Don’t be into trends. Don’t make fashion own you, but you decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way you live.

(Gianni Versace)

The pandemic emergency has completely transformed our habits: few outings and mostly aimed at basic needs, teleworking, evenings at home, no aperitifs, parties, discos. Rare special occasions. Our concept of freedom, often opposed to that of security, has totally changed. And this context has also changed the way we dress and follow trends. We need to start dreaming of a world beyond the pandemic and in this dreaming art, fashion, cinema, theater, and all those spheres closely linked to creativity, so penalized during lockdown periods, can provide just that stimulus to rebirth we need.

Some time ago, just spent last summer, in a Milan almost resigned to the effects of the pandemic, I was looking for a breath of fresh air, of works of contemporary art up to the challenges of the international context created by the pandemic. So I came across “Il Salotto di Milano”, a space dedicated to the promotion of creativity where visibility is normally given to quality luxury products. This is how I discovered, and immediately fell in love with, an emerging brand of men's fashion whose creations are true artworks, inspired by uniqueness, extraordinary, excellence: PiaLauriCapri. A concept that is already revealed with the symbol chosen to identify the brand and is the blue lizard, an endemic species, found only in Capri. All the PiaLauriCapri garments are so embellished by this little, almost magical lizard, the color of which is an “indefinable blue because it takes on the shades of the sky, the sea and the Faraglioni”. Pia Lauri calls it “marestro blue” and is present not only in the little lizard but in the linings of all outerwear in order to offer customers who wear that particular garment the feeling of “being enveloped by the magic of Capri”.

The first concept underlying this brand is therefore the uniqueness of the garments. Creating tailored suits, PiaLauriCapri brings fashion back to the excellence of the past, to the golden age of tailoring where you entered the magical realm of the Atelier fascinated by the colors and scents of the fabrics, where the couturier reigned supreme, the couturier that Coco Chanel defined in this way: “a couturier is an artist who writes with clothes. Their are words in fabric, fit on a body.” But if the inspiration is a return to the origins, the soul of PiaLauriCapri is totally contemporary, like a window to the future and revolves around different concepts that underpin its philosophy. In addition to uniqueness and quality, we find sustainability. “Sustainability in PiaLauriCapri is much more than a word, it is our way of living, of doing business and also a bit of dreaming that our jackets can be handed down from father to son and not lose their charm in a few seasons.” The fabrics are 100% natural, the polyester thread used for the seams comes totally from recycled materials. “All garments are made entirely by hand, without any glue points. The core of our jackets is made of camel hair and horsehair and has the aim, among others, of relaunching the artisanal production of interlinings that are no longer demanded by the market due to the intensive use of glues”.

The third concept is the right combination of creativity and craftsmanship. I'm not just referring to the fact that these are hand-made tailored suits. Every single detail is sought after. We can read on the de brand website “We have chosen not to use inert materials, such as plastic, in any way, but to select only natural stones. Onyx, tiger's eye, white agate, emerald, jade, topaz, are just some of the stones that embellish our creations and transmit positive energy to those who wear them.”

Of great charm are the buttons in white coral, coming from certified sources and from sustainable collection, and handcrafted by the best master craftsmen of Torre del Greco, "artists who engrave and inlay coral creating real artworks".

Or let's think about the pockets, a detail that is really a detail to which we hardly refer to weight the exclusivity of a garment. “While the rest of the world makes straight pockets, usually using a sewing machine, we have decided to sew them "resella", totally by hand, even internally. Not only a choice of style but the result of in-depth research on wearability, on the ease of movement.”

I just say one last thing about the details and then I stop because otherwise, it looks more like a manifesto than an article! But I would like to convey to you the enthusiasm I felt because the more "you dig" the more you are fascinated by how every single tiny detail has been the subject of great reflection and research just like it happens for artworks, an area in which I move more easily compared to the world of fashion.

Okay, the materials, the "handmade", the precious stones but have you ever seen that the concept of a brand also extends to the hangers which in this case are made of cedar?! “Our hangers are produced by Italian artisans so that the jackets have support specially designed to keep them perfectly straight. The hangers are made by hand exclusively for us in a natural, very fragrant wood. The artisans make them from a single piece of wood, carving them internally so that they remain light and, just like our creations, they are made rigorously without glue. The scent of cedar, an essence of Capri inspiration, will make you and your wardrobe fall in love”.

I don't know what challenges will await us after the pandemic. But I like to think that the philosophy of this new brand can be a light for everyone. We no longer need "superficiality" but attention to details, depth and foresight. The world that awaits us must be a better world, and quality and creativity is our trump card.