Pitti Uomo will return live and in-person again this June, as the Italian trade show looks to reclaim its pre-pandemic status as one of the best men’s trade events in the world.
Slated to run from June 14-17 at Florence’s historic Fortezza da Basso, the trade fair is returning to a solo show format this season after a temporary run of combining it with the Pitti Bimbo and Pitti Filati fairs.
As the men’s industry prepares for another in-person fair, see here a round up of all the events, fashion shows and happenings taking place in Florence this June.
Grace Wales Bonner has been named the next guest designer of Pitti Uomo. The English-Jamaican designer will showcase the spring/summer 2023 collection from her eponymous label, Wales Bonner, with a fashion show. Specific event details are not yet known.
This announcement marks a return of Pitti’s slate of fashion show events that happen in tandem with the menswear trade fair. Guest designer brand Ann Demeulemeester was originally scheduled to be the first company post-pandemic to host a special event at Pitti during the January show. The brand’s participation was later postponed to the June edition at the time due to the spread of Omicron.
Bonner launched her collection following her graduation from Central Saint Martins in 2014. Established as a menswear brand, Wales Bonner’s soulful tailoring soon expanded to womenswear and has received numerous awards including Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards (2015), the LVMH Young Designer Prize (2016), Winner of the British Fashion Council/ Vogue Designer Fashion Fund (2019) and CFDA International Men’s Designer of the Year (2021).
Pitti Uomo has announced it will return to a solo show format this June after a temporary run of combining it with the Pitti Bimbo and Pitti Filati fairs dedicated to childrenswear and yarn-makers, respectively.
At the onset of the COVID-19 health emergency, the Florentine trade fairs’ organizer moved online with the Pitti Connect digital space, where virtual editions of its trade shows were hosted for over a year and a half until June 2021.
Last summer, Pitti Immagine reprised its physical format combining for the first time the three fashion-related shows under its umbrella. For the two editions since July 2021, the three trade fairs were held concurrently, forcing Pitti Filati to temporarily relocate to the Stazione Leopolda venue, a necessary move that didn’t entirely please exhibitors.
Impacted by the pandemic, attendance and exhibitors’ numbers at the two most recent in-person shows were lower than pre-pandemic. In January, for instance, 548 brands presented their fall 2022 collections, drawing around 8,000 visitors, with about 4,000 of those visitors accounting for buyers. This figure is up, however, from the June 2021 edition, which saw a total of 6,000 visitors. For context, the last pre-pandemic Pitti Uomo, which took place in January 2020, saw 36,000 visitors.
But ultimately, Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine, was pleased with the turnout in January. “We are happy with the way things went at the Fortezza da Basso,” Napoleone said in a statement. “Together with the new collections, they brought great energy and passion. I also thank the Italian and international buyers who decided to travel in this particularly complex moment and have done so with the right spirit, cautious but calm and determined.”
