Men's Fashion in Sicily
Does a men's "Sicilian
style" exist beyond the imagination of a few designers far away in
chilly Milan? Yes... and no. There is a certain Sicilian mode of dressing,
but it's really a subspecies of the Roman-Neapolitan look, and in the hands
of its more able proponents it is distinguished by a bit of sprezzatura
- a kind of disdain for everyday dress and perhaps for fashion itself. To
the Sicilian male a blazer is little more than a convenient, and perhaps
conventional, sartorial crutch, nothing to be taken too seriously. Quality
may sometimes be presumed, if less often than what you might expect, even
if neatness is hardly an obsession. Dapper Sicilian men are actually the
exception that proves the rule. Strange but true.
Ironically, men's "Sicilian style" exists more in the popular
mind than in reality. Spend two years in Sicily and you're unlikely to ever
see anybody other than a pure eccentric wearing a loose fitting white linen
suit or anything even remotely resembling anything from The Sicilian
or The Godfather. We would venture to guess that Armani and Versace
sell far less in Palermo and Catania than in comparably populated American
cities. In a strange twist of destiny, it's Levis, Tommy Hilfiger and Timberland
that have made the greatest inroads into Sicily's fashion scene in recent
years, complemented by Hermés, Louis Vuitton and a dozen other firms,
so great is Sicilians' obsession with foreign things (about which more later).
That said, we'd be remiss not to mention that a few great American names
in the world of fashion, including Brooks Brothers and Ray Ban, are now
owned by Italians. Ours is indeed a small world.
So where does the "romanticized" notion of Sicilian men's taste
come from? There is no single source of these fantasies, but it should be
said that such stereotypes are not unique to Sicily. It just so happens
that the island's highly colorful culture garners more than its share of
attention from myth-makers. We know of a designer from New York whose refined
collections reflect the mystique of an idealized Anglo-American gentry that
nowadays rarely dresses according to his nostalgic vision (okay, we're talking
about Ralph Lauren).
Though Sicily is an island, the Strait of Messina is not a very great
barrier to the rest of Italy. How, then, to explain the seeming isolation
of men's fashion on our favorite island? Can Sicily be so provincial in
this age of cheap flights to Rome, Milan and London? The truth may be found
in the question of whether even the most affluent Sicilian men wish to bother
discovering what lies just beyond the horizon from their own sunny shores,
where one need wear a jacket for perhaps five months of the year, from November
through March. It's not the kind of question we can even attempt to answer
here.
Then there's the fact of so much of what is sold in Italian shops - even
many items ostensibly "Made in Italy" - coming from abroad. Far
abroad, from half-way around the world in some cases. And that's true even
of much that is sold by Italy's best-known design houses. Not a pretty picture.
Another thing to consider is that you rarely meet a well-dressed Sicilian
man under the age of thirty - "well dressed" here implying a good
sense of both casual and business wear, however simple. Among Sicily's aristocrats,
admittedly a dying breed, the sartorial points of reference have long been
London and Paris as much as Rome and Milan. This is a telling fact if placed
in the context of Sicily's complex relationship with the rest of Italy,
and perhaps an indication of where, to outsiders, the idea of a Sicilian
style originated in the first place.
Simple observation alone will tell you that when it comes to clothing many Sicilian men - more than the women - look to
Britain and America for sartorial inspiration, resulting in a sea of button-down collar shirts, khaki chinos, mesh polo shirts and blue blazers. But few of these items are actually
imported from the Anglo World. Instead, with their localized nuances in style, fabric and cut they reflect, more than anything else, the Italian intepretation
of a style created elsewhere. For men, the epitome of Sicilian Style is expressing an imported concept in a way that makes it their own. Conformity, if you will, with a twist.
We would like to introduce three establishments that still sell things
which are made right here in Sicily. Granted that they may also offer some
"foreign" items of apparel from mainland Italy, you can be sure to find at least a
few suits and shirts produced in their own workshops.
Bucalo: This family-run firm has
a number of shops around Sicily, including their flagship store in Palermo
at Via Libertà 33. Their shirts, in particular, are exceptional,
featuring the perfect spread collars. The firm caters to a generally slender
and youthful clientele, in a very up-to-the-minute style.
Giovanni Aiello: This firm founded
by an expert tailor now has shops in Milan as well as Palermo; in the Sicilian
capital they're at Via Siracusa 12, a few steps from Via Libertà.
Aiello makes shirts but they're best known for jackets and suiting in conservative
(for Italy) cuts, styles and fabrics.
Antica Cravatteria: Located in Palermo
at Discesa dei Giudici 14 (near the corner of Via Roma in the historic Quattro
Canti district), the "old tie-makers," as their name implies,
has a fine collection of neckwear in a wide range of designs and patterns
in finest Italian silk, and also ladies' scarves in silk and wool. The establishment
was founded in 1954.
