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Pitti 103 Style Breakdown—What I packed and how it went

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January 20, 2023
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While there’s nothing per se stopping you from packing way more clothes than you need for a week in Florence for Pitti, walking from the train station to your apartment on medieval cobblestone streets rolling more than one large suitcase is cumbersome to say the least. And I’m a little too cheap to pay a taxi to take me to my apartment.

So you plan each day’s outfit as precisely as you can, based on weather forecasts as close to your departure as possible. The good news for everybody at Pitti this January was that the rain that was forecast everyday of Pitti did not materialize, giving way to warm sunshine instead.

I’m glad to say that nothing I took with me went unworn, save for spare socks and underwear. I could’ve been a little more efficient with what I took, but it’s also not a bad idea to have an extra item or two in case something gets stained unexpectedly.

So here are my four daily Pitti outfits, the evening outfits I changed into, plus what I wore the weekend after. I’ll dive into how they performed, and what I’d possibly change.

Night 0—Pre-Pitti Black Tie Gala with The Sartorial Club

Photo from The Sartorial Club event, courtesy @alexandru_leteanu

Breakdown

(Because of a 5-hour delay on one of my flights, I arrived to Florence with no extra time to spare, so I threw this on quickly. The navy polo is the shirt I had traveled in, which I decided to just keep wearing because I realized on the plane I’d forgotten my bow tie. So I quickly threw on the scarf, jacket, trousers and shoes and walked to the event, arriving about 30 minutes late. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of this outfit.)

  • Spier & Mackay navy shawl lapel dinner jacket
  • Spier & Mackay tuxedo trousers
  • Navy Eidos Lupo polo
  • Drake’s lightweight navy scarf
  • Yanko black suede Belgians

What worked

  • Peter Zottolo complimented me on it
  • Going tonally navy is fraught because of the potential for clashing undertones—but I think these all worked well together

What didn’t work

  • As far as creative black tie goes, I think this actually turned out OK

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Day 1—Full-blown coat and tie

Breakdown

  • Gray herringbone Chiaia coat
  • Drake’s lightweight scarf + killim print pocket square
  • Eidos green sportcoat
  • Ambrosi mid-gray flannel trousers
  • Spier & Mackay blue reverse stripe OCBD
  • Brooks Brothers gold ancient madder tie
  • Cobbler Union grain leather split toe shoes

What worked

  • All the colors, patterns and fabrics worked really well together
  • As far as winter Pitti goes, layers are king
  • When it got warm in the sunshine, the sportcoat was enough to stay warm hanging around outside

What didn’t work

  • As a photographer, a big/long coat + scarf can get in the way
  • If you go inside the fair, lugging around your long coat is cumbersome
  • The shoes were not great for being on my feet and walking miles on cobblestone all day long. I didn’t wear these shoes again the whole week because they started to produce blisters on my pinky toes.

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Night 1—Full-blown black tie

Breakdown

  • Spier & Mackay navy velvet dinner jacket + Tuxedo trousers
  • White royal oxford French cuff shirt
  • Velvet bow tie (borrowed from Erik Mannby)
  • Yanko via Skolyx black kudu suede Belgian loafers

What worked

  • The non-tuxedo-shirt looked sufficiently tuxedo-y enough not to be noticeable (I didn’t own a tux shirt before and ran out of time to get one, so I wore an old shirt I had already)
  • The matte finish of the Belgians worked well with the velvet
  • I could go for a slightly wider lapel, but the shawl DJ from Spier & Mackay is really quite nice

What didn’t work

  • I didn’t wear a coat, so walking around that evening after the Scarosso and Plaza Uomo parties was freezing cold
  • I should really get some patent leather shoes for use with black tie, even if they’re Belgians (maybe with the fancy little bow)
  • I forgot my bow tie, though the one Erik lent me was velvet so that worked pretty well

Shop these or similar pieces

Day 2 + Night 2—Turtleneck and Barbour


Photo via @al.photographers

Breakdown

  • Barbour Ashby coat
  • 18 East navy chunky merino turtleneck
  • Spier & Mackay heavy canvas chinos
  • Snuff suede chukka boots

What worked

  • The Barbour was small and lightweight enough to remove inside and carry without much hassle
  • The turtleneck was plenty warm
  • The only time it rained while I was outdoors was the night I had this on, so I felt prepared
  • The heavy canvas chinos matched the rugged vibe of the other two pieces perfectly

