Berluti.. Cerruti 1881 ..fall 2015 men's

Apparently it is no longer in fashion to speak favorably about collections that are... oh those dirty words… salable and wearable! In defiance of this current trend, let’s speak of Berluti and Cerruti and despite the rhyme their genealogy couldn’t be more different.

First there is Berluti which began as a shoe brand and once snatched up by LVMH, it became the pet project or brainchild of one Antoine Arnault… oh you recognize the name ... well much to his credit Arnault Jr. wasn’t so concerned with the latest and greatest but more concerned about launching a collection aimed at chic stylish men of any age… the horrors!! “Either you are a gentleman of great taste and style or you are a mystery gendered wannabe fashion victim."... He and Sartori chose the former rather than the latter!

The brand has gone from small presentations to full balls out shows and this collection if by the largest and most comprehensive to date. The evolutionary collection is beautifully executed and realized by Alessandro Sartori who has expanded the offering exponentially without too much of a problem. The clothes are modern yet classic, conservative yet trendy but above all they speak to their eventual wearer. The silhouettes are from lean and sharp to classic, from double breasted to single button and everything in between. The essence of the collection is that these are massaged classics that have no expiration date.

Now it’s time to speak of a classic brand, Cerruti 1881,  that has been around for decades and has tried several times to resurface I its original incarnation.. Menswear! We needn’t go back to the brands textile roots. But!! Now that it’s mentioned... The lineage/development is much the same as Zegna who began its apparel as an outgrowth of its textile business. Actually, the paths are quite parallel if not overlapping.

Aldo Maria Camillo has massaged the classics and taken them a step further by adding to them and taking a more edgy stance. The button stance is higher, the pants are a bit more fashion and the general tenure of the collection is that it skews younger but not in the extreme. Favorite pieces include a suede coat that may have started out as a jean jacket, the classic reefer with suede details or maybe we call it texture blocking or the toggle coat that is offered both short and long with suede or leather accents (texture blocking). Again, what comes to mind is nuance and not outrageous designs for no one to wear. The question remains if the brand can steer a steady course and not veer off the lands of the super trendoidal. Right now, the path seems clear, the DNA is there and the vocabulary is spoken quite literally.