When he was still a teenager Alessandro Sartori inherited 20 or so suits plus other garments from the wardrobe of his late father, Giuseppe, who was a designer of technical machinery for textiles production. Sartori the elder’s work serviced the industry in Biella, Piedmont, where Ermenegildo Zegna was founded in 1910, a company where in turn Sartori the younger has been the artistic director (aka designer in chief) since February 2016.
Ten years later, today’s show was the house’s first under newly appointed CEO Edoardo Zegna, a great-grandson of founder Ermenegildo. In the foyer of the showspace we saw the founder’s original desk and homburg hats, and in the huge oval closet that stood at the heart of the runway four generations’ worth family garments including Zegna’s very first tailored jacket dating from 1930. Generational bloodlines (by no means always exclusively connecting males) are woven through Zegna as much as any other family run heritage house.
“I thought it was very interesting to speak about the family wardrobe,” said Sartori pre-show. “Not only because you borrow garments or your son borrows them, but that you can leave your pieces to be borrowed. It is the same as for a collector of books, or watches. The wardrobe becomes a repository for collectors.” Sartori’s metaphorical wardrobe pointed to a borderline metaphysical menswear philosophy: that our clothes, when made well enough to stand the wear of time, can become quotidian totems or wearable heirlooms that connect generations while also inspiring each new wearer to inhabit them in a way individual to their own moment and personal taste.
This was a message that seemed particularly tuned towards the 70 or so house VICs for whom this show (and the ensuing showspace dinner) were just parts of a several day immersion into the Zegna-sphere. However its potential resonance seemed pretty broad too.
The collection that resulted from Sartori’s thinking this afternoon marked a notable shift away from the luxurious and very contemporary semi-formal uniform that he has perfected over several seasons, towards a more playful embrace of different period style touchstones. The heavy checks and deep russet and brown tones in cardigan coats and sweaters was a disciplined nod to the lurid contrasts of the 1970s. The broken box pleats at the back of much of his outerwear were specifically sourced from the originally Tirolean style of loden coat historically favored in Piedmont and other northern Italian regions. Double-breasted suiting spoke directly to some of the vintage pieces in the wardrobe behind the runway, and yet was constructed with an ingenious arrangement of its reversible leather-covered buttons to be fastened three ways; at the left, the right, and symmetrically in the middle.
As his father’s son, and his own man too, Sartori communicated as ever a fresh portfolio of material innovations that included printed herringbone and cashmere shearling. What felt just as innovative within this Zegna collection, was the assertion of so many different characters, potentially across different times, within the span of a collection that seemed as emotionally driven as it was technical. This was a collection that deserved collectors.
