Corsini, a baroque palace that overlooks the Arno River. Continuing the tradition in style, over candlelit table settings on Tuesday evening, several courses of Italian fare were served with a side of theatricality – huge copper pans of tomato pasta served up table-side and cannoli filled by hand for each attendee at dessert.

The brand’s warm hospitality continued over at the fair, where it received visitors at an impressively built stand (which resembled a fully realised store, complete with carpeting and furniture) to see its A/W 2026 collection up close. This season, the brand’s sophisticated wardrobe leaned into influences that merged nostalgic military flight uniforms, academic fabrics like corduroy and Western-style embellished hardware. Another highlight of the week came on Wednesday afternoon, when the Italian designer sat down for a talk with Toby Bateman, CEO of Mr Porter, in which the influential men spoke on the shifting tides of men’s style.

Herno’s futuristic alpine ski lodge

In a gleaming silver box near the entrance of the fair, heritage Italian brand Herno hosted one of the most impressive displays at Pitti this year. Inside the dark, cavernous room, rails of the brand’s A/W 2026 men’s collection explored the idea of an ‘urban traveller moving through cities, landscapes and shifting temperatures’. A wall of candy-coloured puffer jackets formed the centrepiece – the Herno 7 Denari, crafted in technical quilted down – while the label’s codes of sophistication appeared in chic knits of pure cashmere and compact jersey, structured denim, and leather accessories. Leaning into an alpine theme this season, the back of the room took on the feel of a ski lodge – where more playful fleece and shearling pieces evoked a nostalgic holiday mood – complete with hot drinks and biscuits for fairgoers to enjoy between appointments

Shinya Kozuka’s poetic snowstorm in the Fortezza da Basso

Tokyo-based designer Shinya Kozuka (who styles his namesake brand as Shinyakozuka) has built a devoted following for his dreamy, expressive clothes – though largely within Japan. His presentation at Pitti Uomo this week marked both his debut at the fair and his first time showing outside Tokyo. Covering a hall behind Fortezza da Basso in several inches of fake snow, Kozuka staged a mid-winter scene inspired by the lost gloves he often spots abandoned on Tokyo’s sidewalks, imagining their wearers as a series of men walking through a snowy wilderness.

Leaning into the designer’s taste for storybook fantasy, the collection merged experimental tailoring and drapery in cut in a particular school of Japanese design, mixed with pragmatic shapes that recalled Americana workwear (the collection debuted a collaboration with Dickies.) Among these utilitarian pocketed looks, the designer's skill in inventing original, tactile fabrication was seen in wool punched with white thread to mimic dustings of snow and a dramatic white button appliqué coat that closed the show, jangling pleasingly as the model walked. It made a poetic Pitti debut that, for a few moments at least, transported Florence to the romance of a frosty Japanese winter.

Hed Mayner’s headline runway show

Hed Mayner was honoured with the headline guest designer slot at Pitti Uomo this season, an opportunity he used to do what he does best – carve bold, unexpected structures from the foundations of tailoring. The Israel-born, Paris-based designer first appeared on the scene in the mid-2010s with cleverly structured designs loosely inspired by the oversized tailoring of the orthodox Jewish community. He has since been awarded the LVMH prize and steadily grown his brand to global acclaim.

Unveiled on Wednesday evening, the designer chose La Palazzina Reale as the location of his A/W 2026 collection, a modern palace built in the 1930s located unusually close to the Santa Maria Novella train station. Balancing fantasy and everyday life, Mayner’s collection itself skewed tailoring archetypes with dramatic ‘gestures’ of oddness – a jacket with vastly exaggerated shoulders that suctioned in at the waist, a cinematic faux fur coat detailed with a leather strap across the back, and scarves so long they skimmed the ground. Set to a stirring soundtrack overlaid with the words of Canadian-American artist Agnes Martin, the collection was about seeking one’s own idea of beauty.

‘It’s about creating a body language, a certain gesture,’ Mayner said on the morning of the show. ‘When you wear these clothes, they put you into a certain mood, an environment. There’s something wrong about these shapes, and that wrongness is perfect for me.’

READ: Hed Mayner’s Pitti Uomo show was all about finding beauty in ‘wrongness’

Soshi Otsuki’s swooning ode to 1980s power suiting

On Thursday afternoon, guests were ushered down a pathway behind the imposing Santa Maria Novella cathedral, through a manicured courtyard and into a small, stony chapel lit only by the dying afternoon light for Soshi Otsuki’s Pitti Uomo display. As swooning 1980s jazz music began to play and the lights came up, what followed was for many editors the standout event of the week. Opening with three immaculately cut grey suits, Otsuki – who won the coveted LVMH Prize last year – used his Pitti debut to showcase his mastery in tailoring. Offsetting tradition with subtle, unexpected flourishes – from dandy-esque wide silk ties tucked into shirts, to jumpsuits that neatly fused shirting and trousers – the collection riffed on the broad lines and soft romance of the 1980s, while its razor-sharp attention to detail made each look unmistakably Otsuki’s own. Emerging in the room for a brief few seconds, the designer was met with a well-deserved standing ovation at the show’s close.

Korea’s disruptive new gen gets its own display

In its own small circular brick building in the grounds of the Fortezza where the trade fair takes place, a dedicated display of rising Korean design talent provided a respite from the busy crowds of the main fair. Following its successful debut last year, the ‘Code Korea’ exhibition introduces six designers who reflect a ‘bold dialogue between tradition and innovation, sustainability and experimentation’. Among the most interesting on view were Seokwon Yoon, a brand that disrupts the neatness of school uniforms and tailoring with punk influences, and Egnarts, a brand defined by its beautifully wonky silhouettes and use of surreal motifs.

There’s something inherently wrong about a palace sitting beside a train station, its proximity to the rush of commuters at odds with the idea of royal remove. But then again, La Palazzina Reale is no typical palace. Built in the 1930s as a stopover for the royal family during visits to Florence, the squat structure designed by Gruppo Toscano hides its beauty behind a sober facade – inside, lavish walnut panelling, shimmering golden tiles and swathes of marble flooring reveal its royal patronage. Yet the building’s placement is its most intriguing feature – one side looks onto Florence’s ancient cobbled streets, the other sits so close to the platforms of Santa Maria Novella station that one could step straight from the back veranda onto a train.

Now home to the Architecture Society of Florence, La Palazzina Reale is situated just a few minutes away from the medieval fortress where Pitti Uomo, the biannual menswear fair, traditionally takes place. Rather than whisking guests off to one of Florence’s more fairytale frescoed settings, as Issey Miyake did last season, Hed Mayner chose this curious building – sandwiched between history and the everyday lives of modern Florentines – as the site of his headline guest designer show at the fair’s 109th edition last night.

Hed Mayner at Pitti Uomo A/W 2026

‘The reason I wanted to show here was because sometimes when you come to Florence, or big cities with history, you get this “look and don’t touch” feeling, like you’re in a museum,’ the warm-voiced, Israel-born designer explained on the morning of the show, standing in the airy presidential room wearing his signature twisted tailoring. ‘I wanted both an old-fashioned feeling and a new one – of everyday life on the other side.’

An invitation to the main guest slot at Pitti is a career highlight for any menswear designer (past spotlights have included Raf Simons, Grace Wales Bonner and Martine Rose). For Mayner, the opportunity also allowed him to spend extended time closer to his manufacturers. Typically Paris-based, the designer has been working from Italy for the past six months in the lead-up to the show. Mayner first rose to acclaim in the mid-2010s with a series of collections that cleverly played with the oversized proportions of traditional orthodox Jewish tailoring, winning the Karl Lagerfeld Prize at the LVMH Prize in 2019 and continually studying how tailoring can protect and transform the body ever since. Mayner’s last display in Paris revealed a vulnerability not previously seen in his work, with his hulking tailored silhouettes emptied of structure so that garments collapsed softly around the body. It was, he said at the time, a search for lightness in a heavy world.

Last night, as hundreds of guests settled into rows of mid-century seats inside La Palazzina Reale, it quickly became clear that a sense of force was back in the designer’s hands. Much like the unlikely palace itself, the collection that came was hooked on a pleasurable sense of wrongness. Mayner’s opening character set the tone, arriving in the dimly lit rooms in a houndstooth tailored coat cut with draped shoulders and no sleeves, worn over a pale gridded shirt and sparkling silver sequinned joggers. ‘It’s about creating a body language, a certain gesture,’ Mayner explained earlier in the day. ‘When you wear these clothes, they put you into a certain mood, an environment. There’s something wrong about these shapes, and that wrongness is perfect for me.’

‘So wrong it’s right’ became the guiding principle. Mayner’s cast of characters followed through the room as an orchestral soundtrack overlaid with the voice of Canadian-American artist Agnes Martin played overhead, reciting her 1989 line: ‘Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye, it is in the mind.’ Martin’s words on our individual experiences of beauty felt pointed, as each of Mayner’s looks skewed traditional wardrobe staples with something, a ‘gesture’ as he puts it, that was deliberately off – a jacket with broad, front-forward shoulders suctioned in at the waist; a cinematic faux fur coat detailed with a leather strap across the back; collars of shirting sliced off, sweatshirts twisted and scarves so long they skimmed the ground. Both familiar and strange, the oddness of these clothes served a specific purpose: Mayner said he wanted to make space for the wearer’s personality to emerge.

