Pitti Uomo 110 is kicking off the men’s S/S 2027 season and it’s becoming clear: More and more men are serious about dressing up and dressing well. Notable as well in the rising visitor count from DACH countries. We‘re not talking about the three-piece suit with a dress cane and fedora kind of dressing up, a waning style anyway unless on the Pitti grounds during the fair, but it’s about a softer suiting approach. And with it a more casual way of thinking about suits. A conversation Alessandro Sartori has started many seasons ago with his suggestions on what even makes a suit a suit, and recently cemented into the fashion swarm intelligence with his Zegna Malibu show; Simone Rocha put it best during the preview of her independent men’s show: “The man I design for is a sensible man, a modern man. I’m interested in tender masculinity.”

This season’s Pitti highlights span a multitude of styles: Starting off with Copenhagen-based brand Sunflower which presented a slew of denim looks, leather ensembles and flowing soft iterations of suits. DSM Kei Ninomiya honed in on punks in 2026, and Simone Rocha ended the schedule on a high note with what felt like a brand’s best-of solely focussing on men’s, obviously. 

Sunflower

In an effort to bridge Copenhagen Fashion Week – which undoubtedly is gaining more and more traction – with the Florentine fair, Ulrik Pedersen and Alan Blond were invited to Pitti Uomo 110 to stage a show with their brand Sunflower. A duo dedicated to the creation of everyday pieces you can mix and match ultimately transcending fashion’s seasonal thinking. Showing Canadian tuxedos topped with a dressy coat from the get-go made apparent why they are at Pitti. The pieces were desirable and easy to wear with suiting acting merely as the backbone of the collection. The real highlights here were the billowing silk shirts and cropped jackets. 

DSM Kei Ninomiya 

The third collection under the Dover Street Market umbrella designed by Japanese conceptual designer Kei Ninomiya, who also helms the Comme des Garçons-developed label noir kei ninomiya, once again picked a community to be the flagship of this venture: This time it was all about punk. And punk it was, albeit a little on the nose. Tartan, beautifully exaggerated mohawks and floral hair-dos, models conjuring up a too-cool-for-school attitude – movement directed by Pat Boguslawski, the man behind Leon Dame’s Margiela prance – safety pins and chains applied in an haute couture effort, black-and-white checkered Vans and genuinely cool leather perfectos in collaboration with Schott NYC. Speaking of collaboration, it’s the practice put at the center of the DSM brand with many of them in each collection: They even tapped the estate of Jamie Reid, the artist and graphic designer who famously created the Sex Pistols’ single artwork for “God Save the Queen” – yes, the one that looks like a ransom note – for some jacket linings and tops. NYC-based label Pretty Relics sourced old garments and had them printed like band-merch with each city DSM has a store in which resulted in a cool T-shirt we anticipate flying off the shelves; this collection generally felt very merchandisable. We let the punks decide how punk that is. Presenting in the courtyard of a previous convent, soon to be a museum, the gratings and metal scaffolding helped keep this collection in the esprit that DSM Kei Ninomiya was going for.

Simone Rocha

A designer known for embellishments, a major knack for romanticism and playful but serious femininity was the perfect choice for the 110th edition of Pitti as she gave the world of suiting and frankly her own brand a bit of a shake-up. Spurts of athleticism as seen in tight shorts or technical outerwear, young male models donning aprons (Hello, Miuccia!) and plenty of the light-hearted Rocha-isms came into play. Open backs on suit jackets as in the closing look added the necessary sexy edge and the men’s ballet flats made apparent that even if it was the brand’s first independent men’s wear show, Rocha knows what’s going on. Being a comparatively young brand, house codes became apparent more than ever because of this translation into men’s wear: Embroideries in crisp linen, lacy trimmings and just this general whiff of innocence. We could have done with a little less chichi, e.g., the ruffled boas, but we appreciate the sentiment, after all Rocha explained post-show, she wanted to explore all kinds of contemporary masculinities and since the show was held in the beautifully italian Teatro della Pergola, some drama was expected.