Ferruccio Pozzoni, newly appointed creative director of menswear at Valentino, has one very distinct memory of the legacy he s been hired to perpetuate. It s an eighties-era image of David Sylvian—the lead singer of the group Japan who was once known as the best-looking man in the world—wearing a Valentino tux. But for his first Valentino collection, Pozzoni s inspiration was actor Helmut Berger, renowned in his day for his exceptional good looks. Clearly, male beauty is a Pozzoni preoccupation, which is no doubt why his dream is to design men s haute couture at Valentino—mere bespoke is simply too classic for his tastes.
There may have been glimmers of Pozzoni s nascent ambition in the clothes he showed, particularly the eveningwear, with its revisionist pairing of black and midnight blue, a mink-lined cashmere coat, and a pair of graphic plaid pants, deep-pleated, beltless, and available to order. After all, his background is Prada, Miu Miu, and Brioni, which led one to hope for a hybrid of luxury and edginess (remember, there were collections when Valentino himself carried off the same juggling act with great success). The designer did make a cautious stab at independence from current trends by opting for a constructed shoulder in his jackets versus the soft Neapolitan tailoring that currently has menswear in its grip. And there were quirky sartorial touches—a three-piece suit in tan mohair had a matching tie—and some deluxe outerwear suggesting that Pozzoni has a grip on what s needed. He might have pushed things further, but perhaps caution isn t such a bad thing in these early days after the much-mourned retirement of Valentino himself.