Mayner is a designer keenly aware of clothing’s ability to transform how you feel. He has long explored tailoring as a kind of armour, pushing the power suit to extremes through huge proportions and sculpting hunched silhouettes that charge the wearer with a villainous kind of command. While much of the new collection worked within his architectural signatures, there was a noticeable new energy too. A series of womenswear looks marked fresh territory, such as a deep blue crushed velvet gown that exposed the entire back, its overt sensuality offset by another look that cocooned the body in circular, soft-shouldered layers of plum-shaded mock suede. ‘I like it because it reminds me of furniture,’ the designer said of the divisive fabric with a wry smile earlier that morning.

Rather than a statement about expanding his brand’s remit to a wider audience, Mayner’s intention with these women’s looks was far purer. ‘This season, the starting point was the body,’ he explains. ‘It's not about making a women's collection, it's more about just kind of opening the lens to different body types to create a new silhouette inside the collection.’

Seen together, Mayner’s cast of characters seemed to belong to a hard-to-place world, where Soviet-era formality – lent by handkerchief scarves wrapped around heads and rounded furry hats – clashed with the unmistakable modernity of crumpled flannel and billowing denim jeans. By shuffling archetypes, eras and textures, the aim, he says, is to create a kind of ‘parallel reality’ in which the wearer is free to step into a more heightened, bolder version of themselves. ‘There is this kind of intimacy between you and what you wear,’ he says. ‘It’s about how you are in the world.’

As Mayner ran through the stately rooms of the Palazzina behind the models at the show’s close, a train shuddered into the platform at Santa Maria Novella station, the screech of brakes and the murmur of passengers alighting mixing with applause. By a stroke of fate, it was, like Mayner’s collection itself, a moment of fantasy and reality collapsing in real time – he couldn’t have timed better if he’d written the train schedule himself.

pittimmagine.com

On 14 January, the first runway shows of the A/W 2026 menswear season take place at Florence’s Pitti Uomo, heralding the start of a fashion month that will also make stops in Milan and Paris in the coming weeks (the menswear fair’s guest designers Shinayakozuka and Hed Mayner both show on Pitti Uomo’s first evening). While the schedule is certainly quieter than the blockbuster womenswear shows in September – over 15 creative directors made their debuts at fashion’s major houses across the season – there will still be plenty of notable moments, including Jonathan Anderson’s sophomore menswear collection for Dior (it will be intriguing to see him hone his vision now he’s settled) and the swan song of Véronique Nichanian, artistic director of Hermès’ men’s universe, who is leaving after a near-four-decade-long tenure.

In anticipation, ahead of the season’s start this evening, we asked the Wallpaper* style teams about the moments they are looking forward to this Men’s Fashion Month.

‘There will be plenty of standout moments across fashion month: I’m always excited to see what’s next at Prada, and Jonathan Anderson’s sophomore menswear show for Dior will no doubt be a highlight (it’s been exciting seeing his first collection end up in stores this month). But this season I’m going to relish the quieter moments, too: like Setchu in Milan, where Satoshi Kuwata – who is based locally but was born in Kyoto, Japan – will hold his second runway show on the city’s fashion schedule. His considered approach, which melds a background on Savile Row with design flourishes drawn from his native Japan, always makes for an intriguing show. As an aside, I loved his first-ever fragrances, launched late last year: named after times of the day, they reimagine his personal rituals as scents, from morning ‘genmaicha’ green tea to ‘Friday 2AM Tatami’, inspired by the scent of Japanese sleeping mats. I’ll be sure to be wearing mine on show day.’

‘After the near-overwhelming number of debuts at womenswear this past September, I am relishing the relative calm of menswear: the somewhat reduced schedule, particularly in Milan, means there is more time to digest what we are seeing (the various appointments and presentations also allow an opportunity to view things up close). As for the highlights, in Milan it will always be Prada: for me, there's not quite another show like it – the clarity of vision that Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons have honed across their partnership has led to collections which again and again set the tone for the season ahead (and, thanks to OMA’s always-transporting show sets, they come with plenty of spectacle).

‘In Paris, I look forward – like Jason – to Jonathan Anderson’s second menswear show for Dior, which promises even more theatre, though I am also excited to see the latest offerings from Willy Chavarria (the American designer will continue to show in Paris this season), Kiko Kostadinov, IM Men and Rick Owens, all showing across the week. There will be a poignant goodbye, too: on Saturday (17 January), Véronique Nichanian, artistic director of Hermès’ men’s universe, will step away from her role after almost four decades (I spent a memorable day in Paris interviewing her for the March 2023 Style Issue of Wallpaper*). Shifting the show to the evening spot, it will be a no-doubt fitting send-off for a record-breaking career (she is the longest-serving creative director of a fashion house) defined by both critical and commercial success. We’ll be raising a glass.’

‘This men’s season I’m most excited for Pitti Uomo, which I’m attending for Wallpaper* for the very first time. Kicking off fashion month, the biannual menswear fair is staged within Florence’s stately 14th-century Fortezza da Basso, where countless brands – including Herno, Caruso and Brunello Cucinelli – will present their collections. The latter hosted its famous dinner last night, and I was excited to witness the decadent spread first-hand.

‘As for the shows, Paris-based Hed Mayner is in the spotlight with the headline guest designer slot, staging his presentation in a midcentury building close to Santa Maria Novella station on Wednesday evening. His show will be followed by two rising Japanese talents: Shinya Kozuka, known for his painterly collections, and Soshi Otsuki, the winner of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers in 2025. A strong Japanese presence at the fair continues through tangential events during the week, including the first official Sebiro Sanpo (suit walk) in Italy organised with fabric mill Vitale Barberis Canonico. The event originates in Tokyo, a financial hub and home to Japan’s “salarymen”, and sees hundreds of suit lovers gather to walk the streets in their finest tailoring.

‘As for the rest of the men’s shows, I’m always excited to see what Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada have been dreaming up together. Their show takes place on Sunday (18 January) in Milan in the vast Deposito building adjoining the brand’s namesake foundation in Milan – a space they’ll no doubt transform once again into another surprising, imaginative world.’

‘The menswear shows typically have less striking beauty moments than their womenswear counterparts – bar a slew of more avant-garde designers, from Rick Owens to Junya Watanabe, which will hopefully lend some intrigue – though the fresh and clean complexions that will likely be seen on the majority of runways feel fitting for the early weeks of the year (Prada, Dries Van Noten and Hermès always do this well, drawing from their own beauty lines). As someone who wears plenty of menswear, I'll be looking at the fashion, too: Dries Van Noten is a favourite (I loved Julian Klausner’s first menswear show last season, and I’m sure this one will strike a similar balance of the romantic and real), while Kiko Kostadinov is always interesting – after a brilliant co-ed show off-schedule at his London studio late last year (inspired by his dog, Dante), I’m excited to see what he has in store.’

Florence is a compact city easily explored on foot (or Vespa). Hills with villas and olive groves are under 30 minutes away by car or public transport, to the north and the south, so it’s a must to explore both the historic centre and the surrounding hills. Here are some unmissable stops to take in during your stay, whether you are visiting during Pitti Uomo (13-16 January 2026) or beyond.

What to see and do in Florence

Where to stay

Casa G Firenze

In the heart of the city, located above the Ginori 1735 store, the Casa G Firenze hotel offers just 15 rooms across two floors. Everything you could possibly want is quite literally on your doorstep.

Casa G Firenze is located at Via dei Rondinelli, 7, 50123 Florence, Italy

Collegio alla Querce, Auberge Collection

Recently opened in an old villa at the base of hill town Fiesole, this hotel sits between the city centre and the foothills beyond, so you get the best of both worlds.

Collegio alla Querce is located at Via delle Forbici, 21B, 50133 Florence, Italy

Where to eat and drink

Gelateria della Passera

You may have to queue, but it is absolutely worth the wait. The seasonal fruit sorbets are exceptional. Pink grapefruit, orange, banana with nutmeg, fig or almond are personal favourites.

Gelateria della Passera is located at Via Toscanella, 15/red, 50125 Florence, Italy

Pasticceria Stefania

Each morning that I am in town, I take my Vespa to Stefania for a caffè and a salato (a type of focaccia sandwich) or a croissant.

Pasticceria Stefania is located at Via Guglielmo Marconi, 26 rosso, 50131 Florence, Italy

Regina Bistecca

Housed in a former bookstore, this restaurant is the ideal place to enjoy a traditional bistecca alla Fiorentina (always ordered to share). Don’t miss the mixed cold-cut platter, served with bread puffs called ficattole.

Regina Bistecca is located at Via Ricasoli, 14r, 50122 Florence, Italy

Trattoria Cammillo

A Florence institution. Start with the fried artichokes, follow with a seasonal pasta, a main of veal or lamb, and don’t miss the contorni (vegetable side dishes). Ask for a table downstairs for the best experience.

Trattoria Cammillo is located at Borgo San Iacopo, 57/r, 50125 Florence, Italy

Where to shop

TAF Firenze

Shop for linen napkins with hand-embroidered vintage designs such as ‘Chin Chin’, ‘Circus’ and the sultry ‘Donnine’.

TAF Firenze is located at Via Por Santa Maria 17/r, 50122 Florence, Italy

Piazza Santo Spirito Flea Market

One of my favourite flea markets takes place at Piazza Santo Spirito every second Sunday of the month (except during high summer).

Piazza Santo Spirito Flea Market is located at Piazza Santo Spirito, 50125 Florence, Italy

What to do

Museo Marino Marini

Housed in the ancient church of San Pancrazio, this museum is dedicated entirely to the work of the important 20th-century sculptor Marino Marini.

