Vestirsi da uomo 2012

Creator of some of the most memorable fashion imagery, Marc Ascoli has partnered Yohji Yamamoto, Jil Sander, Chloé, Hugo Boss and Martine Sitbon. He has also worked with photographers of the calibre of Nick Knight, Peter Saville, Mario Testino and Paolo Roversi, but he likes to launch young unknown talents, such as Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot. Of his VdU he says, “I want the guests to spend a moment apart from reality and rethink fashion, as they wander through my curious display. I want to surprise all of their senses, and make them feel like children again”.

The twelve VdU brands express a fashion that is totally on-trend and very popular with the market, in a process that shuns excess or style breakages to embrace a modern reinterpretation that often features classic shapes - a vital idea of continuity. We asked them to tell us their three personal rules of male elegance and their reference icon.

The garden of Villa Favard, a neo-renaissance residence overlooking the Arno on the slopes of Bellosguardo, is now inhabited by mysterious anthropomorphic rabbits wearing formal, elegant, timeless suits in shades of grey and black. A tribute to David Lynch, the sitcom Rabbits and the film INLAND EMPIRE, the rabbits invite guests to enter the villa.

A small stage set between golden frames, plasterwork and crystal, hosts a series of characters who play with their masks of crinoline and lace. Men or animals? They evoke fantastic, fairytale, supernatural creatures with an indistinct identity, on a fine line between male and female. Elements from men’s fashion, like constructed jackets and tailored trousers are contaminated by imaginative accessories and garments, big circular skirts and little tulle veils, cloth redingotes and lightweight shirts, distilling aesthetics that go beyond the concept of gender. 

At the foot of the staircase a widow dressed all in black suddenly appears, lucid madness guiding her gestures and movements. She follows the guests, whispers mysterious words to them, seduces and frightens them. Perhaps she is in memory of the mysterious Baroness Fiorella Favard of Langlade, who in 1858 commissioned the architect Poggi to build this ostentatious Palazzo. The part of the not quite so merry widow is played by Raphaelle Boitel, a famous performer from the Club Silencio in Paris, designed by Lynch himself.

A cornucopia of characters dressed in dazzling colours all intent on reading and playing, seated around a table. Shafts of light shine through the windows and light up bizarre hats, colourful masks and human figures that alternate with rabbit-men, some look like pictures “hung” over the fireplace, others walk about this huge frescoed room. An explosion of colour for the eccentric knitted creations by Polimoda students that mix with clean-cut minimal garments for a continual fusion of real and purely imaginary elements.

The thread that runs through all the tableaux is the music composed by Frederic Sanchez, which invades the Villa and leads us to the first floor.

The series of tableaux closes as it started with figures of rabbits coming and going through 3 doors. Here the outfits are more real: iconic garments by well-known brands are brightened up by crocheted rainbow trousers. Almost a work in progress to reveal a new concept of male elegance where mixing & matching and playful styling are an essential element. A finale that symbolically closes this second act of Vestirsi da Uomo.

Light Design by Thierry Dreyfus
Set Design by Archivio Personale
Sound Design by Frederic Sanchez


The project was made thanks to the precius and valuable collaboration of the Fashion design students of Polimoda under the supervision of Patrick De Muynck.

Bianca Allen | Jessica Alvino | Sofia Antonielli | Giulio Bianchi | Caterina Biasuzzi | Fulvia Bottari | Eleonora Bruno | Gabriele Calvetti | Nicola Carissimo | Pia Chukerbuti | Ilenia Durazzi | Ji Eun Bae | Nozumu Fujiwara | Alessandra Giancecchi | Lucia Giolito | Yojiro Kake | Mantani Kazuna | Glenda Lagormarsino | Giacomo Lattari | Ruth Lilja | Riccardo Monagheddu | Marco Panconesi | Giulio Parigi | Patricia Perales Garcia | Adriana Rasi | Francesca Riva | Enrica Sablone | Federica Scalia | Irene Silvestri | Xueying Sun | Hinako Tanaka | Alessandro Tavanti | Marta Tesi | Paola Ye | Yanjie Zeng  | Jailing Zheng|


A very special thank you to Linda Loppa with Eva Karhanova

Thanks to Nathalie Ours