At least one thing qualifies Italo Zucchelli as a natural heir to Calvin Klein s legacy, and that s his appreciation of the male form as Calvin defined it (with, of course, a whole lot of help from Bruce Weber). In much the same way that Balenciaga used to reassure his clients he d give them a perfect body with the cut of his cloth, Zucchelli, in his latest collection, offered illusions of well-defined masculinity: a chunky white sweater with gridiron shoulders; trousers cut on the bias to emphasize the slender length of a leg; a monochromatic mélange of suit and shirt, which helped to elongate the silhouette. There has always been a futuristic sleekness to Zucchelli s work, but here his use of fabrics that responded to the body s heat crossed over to sci-fi realms. A vestigial rib cage developed like a photograph on one model s T-shirt as he passed. Later, a spine began to appear on the back of the same model s jacket. Yes, it reads like a gimmick, but the effect was haunting. As was Zucchelli s use of the kind of the webbing one usually associates with cheap plastic patio furniture, here mounted on mesh and offered as a blouson. It looked simultaneously medieval and futuristic, Kagemusha meets Gattaca.
Post-show, the designer had one word for his inspiration: "Industrial." That webbing was the clearest illustration of industrial production processes; the creative use of zippers was another. Then there were the fabrics, such as the camel hair coated with a transparent film, or the shimmering nylon mesh that was used in suits that left a silvery after-image on the retina when they d gone. This combination of the traditional and the technical is Zucchelli s way of twisting the traditions of American sportswear, and it s working. Now we find out if the world is ready for it.