Museo Marino Marini is located at Piazza di S. Pancrazio, 50123 Florence, Italy

A powerful production

Charlotte Gunn, director of digital content

Jack Rooke is a generational talent. If his multi-award-winning comedy Big Boys failed to move you to tears, the reworking of his original Edinburgh show, Good Grief, penned at age 21 in the wake of his father's death, is sure to have you reaching for the tissues. As funny as it is weep-worthy, Rooke's portrayal of grief and growing up is deserving of his many accolades. Beg, borrow or steal your way into his sold-out Soho Theatre re-run in the new year.

An homage to handcrafts

Bill Prince, editor-in-chief

On Monday, I was the guest of Hermès for a talk hosted at London’s Institut Français between the award-winning Lebanese-French architect Lina Ghotmeh and Charlotte Amelia-Brion, head of real estate for Hermès. The discussion focused on Ghotmeh’s response to a request from Hermès to design a new leather and saddlery workshop in northwestern France, at Louviers, which opened in 2023. By studying the gait of a galloping horse, her practice, LG-A, envisioned a low-rise building in hand-fired brick, punctuated by large archways that, the architect explained, required re-animating brickmaking skills lost to the construction industry. As Amelia-Brion noted, even at scale, Hermès’ commitment to creativity starts with – and in this instance wholly retains – the qualities expounded in handcrafts.

A good excuse for an ugly cry

Anna Fixsen, US editor

Amid year-end deadlines, shopping, travel and icy-cold temperatures, the holidays can be an emotional time. If you’re looking for a good excuse to sob silently in a dark room for two hours, go see Hamnet, now in theatres in the US. I met up with two of my besties this week at our favourite Brooklyn cinema to watch the flick, an adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell’s historical novel of the same name. We all knew where this Shakespearean tragedy would lead us. Hell, we even knew the ending. But we were not prepared for the masterful direction from Chloé Zhao and the heart-wrenching performances from Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal and a positively cherubic Jacobi Jupe. Do yourself a favour and go see it this weekend.

A special showroom

Anna Solomon, digital staff writer

Just off the main thoroughfare of Notting Hill Gate, behind the façade of an elegant red-brick building, a patinated ‘HZI’ sign is the only clue to Hubert Zandberg’s world within. The interior designer recently invited industry members to his newly unveiled showroom – though it’s unlike any showroom I’ve ever seen. What Zandberg has created is more akin to an intimate salon: part living room, part working studio, part treasure-filled sanctuary. The space is densely layered with pieces from his personal collection – furniture, art and objects amassed over years and across continents. Now open by appointment, it serves as a vignette of Zandberg’s aesthetic world (see more of this in next week’s Inside Story, where I’ll be peering inside the designer’s Shoreditch flat), with each item available for purchase.

A seasonal sanctuary

Sofia de la Cruz, travel editor

Last weekend, my family and I made our annual pilgrimage through central London to see the Christmas lights. Beautiful, yes, but with the crowds in full festive force, relaxation can feel elusive. Salvation arrived just moments from Regent Street’s gilded angels, inside the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair. Lee Broom’s reimagined Christmas tree spills theatrically down the hotel’s monumental green-marble staircase, drawing you towards the Atrium restaurant, where a new menu unfolds as a sophisticated Mediterranean journey. Upstairs, Hanover Bar offers another gift for design devotees: Studio Waldemeyer’s Amadeus installation, a choreography of animated LED candles floating above the room. It’s a far more civilised way to experience London’s seasonal sparkle, preferably with one of the newly refreshed cocktails in hand. My pick: The Hanover. Plum Maker’s Mark bourbon, umeshu, vanilla Amontillado sherry, umeshu sake, maple syrup and chocolate bitters. Perfectly festive and indulgent.

A taste of la bella vita

Anna Solomon, digital staff writer

As a lover of beautiful interiors, my stay at the 15th-century Florentine villa, Il Salviatino, a couple of weeks ago is still on my mind. Once owned by the Salviati family – the ‘-tino’ denoting that, unbelievably, this was their ‘small’ country pied-à-terre – it already promised the fairy-tale allure of Italy’s grand estates. What I hadn’t anticipated was the design extravaganza waiting inside.

At Il Salviatino, every corner is filled with objects and curios in a way that doesn't feel overly staged or polished – and is all the better for it – most of it sourced by owner Alessandra Rovati Vitali, a florist-turned-designer who once collaborated with Vincent Van Duysen. Mid-century pieces mingle with late-Renaissance giardino all’italiana flourishes, all wrapped in unapologetic bella vita glamour, while greenery bursts from terracotta amphorae and snakes up the walls. The library is the villa’s heart: breakfast here is bathed in sunlight; cocktails linger late into the evening. Dining at Da Giacomo al Salviatino, sister to the renowned Giacomo Milano, feels theatrical – Marzano red prawns and octopus ragù served beneath candy-striped canopies and a frescoed ceiling.

Just fifteen minutes by shuttle from Florence’s centre, Il Salviatino feels like another – impossibly serene (aided by a dreamlike Aquae Vitali spa and Augustinus Bader facials) – world. Yet the Renaissance city is never far: framed perfectly from the hotel’s terraces, the Duomo rises majestically above terracotta rooftops.

An architectural invitation

Ellie Stathaki, architecture & environment director

I was invited by Mexican architecture studio Sordo Madaleno to visit their new home in London at King’s Cross for a drink. Not only does the gorgeous new space feature contemporary yet warm design (a reflection of the studio’s approach) high ceilings and views out to the canal (there's a strong hint of Venice to working there), but the practice has also planned a lush gallery space they hope to open for shows and events. Watch this space.

A meander into mezcal

Anne Soward, production editor

As the weather turns chillier and wetter, thoughts of venturing far arouse little enthusiasm, so the opening of a new mezcal-focused tasting room on my doorstep lifted my spirits and had me reaching for my coat. Sorbito, the latest addition to Dalston's Mexican strip on Stoke Newington Road, has been launched by the Sin Gusano Project, a social enterprise dedicated to promoting artisanal mezcal. Here you can try sips (sorbito means ‘little sip’ in Spanish) of rare agave spirits, using a series of self-serve dispensing machines, before buying a bottle of your tipple of choice to take home (although some are actually too rare to bottle). Events and private tasting sessions are also on offer, as well as a rotating menu of mezcal-based cocktails for those who want to stay awhile and talk tequila. We sipped our Oaxaca highball and agave martini (both went deliciously well with the little bowls of corn snacks peppering the bar) while enjoying a fascinating lesson about process, sustainability, variety and flavour.

A sublime spectacle

Sofia de la Cruz, travel editor

I feel as though I’ve been living in the O2 arena lately. Partly out of a need to break the winter habit of hibernating at home, partly because all my favourite artists decided to tour at once. Tuesday closed out the streak with Wolf Alice and their new album, The Clearing – a fierce, hypnotic spectacle. I’m drawn to their genre-bending register, the way they slip between the highest and slowest rhythms; one moment shouting through a microphone, the next dissolving into something ethereal.

An enchanting exhibition

Jamilah Rose-Roberts, social media editor

Earlier this week, my artist friend Hamed Maiye presented a new exhibition at HSBC’s 8 Canada Square. Being both a longstanding admirer of his work and someone who has grown to know him through a previous interview, attending felt less like an obligation and more like a quiet inevitability. Hamed has a way of drawing you into the world he builds, and Aleph is no exception.

The exhibition takes its name from Borges’ ‘Aleph’, a point that contains all other points, and immediately you feel that sense of simultaneity: past, present and possibility moving at once. Yet Nina Simone’s declaration that an artist must reflect their time hums beneath the surface, grounding the show in something urgent and human. Those two forces – timelessness and responsibility – collide throughout the space.

Hamed’s contribution sits at the centre of that collision. His work moves between the symbolic and the intimate, carrying traces of myth, memory and lived experience. Here, it feels even more distilled, as though he is shaping several realities into one gesture. It is deeply personal yet reaches beyond itself, speaking to the conditions that form us, and those we long to transcend.

The wider exhibition gathers voices from Unyimeabasi Udoh, Divine Southgate-Smith and Tami Soji-Akinyemi, each navigating their own version of the infinite and the immediate. Together, they form a shifting constellation, asking what it means to hold many worlds in a single moment.

Aleph runs until 31 March 2026.

A sartorial screening

Bill Prince, editor-in-chief

On Thursday, I was in Rome for the world premiere of Brunello: A Gracious Visionary, a two-hour docu-drama directed by Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso), which charts the life and career of Italy’s ‘King of Cashmere’, Brunello Cucinelli. From his humble beginnings as part of an extended family of tenant farmers, to a somewhat dissolute youth perfecting his skills as a card sharp (which would later stand him in good stead for navigating the vagaries of the global fashion business), to his present status as the champion of ‘humanistic capitalism’ that places the worker at the centre of the enterprise, the film – featuring an artful blend of archival footage, contemporary interviews and extended dramatic narrative – receives its official theatrical release in Perugia on December 8, with screenings planned across the globe in the new year.

Florence is one of the great capitals of the Old World, home to breathtaking landmarks that span the Romanesque to the Renaissance. Widely regarded as the cradle of that era, it was here that the Medici family funded Michelangelo, Brunelleschi and Galileo, turning the city into an artistic, banking and intellectual engine.

W Florence, however, is new. Opened in July 2025 as Italy’s second W (after Rome), the hotel represents Florence’s new wave of design-forward, lifestyle-oriented institutions. It’s a counterpoint to the city’s gilded but ageing grandes dames, yet unmistakably channels the creative spirit of its host – while maintaining the international polish of a Marriott brand.

Wallpaper* checks in at W Florence

What's on your doorstep?

