FASHION

Pitti Uomo’s Girly Side

Thomas Tait exhibited women’s wear designs at the men’s wear trade fair.


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While Pitti Uomo is known as a biannual men’s wear trade fair in Florence, Italy, this year, Thomas Tait presented something for the girls. As Pitti Uomo 88 Womenswear guest designer (and the winner of the 2014 LVMH young designer prize), Tait presented an exhibition featuring reworked (and improved) versions of signature pieces from his past collections at the Limonaia, the lemon house designed by Zanobi del Rosso in the 18th century to house rare citrus plants in Florence’s Boboli gardens. In the exhibition, for example, a pair of thigh-high, animal-printed heels from Tait’s spring 2015 collection, originally had a stiletto heel and looked like a pair of stockings. Tait’s new version, however, comes in suede with patent leather spots and a sculptured heel colored in hot pink and orange like the leg of some exotic beast. To transform a white shearling biker jacket from Spring 2012, Tait added a bonded orange patent leather with oversized patent stitching. Meanwhile, Tait’s arty, futurist LED light earrings from his Fall 2014 collection became glass orbs filled with liquid, and a simple clutch bag was re-shaped into a black and white molded leather bag that resembles one of Oscar Niemayer’s Curvilinear buildings. “We’re communicating a reflection,” said Tait in a series of filmed interviews screened at the event. “I’m not always sure what I’m doing and I don’t know if I want to know. ”

Photos: Pitti Uomo’s Girly Side

Photo courtesy of the author.

Photo courtesy of the author.

Photo courtesy of the author.

Photo courtesy of the author.

Photo courtesy of the author.

Photo courtesy of the author.

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