Keeping It Quattrocento with Gucci, 032c, Undercover, and Takahiromiyashita The Soloist at Pitti Uomo Autumn/Winter 2018

Held every January and June in the cavernous Renaissance structures of Florence, Pitti Uomo is a time-travel excursion thinly disguised as a menswear fair. And, at this January’s edition, Pitti’s guest designers took the notion of inter-epoch remixing to a whole new level. Teaming up for an exquisite corpse of back-to-back runway shows, which streamed fluidly through a medieval-looking corridor, friends Jun Takahashi and Takahiro Miyashita delivered 2001: Space Odyssey-esque spacesuits as well as puffers with the words “Computer Malfunction" and “Human Error” written across their chests for Undercover and The Soloist. In its debut menswear show inspired by the 1950s intellectual haven Black Mountain College, 032c turned the Palazzo Medici (built between 1444 and 1484) into a multimedia antechamber starring a cast of its editors, friends, and family. The brand’s operatic presentation—replete with singing hooligans, French hunting gear, and digital-age manifestos—had lines around the block and required three encore performances. Pitti also marked the opening of the Gucci Gardens at the Palazzo della Mercanzia (constructed between 1382 and 1391), a built manifestation of Alessandro Michele’s mission to unite luxury, streetwear, and pre-modern aesthetics. With the 2010s almost in the rear-view mirror, and Google Arts & Culture now matching our selfies to Michelangelo drawings, Pitti Uomo was a reminder that it’s time to think of culture in terms of centuries, not seasons.

Photographer Hannah Sider went behind-the-scenes at Pitti Uomo Autumn/Winter 2018 for SSENSE.