Its location may be one of W Florence’s greatest draws: it sits on Piazza dell’Unità Italiana, bang in the centre of the city. Florence is eminently walkable, and from here you’re mere steps from the Duomo, Santa Maria Novella and the Medici Chapel. We also found ourselves seduced by Florence’s subtler pleasures: affogato standing at the counter of Café Gilli and drifting in and out of antiques shops in crowd-free Santo Spirito.

Who is behind the design?

W Florence occupies a building designed between 1968 and 1972 by architect Lando Bartoli; after decades of neglect, it was restored by Genius Loci Architettura (GLA). In a city stacked with medieval and Renaissance ornamentation, Bartoli’s rationalist-modernist structure – with its stone façade, slender windows and burnished bronze elements – stands apart. It is one of Florence’s few visible examples of 20th-century architecture.

The brand new interiors, by design firm AvroKO, draw heavily from the 1960s and 1970s, expressed through geometric forms, sculptural furniture and moody lighting (the initiated may also spot gestures toward Italian design greats like Joe Colombo). The spaces quietly reference Florence’s artistic heritage through graphic flooring and curved banquettes. The palette echoes the city in notes of Boboli Garden green and Medici red, and a vast Adam Ellis Studio mural – a ‘Florentine Babylon Garden’ of tigers, peacocks and monkeys, a reference to the Medici menagerie – greets guests in reception.

The room to book

The hotel has 119 rooms, including 16 suites and a penthouse. Our Superior Twin felt comfortable yet elevated, with marble accents, terrazzo-inspired surfaces, and deliberately mismatched art. A striking light installation above the bed uses mirrors and integrated LEDs to create the illusion of infinite receding arches – a nod to Florence’s vaulted landmarks, from Palazzo Pitti to the Vasari Corridor. A stylish semicircular cabinet houses the minibar, complete with – naturally – negronis, the drink having been born in Florence.

The penthouse expands upon these signatures, but it's the 140 sq m private terrace that sets it apart. On a November evening tour, the vantage point revealed stacks of orange-lit windows, each offering a vignette of Florentine life, while the illuminated Duomo rose, magnificently close, through the darkness. In summer, the terrace must be a blessed escape from the sweltering streets. The same goes for the hotel’s Zefiro Rooftop, named for the Greek god of the west wind, depicted in Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, which resides in Florence's Uffizi Gallery.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

At the hotel’s main restaurant, Tratto – run by the team behind the Michelin-starred Trattoria Contemporanea near Lake Como – graphic menu covers announce that this is ‘Italian contemporary food’. This means grilled Chinese cabbage with kimchi sauce and peanut butter, veal tripe stew with mint and pecorino, and squid skewers with bell pepper and nduja mayo. There’s not a slice of pizza on the premises, but we did try a simple but oh-so-effective egg pasta with lemon, butter and Parmesan and a cream-forward tiramisù from a dessert trolley curated by one of the country’s rising pastry stars. A second restaurant, Akira Back – named for the Korean-American chef with a global portfolio of 28 restaurants – opens soon, bringing his ‘new Asian’ sensibility to W Florence.

In the W Lounge, where a blue lava stone bar meets wiggly banquettes in velvet and boucle, the cocktail menu is helpfully illustrated so you know whether to expect a coupe or a highball. Like Tratto, the bar takes something familiar and twists it – a negroni with a whisper of coconut, or a gimlet with a salty foam (a nod to the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci).

Where to switch off

W Florence is less about switching off than switching on – though, for some, that’s the same thing. It’s a hotel for extroverts, deliberately functioning as a social hub where hospitality, nightlife and cultural programming blur. The epicentre is the W Lounge and its neighbouring central courtyard, a flexible space designed for fashion shows, performances or private events, reinforcing W’s identity as a lifestyle venue and echoing Florence’s cultural vitality of centuries past.

Traditional relaxation-seekers may be left wanting: the hotel doesn’t have a full spa, but it does have a wellness area with a sauna, steam bath, relaxation room and 24-hour gym.

Service with a smile?

The staff are enthusiastic, engaged and effortlessly cool. Their uniforms – utility trousers, boxy shirts and silk scarves – are another example of the W’s update on ‘made in Italy’ style.

The verdict

Florence is increasingly embracing contemporary expression and experimental design, and the W is an embodiment of that shift. It captures a duality: travellers still want art, architecture, pasta and gelato, and the hotel provides all of that – just not in the way you expect. And when you’re ready to lose yourself in the cradle of the Renaissance, it’s all right on your doorstep.

W Florence is located at Piazza dell'Unità Italiana, 4/B, Via del Melarancio, 1, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy.

In 2019, ex-finance CEO Pierre Ferland and business strategist Thomas Odenthal founded the luxury travel group This Time Tomorrow to offer what they had always sought but never quite found on their own journeys: design-conscious aparthotels rooted in local authenticity, complemented by highly personalised service.

The formula is simple but effective. Ahead of check-in, each guest receives a tailored questionnaire designed to capture their interests. Based on the responses, the in-house team of resident curators organise personalised itineraries that pair exquisitely with the considered interiors of the residences.

Following the success of This Time Tomorrow's Morocco launch, the company has just opened eight new residences in Florence, Italy. As expected, the experience begins before you’ve even unpacked.

Wallpaper* checks in at This Time Tomorrow in Florence

What’s on your doorstep?

You’ll find This Time Tomorrow tucked into Le Cure, a residential pocket of Florence where life plays out at a gentler pace. Located on Viale Don Giovanni Minzoni, just off Piazza della Libertà, it’s close enough to the centre for spontaneous museum runs, but far enough to avoid the Insta-frenzy. Here, mornings start with espresso-fueled locals in no rush, and aperitivo hour stretches long into the evening.

A short walk away is the Giardino dell’Orticoltura, a lush, under-the-radar park whose hillside Orti del Parnaso offers sweeping views, while being blissfully emptier than Piazzale Michelangelo. The city’s best-known icons, from the Ponte Vecchio to the Uffizi Galleries, are reachable on foot in around 25 minutes. That is, if you’re not sidetracked by a vintage shop or gelateria en route.

Who’s behind the design?

Housed in a neoclassical building originally commissioned during the city’s expansion by architect Giuseppe Poggi in 1865, the structure itself is a nod to Florence’s layered past. There are echoes of 16th- and 17th-century Florentine vernacular in its bones, balanced with the rational elegance of late 19th-century modernisation. To honour that mix, the This Time Tomorrow team brought in Italian architectural firm SpaceStudio and Barcelona-based interiors specialists RecDi8 with a brief: channel the Renaissance without falling into pastiche. The result is a sophisticated interpretation of the city’s spirit.

SpaceStudio architect Francesco Donnaloia sought to respect what was there by preserving the building's original elements, like decorative banding on the exterior and original interior moulding. Inside, walls wear moody, mossy greens – hues uncovered beneath historic paint layers – that gently reinforce the building’s classical roots.

RecDi8 took a more narrative approach. ‘We imagined a fictional Florentine family living here for generations; refined, well-travelled, invested in the arts,’ says interior designer Norbert Frei. ‘Each era would leave its mark, layering tastes and textures over time. The result is a layered, eclectic atmosphere, where distinct elements from different eras coexist in harmonious dialogue.’

At ground level, an original grand staircase sets the tone, joined by a striking Last Judgment painting by Jacob de Backer. The eight available residences are spacious and light-filled, featuring vaulted ceilings and Venetian terrazzo floors. Up top, a private rooftop terrace gives guests cinematic views over the Florentine skyline and into the Tuscan hills beyond. Local artisans played a central role in the building’s revival, such as Pancrazzi, a multigenerational Tuscan firm responsible for restoring frescoes and cocciopesto plasterwork.

The room to book

With the exception of the attic suite, every apartment is over 100 square meters; all have fully equipped kitchens; and many include a private terrace, a large patio or access to the garden. As one might have suspected, time is part of the story. Each unit is named with a time of day (AM or PM), a playful touch that riffs on the brand’s own name. Beautiful touches abound, like historic doors reimagined from Florentine and Venetian palazzo styles; curated artworks that balance Old Masters with jolts of colour and irreverence; and glass chandeliers and sculptural armchairs that bring dramatic flourishes.

The Crepuscolo apartment is the largest, sleeping six, and also one of the most surprising. Originally a modest basement space, it now feels anything but; its vaulted ceilings are painted with an exuberant fresco. 'This unexpected artistic flourish, discovered during restoration, elevates the entire apartment, where a beautiful contemporary curved custom-made sofa sits centrally,’ explains Thomas Odenthal from This Time Tomorrow.

Residence 1 AM on the first floor is another standout; its private 20 sq m terrace and 18th-century tapestry in the living room elevate its sense of lived-in elegance, while the spacious bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms make it well suited for longer stays.

Minibar high?

Forget your standard-issue minibar. At This Time Tomorrow in Florence, there’s no branded chocolate bar sitting next to a miniature whisky bottle. Instead, each residence is stocked with a thoughtful selection of local treats and drinks that speak to place and palette. Coffee comes courtesy of Florence’s own Caffè Mokarico, while tea is sourced from La Via del Tè.

