“I am freezing. I am burning,” went the Sophie lyric at the finale of a Niccolò Pasqualetti show that expanded the designer’s ongoing excavation of clothing’s potential for ambiguity. Unambiguously, we were not freezing: my phone said it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the labyrinthine Pitti-provided outdoor space next to Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Some in the audience looked as if they were melting.
It all made for a very appropriate context. Pitti, based in a fortress, remains the world’s most considerable bastion of ‘menswear.’ Pasqualetti’s previous collections have been shown within the calendar context of ‘womenswear.’ Yet the ambiguities this designer explores are often found between those gender-defined structures: ‘themswear,’ maybe.
Pasqualetti says that he/they is/are totally relaxed about his/their personal pronouns. Today’s cast included males and females in garments that likewise pointed to that attitude of relaxation. Asymmetrical cut dungarees in heavy looking linens appeared to have been garment dyed and sprinkled with paint; this traditionally pragmatic piece of workwear was afforded a new dimension by the voluptuous gathering at the chest and the swooping hemline at the hip.
Cropped top tank tops, silk shorts with leg holes cut so wide they resembled skirts, what looked like laser-cut suede vests, indigo denim shorts edged with tulle, tailored jackets deconstructed into smocks, leather bodices, and various other socially unconventional garments were used to adorn male models. The relative unfamiliarity of the combinations between wearer and worn made these looks pop more evidently than the looks worn by female models, however Pasqualetti seemed to be considering more complex equations of dress than boring old binaries. In Italian, “habito” means “I dress”: many of these pieces looked built to tempt progressive dressers to change their habits of attire.
As Pasqualetti melted down then reformed categories of dress, he also referred to the tools and traditions that enable his process. Jewelry appeared to be made from items upcycled from handicrafts. Designers who challenge gender convention are nothing new, but Pasqualetti has his own distinct angle on the genre.
