Beyond the suit
Is Ermenegildo Zegna the past, present and future of menswear?


Ermenegildo Zegna’s artistic director Alessandro Sartori talks Triple X sneakers, Oasi cashmere sweaters, and the difference between an engineer and a fashion designer
The luxurious hand of a jacquard cashmere sweater. The nipped waist of a one-and-a-half breasted herringbone blazer.
The elegant whip of a full-length blueberry blue wool coat when worn in motion.

"Notice the triple X hand-stitched on the button hole?" asks Alessandro Sartori, creative director of Ermenegildo Zegna. I take a step closer, examining the lapel of a corduroy suit. "It's taken from our sartorial heritage," he continues, "the atelier uses a triple stitch to keep garments together in the assembly process."

We're in the Milan head office for the Italian heritage brand, and Sartori is personally walking me through key pieces of the Zegna fall/winter 2018 collection. Unveiled on a winter-themed runway just the day prior — complete with synthetic snowflakes dancing down from the ceiling; tangled in hair, covering models' footprints — the triple X stitch motif (first released by Sartori during his debut SS18 collection for the house) has been amplified as the maison's key signature: slathered across technical blousons, embossed on leather jackets and, what's destined to be a commercial hit, painted onto the side of their white leather 'Tiziano' sneakers.

"Zegna is not just about classic suits," explains Sartori. "We've applied our sartorial savoir faire to create functional menswear pieces with sportswear influences." Personal favourites include tapered trousers with elasticised cuffs, weightless silk suits, and woven leather (known as 'pelle tessuta') baseball caps. In short, contemporary menswear with spunk.

Surrounded by his latest creations, I speak to Satori about the inspiration behind his FW18 collection, the continued rise of athleisure, and why 'XXX' marks the spot.

Alessandro Sartori
Would you say you're reinventing menswear?
Normally, when you see men who are wearing beautiful outfits, there is something special going on. It could be his attitude, the styling, one of the pieces he's wearing, or all these things put together. I like stylish things, ideas and solutions and not crazy, unwearable things that look more like costumes. Maybe you wear it once and the second time you ask yourself, "What am I wearing?" There's a lot of margin, that space between being classic to being too much. So instead of creating crazy volumes or exaggerated prints for a crazy story, we work on the little details to make the garments look cool.

Do you begin with a silhouette in mind?
I start with an idea of a certain aesthetic or a lifestyle, and then I work on the silhouette first. Fabrics come just after. We need the right fabrics to embody the silhouettes I have in mind. I don't want to do the opposite — I don't want to to the fabrics before, if not you're trapped into doing one thing that is not related to the idea. So the idea is first, then fabrics and old photos and so on. Even when you go into a vintage shop and look for nice garments, you need to start with a creative idea.

You pair things with caps, you have Velco sneakers this season… Do you like the direction where menswear is going, this blend of the formal with the informal?
Absolutely. But I think the past three or four years was about sports tailoring and sportswear detailing. To me, today is about a new world where you don't talk anymore about oh you know, "I'm in the office, I dress like this. I go outside, I dress like that." So we don't just think about one aesthetic anymore.

Have you seen someone wear your clothing in a way that you never thought of but it's interesting?
Yes, but also the opposite when I thought, "No, that's not cool." [Laughs] But yes, I like to see people I don't know wearing my clothes. It's very exciting.

Do you think the Zegna man cares about trends?
Of course, of course. But the Zegna man belongs to several generations and he is constantly changing.

When designing the Triple X, the icon of your collection, how cognizant were you of the fact that in today's digital world, icons are a way of communicating brand DNA? Was that in the back of your mind, that you needed to create an icon for the brand?
Sì, sì, sì. The idea to use "the stitch" was created a long time ago (more than 10 years ago) as part of the couture label. Because the single criss-cross stitch is the detail our atelier used to finish a couture jacket. It was the idea of extending of the use of that detailing that turned it into something more bold. Yes, I wanted to create a logo with a story, not just to be visible.
This season, we see the Snowriting print — the leaf prints in the snow — inspired by Thomas Flechtner's photography. Tell us how you came across this.
Thank you for your question. Thomas is a great guy and I like to talk a little about him. But first, that print you're talking about is a bird's footprint on fresh snow. Of course we had to redesign it, but that was the starting point.

Oh right!
Yes. Thomas is fantastic, very special. He's not attracted to the glamour part of art, he just loves his work. His book, 'Snow' was almost seven years worth of work, of him going somewhere with an idea in mind, then waiting for the right snow, creating something on top of the snow with his skis, his footprints, waiting for the right wind, waiting for the right light. It's a long project. I like his methods. I like his vision.

There's a constant tension of commerce and art in menswear today. You want to create pieces that sell, and you want to create pieces that say something about the state of menswear. Is that at the back of your mind or do you do what you want to do?
No, no, no. I try to do only what I like, I try. I start with a creative idea. In the end, of course we all have to think about the customer, whether they need a black jumper or a grey sneaker. I work this way if not we become an engineer and not a designer.

Tell me about the Oasi cashmere you used in this collection. I was told the dyeing the green sweaters were dyed using actual pine? It must have been quite the process to get that kind of vibrancy using only natural dyeing methods.
Si, when we released the first Oasi cashmere 12 years ago, only a few colours were possible. Back then, every colour faded with water and sunlight, so we were losing a lot of colour. But today we can do everything; we do black, we do violet, do yellow, we do bright green, we do every single colour. What is possible today is very interesting because it is new generational natural occurrence, and mostly totally chemical-free.

Text: Norman Tan


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