Higher-tier residences include a curated wine offering available for purchase, from Castello di Albola Chardonnay to Rocca di Montemassi Calasole Vermentino. A complimentary bottle of Chapelle Oubliée bubbles is also part of the welcome. Scattered throughout each apartment, guests might also find a few artisanal snacks or pantry staples, such as locally made cantucci, savoury rosemary crackers or olive oil from a nearby producer.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

There’s no on-site bar or restaurant, but wining and dining here is far from an afterthought. Breakfast is included in nearby cafés Pasticceria Blasio and Caffè Libertà. In the evening, guests can request an aperitivo delivered to their room – think seasonal nibbles and a crisp glass of something local – or book an in-residence private dining experience, courtesy of Roberta Del Prete and Oliver Betancourt, behind Florence’s acclaimed Cuculia. Served in the apartment or on the rooftop terrace, the multi-course menu bridges Italian finesse with Venezuelan vibrancy.

More casual food-led experiences are also on offer: think rooftop pizza-making classes with Il TipoZero’s founder or a flavour-packed neighbourhood tour guided by local insiders. Guests can tap into the knowledge of the in-house curator Eric Veroliemeulen, who has the kind of intel that dodges the obvious. Try Pantarei Osteria Pizza e Grill for a no-frills dinner, or the warmly old-school Trattoria Maga Magò.

Where to switch off

This Time Tomorrow in Florence organises activities that slow you down, plug you in, and peel back the layers of the city. The best way to enjoy leisure time is through immersive experiences. Case in point: guests can book a private art talk over a glass of sparkling wine with Jeremy Boudreau, head of art history at the British Institute of Florence. It will make your museum visits hit differently. Or meet American artist Jason Arkles at his riverside studio in a Renaissance palazzo. In a generous three-hour session, he reveals the secrets behind sculpting in Florence. There’s no spa or gym, but wellness or fitness experiences can be arranged with ease.

The verdict

Plenty of hotels promise an ‘authentic’ immersion in local culture. Unlike most, This Time Tomorrow in Florence does deliver. The formula hits a sweet spot: the privacy and polish of a luxury residence, complete with thoughtful amenities, service and high-spec design, paired with the kind of insider access you only get from someone who truly knows the city. That someone, in Florence, is Eric – the in-house curator who operates less like a concierge and more like a walking cultural compass. With a depth of knowledge and enthusiasm that never feels rehearsed, he turns each day into a choose-your-own adventure of art, food, views and surprises. This time tomorrow? I’d like to be right back there.

This Time Tomorrow in Florence is located at Viale Don Giovanni Minzoni, 3, 50129 Florence, Italy.

Against a painterly Florentine sky, Homme Plissé Issey Miyake staged a one-night-only runway show in the sprawling Renaissance gardens of Villa Medicea della Petraia, a former Medici residence on Monte Morello, just outside of the Tuscan city.

The occasion was Pitti Uomo, the annual menswear fair that takes place in Florence each season, which, alongside the main event at the Fortezza da Basso, invites a handful of guest designers to stage a runway show as part of the schedule (previous designers have included Raf Simons, Grace Wales Bonner and Martine Rose).

Homme Plissé Issey Miyake S/S 2026 at Pitti Uomo in Florence

The S/S 2026 show also marked the start of a new nomadic strategy for the Japanese label, which falls under the Miyake Design Studio umbrella. Shifting from Paris – where its spot on the schedule went to IM Men (as seen in January 2025), a more recent addition to the Issey Miyake roster – Homme Plissé will now show its collections at a series of locations around the world.

Aptly, the show required a journey of its own, with guests driven from Florence to the outskirts of the city by coach, before transferring to a fleet of black cars to navigate Monte Morello’s twisting roadways. On arrival, the Villa’s dramatic main courtyard – lined with floor-to-ceiling frescoes depicting the triumphs of the Medici family – was transformed into a playful exhibition space depicting the origins of the collection.

Amid sculptural displays featuring Homme Plissé’s boldly hued garments – distinct for their heat-pressed knife pleats, which do not crease when stored – was a series of colour swatches that the team had created through a number of journeys to Italy over the past year. The swatches included ’Cinque Terre Yellow’ and ‘Zucchini Flower Orange’, each derived from the painstaking colour-matching of real-life objects using paint palettes taken on the team’s travels (as well as to Florence, the trips took them across Italy, from Liguria to Venezia).

‘The collection was inspired by not only Florence but places throughout Italy – there are many beautiful cities and landscapes,’ a spokesperson for the Homme Plissé Issey Miyake design team told Wallpaper* (the brand runs without a formal head designer). ‘This collection is built upon colours found in the urban fabric and nature of Italian cities.’

As such, the paint brush became a symbol in the collection, appearing in a plissé painter’s vest in the collection’s opening look, while a series of degradé prints was inspired by photographs of paint brushes after they had been used. Other prints featured painterly splashes and swirls – designed to evoke the brushstrokes of the design team’s research pages – while a typically vivid palette spanned hues of lemon yellow, aubergine, and bold shades of blue.

Other nods to Italy came in a ‘linen-like’ iteration of the Homme Plissé pleated fabric, cleverly manipulated to give the appearance and feel of the airy summer fabric synonymous with Italian style. Meanwhile, playful double-breasted suits and jackets – also rendered in the plissé material – nodded towards the Italian tradition of sartorialism and tailoring, one particularly celebrated at Pitti Uomo each season.

The Homme Plissé Issey Miyake design team say that this approach is designed to ‘broaden our perspective... We believe that the knowledge and experiences gained this way will be the foundation on which we further build our design and making.’ As such, the new travelling concept is called ‘Open Studio’, started with an aim to ‘connect with local communities and a global creative scene’.

As the show took place, a series of sprinklers misted the gardens, part of an installation by Andrea Faraguna and Michael Kleine – a celebration of the grandeur of the everyday routines of life. Out of the mist, and against a picture-perfect Tuscan sunset, marched models in the collection’s closing looks – a series of parka-style jackets, surreally adorned with coat hangers.

Earlier in the day, the Homme Plissé Issey Miyake design team had demonstrated the magic of these items at a press preview – when folded away in a series of origami-like actions, they transform into a garment bag, ready for the next journey onwards. Where that next destination is – or when the team will get there – remains to be seen, but with this Pitti Uomo outing, this looks like a brand on an impressive forward trajectory.

pittimmagine.com
isseymiyake.com

A new Hermès store has opened on Via degli Strozzi in Florence. The space, which was designed by Rena Dumas Architecture Intérieure (RDAI), under the artistic direction of Denis Montel, replaces the Hermès store on Via Tuornabuoni, which has been home to the brand since 1991. The move reflects the maison’s need for more space to display products from its 16 metiers.

The Renaissance building that houses the new store dates back to 1578. Its new interior includes many emblematic design details, including the house's ex-libris motif in metal as you step inside; Hermès’ signature Faubourg pattern on the floor; and Grecques lighting originally from the Paris flagship at 24 Faubourg Saint Honoré.

Floors are finished in terrazzo, marble and marmorino and covered with colourful handmade rugs. An elliptical staircase leading to the first floor is finished in Hermès leather. Glazed terracotta tiles line the beauty area; copper lacquer covers the ceiling; and stucco, marble and ribbed paper wallcoverings are rendered in subtle colours – mainly terracotta and green. The windows, made entirely of straw by Milan-based designer Andrea Mancuso, depict the Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio and other Florentine monuments.

Elsewhere, a monumental billiards table, made by Hermès’ bespoke department, Ateliers Horizons, in Pantin, outside Paris, is finished in green felt with a green lacquered base. This, alongside a special case for carrying Tuscan wine, are two of the exceptional pieces made for the store.

Around 70 artworks adorn the walls above the displays – some of these are from the Émile Hermès collection and Hermès Collection of Contemporary Photographs, including images from Italian photographer Paola De Pietri and American Alex MacLean.

The Florence outpost is one of 12 Hermès stores in Italy, which is the brand’s most important market after France, where Hermès manufactures its products. The opening on Friday 14 February 2025 coincided with the maison reporting an impressive 17.6 per cent growth in fourth-quarter revenue. Interestingly, Hermès has fewer stores than it did ten years ago, but the locations tend to be larger.

Hermès Firenze
Via degli Strozzi, 16
Firenze
hermes.com

Fashion currently feels in a state of limbo. With a slew of creative directors taking up tenure in the coming months, menswear fashion week – which took place in Florence, Milan and Paris this January – felt somewhat subdued, with the distinct feeling that designers and houses were taking stock ahead of some seismic changes ahead (the number of debuts taking place from now until September has reached the double digits, including Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Sarah Burton at Givenchy, and Haider Ackermann at Tom Ford). As of yesterday morning, the changes kept coming: Kim Jones is set to leave his position as creative director of Dior Men after seven years at the creative powerhouse. As for his replacement, rumours abound.

The changes also meant a more scant schedule than in recent seasons: Gucci and Fendi were off the Milan Fashion Week schedule (both will show co-ed in February), as was JW Anderson, who has shown in the city since the summer of 2022. In Paris, Loewe was notably absent, as was Dries Van Noten (the latter will show its first collection by Julian Krausner next month), while Givenchy also chose to wait until womenswear fashion month to unveil Burton’s vision for the house. There were some additions, though: buzzy American designer Willy Chavarria swapped New York for Paris, and brought some much-needed energy, while Peter Copping debuted his men’s and womenswear collections for Lanvin on Paris Fashion Week Men’s final evening.

With all that said, there was still plenty to unpack from the month-long schedule of shows, which largely continued to move away from quiet, understated luxury towards a bolder, more eclectic wardrobe – Prada, Giorgio Armani, Louis Vuitton, Sacai and Magliano all proposed the idea of individual style over a prescribed uniform. There was also an intriguing re-examination of eveningwear, an influence of the outdoors, and some extraordinary expressions of craft. Meanwhile faux fur became the surprising fabric du jour.

Here, Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss unpacks the trends and takeaways from menswear month, which concluded in Paris this past Sunday.

