By SUZY MENKES
MILAN — Denim and cashmere for a pair of luxe jeans, shearling and cashmere for a coat or a down jacket worked with cashmere — it seems that hybrids are the height of fashion. They are appearing in almost every show as a way to enrich apparently simple clothes and to highlight Italian craftsmanship.
It was good to see Angela Missoni introducing high tech fabrics alongside the more traditional slouchy thick-knit cardigans at the Missoni show Sunday — especially as an airy puffa vest worn under heavy knitting. When a down jacket was worked in shaded nylon jacquard in the moss green and chestnut of a winter landscape, it brought Missoni’s poetic vision to 21st-century fabrics.
There is always a sense that the Missoni man is casual, even messy, but between the gardener’s hats and Converse Auckland Racers on the feet, the mix had a lot of charm. Were there a few too many of those bulky cardigans? Always. But they made a good basis for new ideas.
Although cashmere is the cash cow at Ermenegildo Zegna, like other Italian brands with exceptional fabric skills, the melding of materials has become an art form.
Fendi men’s wear, displayed Sunday in a dramatic presentation as a runway-long line of sculptural mannequins, also had fabric combinations that flowed like a river from wool to fur.
The scene was set at Ermenegildo Zegna for a world that encompasses more than the sartorial tailoring on which the company built its fame. Screens showing a snowy exterior and the roaring fire of a snug interior positioned the collection toward the high end, technically inventive sportswear that has been such a hit with the companion brand Z Zegna.
The inventiveness is not, therefore, in cut or shape — although the Zegna pieces were well proportioned and modern from tailored coats to thick-knit cardigans. Instead, it was the production of its own wool mill and a newly acquired silk mill that came up with the new twist.
The idea of making a tuxedo in a furry fabric — in fact, a brushed alpaca first introduced by for women in the 1970s — might sound freaky. But the effect was elegantly luxurious. The same is true of “cashco,” or cashmere corduroy, that is now a Zegna staple.
“We want to make silk the cashmere of summer,” said Gildo Zegna, the brand’s chief executive, explaining how each base fiber can be linked to other options. That even includes men’s bags and carryalls with different fabrics on either side.
The concept is of a collection that, while researched and made with impressive inventiveness, needed to be touched by human hands to be appreciated and understood.
“We have reconstructed it completely,” said Massimiliano Giornetti at Salvatore Ferragamo , referring both to the sharp cutting into soft fabrics like velvet and to a new configuration for the brand’s show Sunday that let the light shine in.
Both were symbolic of a new relevance and energy that the designer has brought to Ferragamo, attracting a young clientele like the Hollywood star Ryan Gosling and the Korean actor Yoo Ji Tae who was sitting front row.
What’s the difference? The answer is in giving classic a shot of originality, whether it was the suffused colors from rose wine to burgundy, herringbone tweed with a twist of imagination or the silvered metallic half-moon strip on every hand-painted and polished shoe. Silver? With such discreet and stylish branding touches, Ferragamo should hit gold.
“Everything is tonal,” said Silvia Venturini Fendi, referring to what seemed like a simpleFendi collection of mostly casual pieces — until you understood the workmanship behind them.
“It’s about going back to navy, but with workmanship so that the fabrics have texture, moving from wool to shearling or shaved mink.”
Jersey knitwear morphed from fine to thicker areas within a single garment and a sporty nylon jacket would, in fact, be lined with shearling or a knit would be allied with suede. The idea stretched to evening wear, with a mink tuxedo looking as streamlined as cloth.
Perhaps only Italian companies, with their exceptional fabric know-how, could either envision or create these hybrids. For, while they might be imagined as lumpy or weird, the opposite was true at Fendi.
You could not have known or even perceived the compositions until they were explained — making Ms. Fendi’s decision to stage a presentation a smart move for the company.
With stealth wealth ever more the demand of the global male, the idea of hiding the work and the fine fabrics that go into a reversible leather and knitwear jacket is on target for modern times.