What didn’t work

  • I’m not sure that the Spier & Mackay chino cut is for me—something is off about the silhouette, and the normal rise feels a little low for my taste.
  • My Barbour jacket is perfectly broken-in—but not particularly rain-resistant anymore (I should re-wax it, I suppose)

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Day 3 + Night 3—Drake’s cotton suit + lightweight scarf

Photo shot by Alex Blake (@ablake.photos)

Breakdown

  • Drake’s “Easyday” cotton twill suit
  • Proper Cloth heavy Oxford cutaway collar shirt
  • Brooks Brothers navy-with-silver rep stripe tie
  • Drake’s lightweight wool scarf
  • Snuff suede chukka boots

What worked

  • In the sunshine, the cotton suit was plenty warm
  • The lightweight scarf helped in the early hours when there was a bit more chill in the air
  • No extra layers meant it was easy to go into/out of the fair without having anything to carry around—helpful when doing photography

What didn’t work

  • Nothing, this was a great fit for the weather, for what I was doing all day and where I went.

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Day 4—Herringbone coat + Robe sweater

Breakdown

  • Eidos gray herringbone Chiaia raglan coat
  • Eidos navy belted cardigan
  • Proper Cloth washed chambray cutaway-collar workshirt
  • J.Crew 770 straight fit dark-rinse Japanese stretch selvedge denim
  • Snuff suede chukka boots

What worked

  • The belted cardigan can look robe-y, but under a coat looks really cool
  • The denim has like 1% stretch, so they’re not so stiff as normal selvedge denim

What didn’t work

  • Nothing, this was a killer fit and I should’ve worn it earlier in the week

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Post-Pitti Saturday—Cotton jacket + Canvas chinos

Breakdown

  • Drake’s cotton twill jacket
  • Ezzelino navy cashmere/merino/silk pullover
  • Proper Cloth white Thomas Mason shirt
  • Spier & Mackay heavy canvas chinos
  • Snuff suede chukkas

What worked

  • It was the perfect warmth for the day, which was sunny and in the mid-50°s F

What didn’t work

  • Nothing, but I wish I had had another pair of shoes to rotate these chukkas with that were comfortable enough

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Post-Pitti Saturday night—Green Eidos jacket + charcoal twill Ambrosi trousers

(I met up for dinner on Saturday night with a couple guys who were still around, so I threw on some flannel trousers and changed into my dark green Eidos jacket for dinner. I left the navy sweater on.)

I only have this selfie of myself waiting in line at the Swatch store to buy my brother a MoonSwatch

Breakdown

  • Gray herringbone Chiaia coat
  • Eidos green sportcoat
  • Ambrosi charcoal gray flannel trousers
  • Proper Cloth Thomas Mason luxury broadcloth white shirt
  • Ezzelino navy cashmere/merino/silk pullover
  • Snuff suede chukkas

What worked

  • Darker colors feel right at home at night, so switching out the cotton khaki jacket for dark fuzzy wool, and the off-white chinos for dark flannel was perfect
  • For the weather, it was the right choice as well, since it got cooler once the sun set

What didn’t work

  • Snuff suede isn’t quite dark enough to look great with charcoal gray flannels—too much contrast, and especially since the entire rest of my outfit was dark (navy sweater, dark green jacket), they were the lightest thing, drawing attention to my feet. Dark brown suede would be better if I were going for suede. Ideally I’d have worn my dark brown pebble split toes. But I just couldn’t wear those, it would’ve been too painful.

Shop these or similar pieces

Recap

Winter Pitti is the most fun because you get to bring layers—scarves, coats, sweaters! The fact that it didn’t rain was a huge boon for everybody there. The cool-not-freezing temperatures also were a benefit, because it meant if you needed to, you could forego a coat outside, making it easier to pop into and out of buildings without lugging a big thing around.

In all, Pitti 103 was a major success for me personally, and I was pleased that my clothes met the challenge as well.

(Help support this site! If you buy stuff through my links, your clicks and purchases earn me a commission from many of the retailers I feature, and it helps me sustain this site—as well as my menswear habit ;-)  Thanks!)

Shop my clothing from this post and every other post on the Shop My Closet page. If you’re just getting into tailored menswear and want a single helpful guide to building a trend-proof wardrobe, buy my eBook. It doesn’t cost that much and covers wardrobe essentials for any guy who wants to look cool, feel cool and make a good impression. Formatted for your phone or computer/iPad so it’s not annoying to read, and it’s full of pretty pictures, not just boring prose. Buy it here. 

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