Men’s Fashion Month A/W 2025: the trends and takeaways

Designers continued to embrace the eclectic

After Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ paean to individual style at their S/S 2025 womenswear show in September – complete with 49 radically different looks – the pair continued to eschew thematics for a bold assemblage of elements which Simons describe as akin to an ‘unconscious’ stream of thought. As such the collection teetered between the romantic – floral motifs, washed-out plaids, shrunken knits adorned with metal charms, boyish pyjamas – and something more ‘primitive’ in faux fur hoods and tabards, cowboy boots, and suits made from patchworked pieces of leather. Mrs Prada said it was about ‘instinct, passion and romance.... which is so crucial at the moment; it’s the season of artificial intelligence, and this is our move again towards humanity.’

It was a mood which infused much of the season, whereby designers largely rejected the quiet and understated in the pursuit of bolder expressions of personal style. At Giorgio Armani, the 90-year-old designer presented a collection of ‘elegance to live in’ which he said was a rejection of a ‘pre-packaged formula’ (as such, the collection moved between typically fluid tailoring, iridescent skiwear, and a multitude of enveloping textures and surface finishes). At Sacai, Chitose Abe drew inspiration from Maurice Sendak’s 1963 children’s book Where the Wild Things Are, in which the protagonist travels to a magical realm of beasts and creatures; in the collection, this meant a heady mash-up of faux fur, skiwear and the tuxedo, alongside playful collaborations with Carhartt and Ugg.

Opening Paris Fashion Week Men’s, Pharrell Williams drafted fellow designer Nigo to collaborate on a Louis Vuitton collection inspired by their personal archives – from CDs and toys to varsity jackets and sneakers – which were displayed in the Louvre showspace. The collection itself had a similarly eclectic mood, an uninhibited ride through the pair’s shared obsessions, from playful Japanese motifs to souped-up riffs on workwear and uniforms. Like at Prada, it was an invitation to experiment and play.

Evening wear was re-examined

‘I think it’s time to bring back the pleasure of wearing a suit, not because you have to, but for the fun of it,’ said Véronique Nichanian at the end of her A/W 2025 show for Hermès, which culminated with louche, 1970s-inflected tailoring. Indeed, a desire for dress up – and the continuing renaissance of tailoring – ran through the season, with designers embracing (or indeed deconstructing) traditional formal wear. At Wooyoungmi, a riff on the tuxedo opened a show which saw designer Madame Woo rework menswear archetypes (the suits were sculpted at the waist, and came adorned with 3D-appliqué flowers in tailoring wool), while at Sacai, the closing look saw black blazers sliced away to reveal their lining, trimmed with faux fur, or reconstructed into flared, peplum silhouettes. Meanwhile Kim Jones, in what would be his final collection for Dior Men, looked towards the ‘graphic and angular’ tailoring of Christian Dior’s mid-century Ligne H collection, presented in the mid-1950s. It led to some extraordinary pieces: a crossover single-breasted tuxedo, nipped at the waist; a ballooning black kimono jacket, or a white blazer adorned with a single white bow along its back. They continued Jones’ assertion that clothing must be precious to warrant your attention: ‘people want something that noone else has,’ he told Wallpaper* in 2024.

Faux fur was everywhere

Occasionally, a trend emerges in such a way that you feel convinced that designers must have plotted up the idea together beforehand. This season, it was faux fur, which began in Milan with Dolce & Gabbana’s shaggy 2000s-inspired hooded jackets (the collection was tilted ‘Paparazzi’, and the collection was an ode to celebrity street style) and continued in Prada’s S/S 2025 collection, whereby Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons said animalistic slices of faux fur represented an intuitive, primitive way of dressing (after all, the desire to swaddle oneself in fur and animal hides dates back to the neanderthals). In Paris, Auralee’s faux fur jacket – worn beneath an overcoat with a baby blue collar poking out from beneath – offered a more quotidien take on the trend, while at Saint Laurent, which closed the month with a surprise show, Anthony Vaccarrello showed a series of showstopping ‘fur’ coats which were actually constructed from thousands of feathers. In a similar vein, shearling was also in abundance throughout the season – Zegna, Hermès and Sacai all used the enveloping fabric in their collections – suggesting a collective want for protection against the elements (whether adverse weather or something more existential).

Designers were ready to head outdoors

Utility and pragmatism were a throughline of the season, with a number of designers looking towards outdoor-wear for inspiration (with the churn of world news continuing across fashion month, it was unsurprising that designers sought refuge in the call of the wild). A rugged collection from Japanese label Junya Watanabe MAN, featuring a series of burly, bearded models, set the tone with a collaboration with Filson, a historic American outdoorwear brand which dates back to 1897. Citing a desire for ‘something real’, Watanabe’s signature workwear silhouettes were presented alongside plaid shirts, waxed jackets, patchworked jeans and trucker hats (the sounds of bearded American folk singer Avi Kaplan provided the soundtrack). Both Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani had whole sections of outdoor-wear (the former in gleaming iridescent skiwear, the latter in piled-up fluoro hiking gear), while at Yohji Yamamoto and IM Men (an Issey Miyake offshoot), quilted fabrics were used to enveloping effect. Most intriguing, though, was Kiko Kostadinov’s latest collection, which he said was inspired by the stark, isolated natural environments of Hungarian director Béla Tarr. In his signature queasy colour combinations, models trudged across a runway of fallen leaves, wearing riffs on fleece hiking jackets, military overcoats and swaddling ponchos, while a pair of tabi sneakers (the latest in a collaboration with Japanese sportswear brand Asics) were this season’s most covetable footwear.

High-level craft remained key

Rick Owens titled his latest collection ‘Concordians’, a reference to the industrial Italian town, close to Venice, where he produces his collections. In its austerity, he called it a kind of creative monastery, a space for him and his teams to work on ideas in total isolation (‘this cloistered life seems to be what it takes to be able to focus on reaching for something weird and wonderful,’ he said). As such, his A/W 2025 collection was an impressive demonstration of craft, from the ‘megacrust’ jeans (made from bronze foil and wax painstakingly applied onto denim), to the sweeping tops made from millefeuille layers of hand-cut rubber, or the incredible boots adorned with scale-like layers of laser-cut leather (a collaboration with Victor Clavelly). Make no mistake, despite their purposeful appearance of rawness and dishevelment – a Rick Owens signature – this craft was couture level.

Indeed, a focus on high-level craft ran throughout the season, not least at Dior, whereby his latest couture line for men (interspersed with the ready-to-wear collection) melded impressive construction with breathtaking beadwork and embellishment, like a twinkling of crystals across the shoulder of a blazer that gave the appearance of having been caught in the rain. At Louis Vuitton, there were mink intarsia hoodies replicating the house’s checkerboard motif, while at Saint Laurent, the aforementioned ‘fur’ coats were constructed from delicate fronds of feathers painstakingly hand-applied. Meanwhile at Giorgio Armani, which will celebrate 50 years in business this year, the show ended with a black velvet blazer adorned with smatterings of sparkle, evoking a night sky dotted with stars.

In 2006, Martin Margiela brought his eponymous maison to Florence for a one-off show at the then-disused Teatro Puccini, a former cinema built to entertain workers of the vast tobacco factory next door. Presenting his ‘menswear line 10’ (led by designer Sebastian Meunier), the event was touted as a ‘white out’, with the theatre’s interior painted matte white for the occasion (white was long Margiela’s favoured hue). Models arrived on white scooters or in white limousines; in lieu of a traditional runway show, models briefly darted through the gathered crowd before picking up a drink at the bar and partying long into the night.

The occasion was part of Pitti Uomo, the historic Florentine menswear fair that each season invites a series of ‘guest designers’ to host runway shows across the city (running since the 1970s, previous editions have hosted Raf Simons, Martine Rose, Jean Paul Gaultier, Thom Browne, Telfar, Grace Wales Bonner, and several others). Two decades on, marking the beginning of men’s fashion month, it was the turn of MM6 Maison Margiela – the Maison Margiela offshoot which launched in 1997 as a more approachable offshoot of the avant-garde house – to play guest star at the event, as well as marking its very first dedicated menswear show (typically MM6 hosts a co-ed show in Milan during womenswear week).

MM6 Maison Margiela at Pitti Uomo A/W 2025

The MM6 team, which is run as a collective rather than having named designers, chose the Tepidarium del Roster – a 19th-century glasshouse in the city’s Giardino dell’Orticoltura – to host the A/W 2025 show. With standing-room-only (an echo of Martin Margiela’s anarchic early shows for the house) guests clamoured to see the nightlife-inflected looks, which MM6 described as ‘an exercise in masculine dressing, the MM6 Maison Margiela way... straightforward, item-driven and eminently not narrative.’

As such, the collection evoked a mood rather than anything more thematic, with various textures of black – from glossy leathers and plastified knits to opulent velvet – and narrow tailoring lending a satisfyingly sleazy, after-dark mood reminiscent of the louche on-stage uniforms of bands like Suede and Pulp (indeed, the latter’s ‘This is Hardcore’ provided the show’s soundtrack). The team said they had also been inspired by photographs of Miles Davis, as well as Leopold von Sacher-Maso’s sadomasochistic novel Venus in Furs. Leather gloves and wipe-clean fabrications were a nod to kink.

