Dress Like a Man

Known for the rather absurdist fashion performances that he stages each season during Couture week, Olivier Saillard, the director of Paris’ Musée Galliera, brought the show this time to Florence. As part of Pitti Immagine, the biannual men’s trade fair, Saillard curated a fashion presentation on Wednesday that quite literally turned menswear on its head. Called “Dress Like A Man,” it featured Violeta Sanchez, Amalia Vairelli, Axelle Doué, and Claudia Huidobro—four legendary models and designer muses from the Eighties—who, dressed in black tights and a bodysuit, took turns cleverly re-imagining traditional men’s clothes (all from brands presented at the fair) into exquisite women’s wear: a dress shirt tied around the neck, with the collar over the eyes became a rather chic cloche hat; a pair of trousers folded and belted became a fitted bustier; a blazer worn upside down, with the tails turned down transformed into what looked like a Dior jacket from the 1950s. “I have always found it interesting,” noted Saillard, following the show, “that when a man dresses in women’s clothing, he only looks tragic, but when a woman wears men’s clothing, she becomes even more sexy.”

“Dress Like a Man,” curated by Olivier Saillard