Massimo Giorgetti, a bona fide creature by the sea (he was born and bred in Rimini, a popular Italian summer resort on the Adriatic coast), recently came under the spell of mountain life: ‘At my green age of 44 years old, after spending a lifetime in swimsuits on the beach, I have to admit that I fell in love with alpine landscapes and great heights – and the lives of famous mountaineers, ‘he said of Zoom. “They were men as adventurous as they were attractive – which is always a good combination.”
Giorgetti recently spent a lot of restoration style in the valleys of northern Italy, and was completely struck by their beauty. “Mountains are about loneliness, oxygen, breath – their energy is so strong,” he thought. In the MSGM men’s collection, he wanted to convey the powerful feeling of experiencing such a naturalistic scope.
‘Vertigine’ (the Italian translation of Vertigo) was the title of the collection, a word that captures the dizzying feeling that can cause great heights; but it was also chosen by Giorgetti as a metaphor for what we had experienced in quarantine in our circumstances — an unsettling sense of loss, almost to the point that we would fall off balance. Although he is naturally endowed with copious doses of optimism, Giorgetti acknowledged that times are tough, and that #pandemic fatigue takes its toll. But the fact that he was able to escape even shortly after his beloved mountains is an energetic antidote – partly adrenaline-boosting, partly calm introspection.
The collection looked at the winter sports repertoire, between high-performance techno pieces and retro-refined sophistication. Heritage deliveries are powered by MSGM’s energetic streetwear and flavored with a 90s underground vibe. Tweed shorts with a vintage St. Moritz feeling was worn under excessively inflated down pockets in lysergic colors; postcards of luxury ski resorts from the thirties have been converted into enlarged prints. Denim pants and anoraks are lined with outlines of the Mont Blanc silhouette – they look cool with XXXL boxer shorts in striking colors, printed in abstract motifs that mimic the textures of rocks and the icy reflections of glaciers.
The atmosphere of the collection presents images that suggest a cool trippy rave in the mountains as a healthy snow picnic in the Swiss Alps. The feeling was enhanced by the electronic soundtrack of the online-streamed video presented today during Milan Men’s Fashion Week – a pulsating, high-octane affair composed and performed by Italian artist Nico Vascellari and his band Niños du Brasil.
Giorgetti was asked to elaborate on the creative concept behind the video, which depicts models randomly walking under a blizzard (perhaps a hopeful future scenario after the exclusion of boys on their way to an unknown party venue in the mountains?). opted for the artistic collaboration that was regularly part of his fashion practice: ‘I wanted something normal. Honest. Simply. Experimentation is good and well. But nothing can beat a good, old-fashioned, willful fashion show, ”he said. “Even under the snow it will work out.”