‘A sensual vision of the man as both the subject and the object of desire,’ the collective concluded of the show, which marked the continuing expansion of the label, which in recent seasons has enjoyed a resurgence, helped by the success of John Galliano’s vision for Maison Margiela (a role he left in December 2024) alongside buzzy collaborations with Salamon, Supreme and Timex. At the show’s end, the models dispersed into the crowd towards the bar, where the party continued. In the dark of the dancefloor, the clothes looked more than at home.

maisonmargiela.com
pittimmagine.com

Stella D’Italia is the latest offering from visionary hoteliers Matteo Perduca and Betty Soldi, adding a fourth gem to their collection of Florentine luxury bed and breakfast establishments. The hotel is placed in an extraordinary setting within the Palazzo del Circolo dell’Unione, which was designed by Renaissance architect and artist Giorgio Vasari. The grand 16th-century Palazzo is on Via Tornabuoni, in the elegant shopping district, surrounded by luxury fashion houses and minutes away from the Uffizi Gallery and the Duomo.

Step inside Stella D’Italia, Florence

There are twenty-four rooms over three floors of the building – each room is different and presents a unique experience of Florence. Furnished with an eclectic and colourful blend of the antique and the modern, the hotel has been designed to reflect the passions, interests and events that have shaped Italy’s rich cultural landscape. ‘Stella D’Italia was designed to inspire, intrigue and arouse curiosity’ says its creative director, Matteo Perduca, adding: ‘We are telling a story of Italy’.

Stella D’Italia gives the feeling of staying in a fabulous private home, with layers of fascinating detail and memorabilia to discover in the spaces of the Renaissance palazzo. The exquisite salone, which boasts an 18th-century wraparound fresco, is where guests can enjoy a delicious breakfast seated at tables hewn from numerous colourful varieties of Italian marble – it is airy and uplifting, with a tranquillity that belies the fact that the hotel is positioned at the heart of the bustling city. A lift to the top floor brings you to a breezy loggia terrace that is just the spot for relaxing aperitivo as you take in views of tiled rooftops and the Tuscan hills beyond.

The hotel’s story began nearly a decade ago when Perduca, a lawyer with a passion for interiors, art and craftsmanship, and Soldi, a celebrated calligrapher, opened their first small hotel, ‘Soprano Suites’. The couple are both native Florentines with an intimate understanding of the city and a deep connection to it. At the time, the Florentine Hotel scene was somewhat polarised: there were the dusty and dated old-fashioned options, and at the other end of the spectrum, luxurious and rather bland corporate brand offerings – yet there was little in between. Perduca and Soldi decided to explore something different; luxury boutique bed and breakfast hotels with a bold and vibrant character that honours the heritage and spirit of Florence.

Perduca and Soldi saw an opportunity to make use of spaces within beautiful buildings that had fallen empty and were ‘inhabited only by pigeons.’ Unique original features such as elaborate doorways and frescoes were preserved and integrated with the design of the rooms. They drew on their extensive knowledge of their native city, and their connections in the world of art and design to appoint artisans from various fields, commissioning bespoke textiles, leather-work, furniture and ceramics. The creation of these hotels has been a labour of love for Perduca, who has overseen every detail of their design himself; weaving together diverse strands of artistic expression, and melding old and new in a process he describes as ‘Renaissance thinking.’

The second iteration of their venture, Ad Astra, was awarded a Michelin Key this year, and a third, Oltrarno Splendid, opened its doors in 2019. The duo see their set of hotels as one magnificent hospitality project, threaded through the fabric of the city, with 67 rooms now in total. Each has its own distinct identity whilst they are all linked by a shared vision. The hotels are not simply wonderful places to stay, but part of the experience of Florence.

Stella D’Italia is located at Via de’ Tornabuoni, 7, 50123 Florence, Italy, stelladitaliaflorence.com

‘Slow and steady’ seems to be the motto of the Babini family, whose hotel arm, The Hospitality Experience, acquired its first property, the Londra Palace in Venice, in 1938, and its second, JK Place in Florence, in 2003. The latter has just emerged from a three-year tip-to-toe spruce-up and a barely noticeable rebrand involving the loss of the ‘JK’ – it’s now called The Place Firenze – ahead of the summer 2024 opening of a third property, Borgo Dei Conti in Umbria.

The Place Firenze faces Florence’s Piazza Santa Maria Novella

For The Place Firenze, the Babinis’ brief to Florentine studio Luigi Fragola Architects was a little counterintuitive – to transform the hotel from an international property to a local one. But in a world where even new hotel lobbies and guest rooms are beginning to look and feel a little homogenised, there is something to be said for the Babinis’ approach of introducing a touch of Florentine history and flavour to create a distinct sense of place.

For Fragola and his team, this meant taking inspiration from the geometric-patterned façade and colours of the ancient Santa Maria Novella church, which anchors the lovely pedestrianised square where the hotel sits.

‘Where possible, we used local artisans and materials, such as marbles and bespoke Rubelli fabric,’ he says. ‘We had a local artist re-create some fresco details, which you find in the church’s cloister, and we mixed antique Tuscan furnishings with modern glass pieces and paintings to create a contemporary yet classic look.’

The result is a thoroughly refreshed hotel that is awash with natural light, its 20 suites and guest rooms, and public spaces handsomely dressed in olive green and creamy hues, with the best rooms in the house facing the church.

And despite being in the heart of Florence and all its dining options, it is a little tempting to indulge in house chef Asso Migliore’s seasonal menu, which currently features Calvana beef tartare tossed with a salty sabayon, Sanbudello sausages paired with polenta and smoked provola, and ox cheeks braised in Chianti and Jamaican pepper. Adjourn to the ground floor bar for a post-prandial treat of no fewer than seven different Negronis.

Should you manage to tear yourself away, all of Florence lies within easy reach, not least the fabled Santa Maria Novella pharmacy, the Uffizi, and the storied retail strip via Tornabuoni.

Particularly worth a closer look is The Place of Wonders, the Babinis’ foundation devoted to protecting and sustaining traditional Italian creativity and craftsmanship. With little prompting, the hotel will organise visits to six workshops specialising in everything from cashmere production and silver-smithery to glass etching and scagliola, the dying art of fine plastering.

theplacefirenze.com

It has been 100 years since Italian shoemaker Salvatore Ferragamo opened his first store in Hollywood. Sitting opposite the palm-lined forecourt of Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre – which had opened a year prior in 1922, a grand picture house symbolic of cinema’s golden age – it was a mark of Ferragamo’s growing renown, having emigrated to the locale in 1915. Finding success creating footwear for the blockbusters of the era, including Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, he would go on to make shoes for a panoply of stars before returning to Florence in 1927 where he founded his eponymous house. Such was his fame, Ferragamo became known as ‘shoemaker to the stars’.

‘Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960’ exhibition in Florence

It is in the Tuscan city that a new exhibition celebrates the unique life of the designer, held at the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum located in Florence’s historic Palazzo Spini Feroni (Ferragamo the house continues to be based in Florence, now led by British creative director Maximilian Davis). Titled ‘Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960’, it leads viewers on a trip through both Ferragamo’s personal life and extraordinary archive, which continues to influence the house’s collections today. It marks a response of sorts to an earlier exhibition on the shoemaker, originally held in 1985 at Florence’s Palazzo Strozzi and subsequently touring the world, including stints at the V&A and the Los Angeles County Museum. Despite covering the same period, this new exhibition ‘offers different perspectives and content,’ says the house.

As such, the organisers have placed a greater focus on the creative and social milieu in which the various objects were created (previously, designs were simply displayed chronologically). Themes include Ferragamo’s talent as both entrepreneur and innovator, his bold use of colour (a rainbow wedge created for Judy Garland remains perhaps his most well-known design), and a lifelong commitment to artisanal craft. A section is even dedicated to his work with the anatomy of the foot, of which he would become an expert over the course of his career, while others recreate moments in his life and career. Together, the exhibition paints a portrait of a very modern designer and businessman, who was ahead of his time in astutely balancing commercial demands with creativity.

Other highlights in the exhibition include an array of unique archival objects including sketches, photographs and documents, as well as a multiplicity of shoes spanning the various decades of his career, housed in thematic rooms. These include the original shoes created for Ten Commandments at the Hollywood Boot Shop (the name of Ferragamo’s original venture), intricate raffia sandals from the 1930s, and an 18-karat gold sandal moulded by Florentine goldsmiths for one of Ferragamo’s American clients in the 1950s. The ornate style went on to inspire details in Davis’ A/W 2023 collection for the house, shown this past February in Milan – an apt example of the shoemaker’s continuing influence, and the blurred line between past and present that the new exhibition explores.

‘It’s how Ferragamo started, making shoes for films in the 1930s, and that grew into building relationships with movie stars like Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s,’ explained Davis at the time. ’I was interested in using their glamour and beauty, and their way of dressing, as a reference, but looking at how we could make it feel modern for today.’

‘Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960’ runs at the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum from October 27 2023 to November 4 2024.

museo.ferragamo.com

Florence’s bounty of extant heritage architecture has been a boon for hoteliers, in particular, who might be looking for suitably grand interiors in which to play house. Case in point is the quirky 38-room Calimala which has just opened in the city’s Centro Storico quarter.

The London- and Tel Aviv-based architect and interior designer Alex Meitlis has, as his canvas, the 19th century Palazzo degli Angeli whose distressed stone façade and etched sgraffito opens into a completely reimagined interior. The best rooms in the house are the corner suites where Meitlis has allowed some of the original stonework and oak window shutters to form the backdrop for an eclectic mood-board of burnt orange bed-bases, mirrored panels and Kvadrat textiles.

The public spaces, meanwhile, pick up the eclectic note with a swathe of paintings and photography by Young Turks such as Mosh Kashi and Carmel Ilan, all of which can be snapped up by covetous guests on check-out.

