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January, 15th, 2015

BAGUTTA
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF SHIRT LIVING

Caring for your clothing? A world-class shirt is more than just appearance — it’s mathematics whistling.

Nothing is good in the eyes of the jaded public but in the eyes of the fashion edi tor everything is worthy – a different slant to it. There is nothing like white near the neck and in the eye.

Bagutta, named after via Bagutta in the heart of Milan, never left the basics. Au contraire, every year since 1975, and further before since 1939 for its mother company la Cit (Confezioni italiane tessili), the Gavazzeni’s family perfected relentlessly the art of shirting: haute fabrics, unimpeachable tailoring top to bot tom, and decisively modern for any upright fellow.


A shirtmaker that uses 75km of thin-yarned ands/david-john- anderson/collections” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>David & John Anderson collection, made with Giza 45, Egypt’s utmost cot ton, is on an even kneel with a Traditionalists this is nothing short of heresy to celebrate 40 years. To Classicists, this very shirt has always been, and should always be, made the same way: produced from supreme fabrics then commendably structured by the in-house master tailors. To Modernists, Bagutta is an intellectual’s shirt: softer, accessible, swanky-forward style.

Now, in the last years – say Pitti 82 to this week’s Pitti 87 – Traditionalists, Classicists and Modernists have been perplexed over the hastily mannerisms of menswear dressing. That is to say what I deem topic/82094/Beau-Brummell” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Nouveau Beau’s modernizes too much, unfastens ankles, shrinks pants and jackets, mixes and unlatches colors, a look more frippé than habillé. Mind you this is my opinion, my idea of what menswear is becoming today: an en masse of tastes with and without coherence.

Men need to relax and be a dorable.

Nothing gives the luxury of a shirt. Bagutta is to shirt what Italy is to fashion. The turning point came in 1975 with the boom of stylists and licenses. It started with Giorgio Armani.

Engaged in reinventing deconstructions of la giaccha, the ex win dow-scene stager at La Rinascente (upscale department clothing, household, beauty s tores founded in Milan in 1865 by CIT to produce the Armani shirts for men and women. 40 years later, he still wears and trusts them. Mr. Armani is from the Purists, an all-in-one breed of Traditionalists, Classicists and Modernists.

George Clooney is another one, a Classicist. We all admired his Cit’s Armani shirts this summer in his Venice wedding.

An tonio Gavazzeni is another one, a Traditionalist. The amiable, always smiling, amministra tore delega to of Bagutta, is rooted both in Città Alta (Bergamo) and in Milano. He joined the company in the nineties, after having traveled the world to learn the craft: “At 22, I went to Lon don for a year to work in an Armani shop, then a year in Japan and a year in New York.”

Today, Bagutta has consolidated its br and by giving importance to quality, innovation, and service.

“The heart is creativity: a large part of any of our collection is crafted with fabrics made exclusively for us. A high fabric is 80% of a fine shirt.” insists An tonio.

2014 was quite an interesting year for Bagutta, which has developed a strong vocation for export, accounting for 70% of its revenues. They have grown nicely in the US a market they need to foster, still strong in South Korea, Russia, of course Italy; slightly slowing in their home-Japan yet nothing alarming, and steadfastly raising in China.

What about 2015?

“Here at Pitti 87, we are celebrating Bagutta Evoluzione, an exclusive capsule, inspired to the metropolitan dynamic mood. It follows the main collection with a series of 30 masculine and feminine wears, the result of an exclusive innovative style and cutting edge. Bagutta is also playing with the figure 40: the celebrating print-out for its anniversary, recalled in the garments of the new capsule.”

I enquired about the strategy of distribution in this (bear) market.

“Bagutta Evoluzione will be sold exclusively in the Milan showroom in Via Tor tona 35 and marketed, as well as, in our selected s tockists worldwide. We recently completed the revamping of our shops in Via Fiori Chiari and Via San Pietro all’Or to in Milan. We aim to showcase Bagutta in Rome, still are contemplating Lon don. In the next years, we are considering the possibility of e-commerce.”

Bagutta collec tors, by the way, are almost always men of authority: Re Giorgio Armani, Italia’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Tenor Vit torio Grigolo and British conduc tor Daniel Harding amongst many. For the record, An tonio’s gr andfather, the maestro Gi andrea Gavazzeni, has retained the passion for music for almost 50 years, starting from 1948, becoming the conduc tor and artistic direc tor at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan from 1966 to 1968. He had his Metropolitan Opera debut on 11 Oc tober 1976, a year after the launch of Bagutta, where he conducted eight performances of Bagutta‘s !

ALESSANDRO BERGA | L’ÉDITOR

BAGUTTA
87° PITTI IMMAGINE UOMO – FLORENCE
UNTIL JANUARY 16, 2015
CENTRAL HALL – LOWER FLOOR U/2-4