Salvatore Ferragamo @ SS2014 Men's Collection

Salvatore Ferragamo SS2014 Men's Collection is precise, competitive, vibrant. Massimiliano Giornetti works on an idea of energetic simplicity for this collection. The Florence-based fashion house subtly employs the very essence of its savoir-faire on the cuts of the garments by permanently altering their structure through a process of minimalism whose appreciation is enhanced in the details. The quest for harmony is centered around the male figure, celebrated in both its physicality and rationality.

The silhouette is clean. Hinted at but never revealed, protected but never entrapped, the body projects an aura of composed sensuality. Its energy and vitality is perceptible under the quilted blousons, the little jackets with asymmetric fastenings, and the strong and minimalist short overcoats.

The fashion house becomes a workshop where new clothing formulas are tested. In a cross between iconography and knowhow, sportswear is reinterpreted with fine tailoring while formalwear is imbued with the no-frills efficiency and comfort of sportswear.

Folded hems, drawstrings and straps create movement on hand crafted parkas; zips crisscross the sides of compact bomber jackets; elastic bands hold the waists and the hems of trousers in place.

Pure expressions of structural rigor, the tailored jackets have concealed buttons emphasized by trims and contours like flashes of contrasting colors with flaps and details that combine on the macs and result in projections of the material.

The rational efficiency of numbers, barely legible or expanded to the point of abstraction, is a recurring symbol from the hand inlaid sweaters to the tailored etchings on jackets and shirts.

The taut materials underline the quest for a sinewy range. The dry touch plays with perceptive differences: cottons as fixed as paper, wools with technical finishing; dry wools, mohair, kangaroo leather. The color palette is liquid, with sudden contrasts: light blue, cyan, dark blue, cobalt, chalk and beige tones are accentuated with flashes of cactus green, cinnamon and vibrant red.

The accessories are dynamic symbols. Derby shoes fastened with elastic straps and sandals are sums of their parts, which underline their competitive streak. The bags are travelling bags and large backpacks with numerical figures or rhythmic cut-outs. The number motif also appears in the key-chains attached to pants by leather ribbons. Sunglasses shade the eyes like drapes.

The precise expression of style is rhythmic, deconstructed, and amplified by the sequence of square forms that create grid overlays or that etch cut-outs on the surfaces, dematerializing them without altering their compact nature.