The hotel’s fifth, sixth and seventh floors are given over to Angel – a generous spread of restaurant, bars and lounge whose fused notes of Mediterranean and Italian flavours by head chef Alberto Bergami are anchored by an outdoor plunge pool. If that doesn’t thrill, there’s hardly cause to despair – Florence’s juiced-up food scene is steps away alongside the usual suspects of the nearby Uffizi and the Boboli Gardens. 

ADDRESS

Via Calimala 2
50123 Florence

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The Oltrarno Splendid lives up to its name, with 14 eclectic and individually-designed rooms, minutes from the Ponte Vecchio and historic centre of Florence.

The work of Francesco Maestrelli, Matteo and Marco Perduca and Betty Soldi, the minds behind two additional hotels in the Renaissance capital, each room is a mix of periods, pieces and styles, with commissioned artworks to boot.

Occupying the upper floors of an 18th century palazzo below the mirror-clad rooftop aerie that was once the studio of Flower Power artist and textile designer Susan Nevelson, a soignée selection of contemporary furnishings – think resin desktops by Gaetano Pesce and period 1950’s lamps – vie with original features, including rediscovered and carefully refreshed frescoes, and fading but fabulous 200 year-old Toile de Jouy wallpaper for attention. But it is the views across the rooftops from the in-room bathtubs that will sweep even the most world-weary off their feet. 

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

Via dei Serragli 7

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A 1950s building designed by Italo Gamberini in the middle of Florence has been renovated by local outfit AMDB Studio’s Daniela Bianchi into Glance, a swanky, modern 69-room boutique hotel. 

The interventions have been subtle, aided, in part by the well-conceived bones of the original design, though perhaps Bianchi’s most remarkable achievement was the insertion of a small swimming pool on the rooftop, an unusual enough feature for Florentine hotels, much less one this small.

The public spaces and rooms are furnished entirely by Lema, the Italian outfit providing customised tables and counterspaces alongside choice pieces from its Lema Casa collection, such as the free-forming Cloud sofa by Francesco Rota, coffee tables by Studio Kairos, and poufs by Officinadesign Lema.

The absence of an in-house restaurant is perhaps an indication of the hotel’s rating, but what of it. In Florence, it is an obtuse diner who goes hungry. On this point, it’s worth nothing that the hotel’s location in the San Lorenzo quarter can barely be bettered – the Accademia, Uffizi, Santa Maria Novella station, and the Duomo are all within striking distance, though it’s tempting to just loll indolently by the rooftop pool while contemplating the elegant lines of the Medici chapel. 

ADDRESS

Via Nazionale, 23

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An early 19th-century palazzo hidden away in the Oltrarno district, on the south bank of the Arno, has been converted into a grand but charming bed and breakfast that combines grand lofty spaces with quirky, stylish furnishings. 

While the AdAstra is set in a building and garden that belongs to the Torrigiani’s – an ancient Florentine family who are still in residence on the ground and second floors – the nine-room hotel has been completely overhauled by its four partner-owners who are also behind the nearby Soprarno Suites.

Architect and co-partner Francesco Maestrelli has stayed true to the bones of the building by framing light-washed spaces with the original lofty frescoed ceilings and faded parquet and stone floors, while another partner Matteo Perduca has worked with interior designer and dealer Giacomo Cuccoli to dress rooms with 1950s and 1960s Italian furniture, and pieces by Artemide, Flos and Vitsoe by Dieter Rams.

Arguably the best rooms in the house are 8 and 9, two bolt-holes hidden away in the private garden – the largest privately owned arbor in Florence – sprinkled with statues, manicured rose bushes and a neo-gothic tower that once served as an observatory, the inspiration, as it turns out, for the B&B’s name, which is Latin for ‘to the stars’. 

A breakfast of fresh ricotta, locally cured meats, quince jam and home made crostata sets the scene for a day’s jaunt through the nearby Palazzo Pitti and Uffizi Gallery, though there’s something to be said for staying in the ‘hood to explore its trove of artisanal ateliers, antique dealers, contemporary art galleries, goldsmiths and bars.

ADDRESS

Via del Campuccio 53

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Come rain, windstorms (upon arrival), or delightful pockets of winter sun, the biannual Pitti Uomo trade fair is always a mixed bag: a global fashion crossroads sandwiched between London Collections: Men and the Milan shows that celebrates all things denim and dandy on the menswear scene. Now in its 89th edition, Pitti has cemented its foundations as the world’s premier tradeshow, and rolls out an enticing programme of industry events each season with the help of a rotating roster of international designer guests.

With mounting overseas attention towards Seoul’s creative landscape, the Korean designer Juun.j seemed an apt choice as Pitti Uomo’s guest designer, who relocated his A/W 2016 show from the Palais de Tokyo in Paris to the Stazione Leopolda – a neutral, bunker-like space that rather reflects Italy’s brutalist side than its Baroque.

Vegetal leather notepad invites embossed with gilded keywords pre-empted the designer’s exultation of Florentine artisanal leatherwork, which manifested itself in exaggerated motocross shapes alongside long-line tailoring. Both were embroidered or patched with a barrage of aggressive logomania. ‘Viewless’, ‘paradigmless’, ‘genreless’, and ‘formless’ were some of the adjectives cobbled together from Juun’s show title ‘-less’, complementing the monochrome, futuristic uniform that he explored in monotonous iterations, often falling from an ungainly wide shoulder or ending in a swirl of slashed hemlines and long knitted scarves.

In a rousing finale, Juun.j called upon the 68-year-old Japanese painter Hajime Sorayama to embellish thick pile reverse shearling coats – one for every boy – with his futurist skeletons and robo-erotica, providing a striking graphic segue to the designer’s melting pot of cultures and clothes.

While the Pitti invitation shed new light on Juun.j’s oeuvre, it was into the dark that womenswear guest Marco De Vincenzo beckoned his guests – taking over the Teatro Niccolini for a demi-couture leather installation he entitled ‘In-Lusionem’. De Vincenzo crafted 21 unique outfits for the event, positioning harlequin-striped suede capes and bristling tinsel coats throughout the theatre in glass vitrines on stage or peering from the rainbow-lit balconies above. Celebrating his signature ombré colour effects, an optical illusion of gradient metallic theatre seats by Patrizio Travagli beckoned guests to the centre of the room, where upon sitting in the enclosure would find their reflection infinitely multiplied against the tinted glass panels either side.

Theatrics were the order of the day at the Adidas Originals show too, which unveiled their first collaboration with the Japanese streetwear label White Mountaineering. Here the clothing faced moments of serious obscurity, as an intricate system of pulleys lowered fluorescent triangles of blue beams around each model. The effect was of a futuristic body scan, matching designer Yosuke Aizawa’s alpine chevron addition to the three-stripe logo that was emblazoned across precisely taped and bonded track gear. The densely layered collection ensured Aizawa’s techno-Americana spirit remained assuredly intact, focusing on bulked-up down jackets, a blurred camo check combo, and whiffs of military styling – all elements that speak directly to the sportif evolution of 2016’s peacocking Pitti gentleman.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Juun.j’s website, Marco de Vincenzo’s website or White Mountaineering’s website

One look at La Ménagère, a new restaurant in the heart of Florence, is enough to know that history lurks behind each crumbling corner. A celebrated marketplace at the end of the 19th century filled with tableware and other goods for the home, La Ménagère has now been transformed into a restaurant, with areas for flowers, fragrances and a home accessories boutique to boot. Reimagined by the architecture and design office q-bic and filled with Karman lighting, La Ménagère’s interior has been carved into ten different spaces. A relaxed café, decorated with vintage furniture, doles out pastries and coffee, while the more glamorous bar offers up experimental cocktails. Adorned with fiberglass lanterns and concrete pendant lights suspended from its vaulted ceiling, the main restaurant is the space’s focal point. Helmed by the same team behind La Prova del Nove (another Florentine faithful) and operated by the Saffi hospitality training institute, the restaurant serves fine Italian fare with a reverence for ingredients.

ADDRESS

Via De’Ginori, 8R

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Successfully straddling the line between luxe and classic, Soprarno Suites is a welcome addition to an often monotonous Florentine hotel scene. With 11 individually-designed rooms, the boutique bed and breakfast - based in Oltrarno - was developed by city natives Betty Soldi and Matteo Perduca who have filled the space with antique furniture and bespoke works of art from their nearby boutique. Original ceiling frescoes, golf leaf covered sideboards and in-room baths tubs are a few of the subtle nods to Italianate opulence throughout, while the supply of homemade pastries and a library teeming with books for guests to peruse is a reminder that this intimate property is as much a home for travellers as it is an elegant retreat.

ADDRESS

Via Maggio 35
Florence
Italy

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The latest addition to the Ferragamo family's prized hotel brand, the Lungarno Collection, is another Florentine gem, the group's sixth property in the city. Located centrally along the banks of the Arno river, a short distance from the storied Ponte Vecchio bridge and other celebrated landmarks, the hotel is a glamorous throwback to 1950s Florence, designed by local architect Michele Bönan. An understated palette of neutral greys and mushroom hues, along with bespoke handcrafted furniture in warming woods, are offset by brass and marble accents, setting the tone for a sumptuous interior inspired by the birth of Italian haute couture. Comprising a range of 36 suites and studios, each room comes complete with its own kitchenette. Alternatively, a selection of local delicacies is on offer at the hotel's restaurant Caffè dell'Oro, where you can sit back and indulge in the romantic rooftop views and the countryside beyond.

ADDRESS

4 Lungarno Acciaiuoli
50123
Florence
Italy

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