Pitti Uomo 109: Menswear in Motion, Looking Forward Again
Pitti Uomo 109 arrives in Florence as a refined stress test. While menswear grapples with geopolitical tensions, jittery markets, and an increasingly protectionist America, the Fortezza da Basso – from January 13 to 16 – becomes the stage for a collective exercise in style, one that tries to restart desire, orders, and imagination. Not by chance, the theme is Motion: movement as a vital necessity, even before it becomes a slogan. There are 750 brands taking part, nearly half of them international, presenting their Autumn/Winter 2026/27 collections at a particularly complex moment: in 2025, Italian menswear saw a 2.1% drop in turnover and exports slipped back into negative territory. Pitti responds by strengthening the presence of international buyers – thanks to the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the ICE Agency – and by launching a new area dedicated to artistic perfumery, the latest object of desire for contemporary men, increasingly self-aware and pleasure-driven.
Visitors are welcomed by Ancient/New Site, a monumental installation by Marc Leschelier: 18 concrete-canvas monoliths that transform the central square into a ritual-like landscape, somewhere between archaeological ruin and urban rendering. Inside and beyond the Fortezza, between shows and presentations, Say Who’s photographers will document the event across Florence, moving through its most iconic crossroads and into side streets, where true style often hides.
Among the guests, Hed Mayner, this season’s guest designer, brings his sculptural, almost architectural approach to tailoring, while Japan sets the pace with Soshi Otsuki and Shinya Kozuka, blending bubble-economy nostalgia with poetic workwear. In short, Pitti doesn’t promise miracles, but practices a form of cultural resistance. And today, in menswear, that already says a lot.
Text: Germano D’Acquisto
Photos: Niccolò Campita
