Replacement He or she for she in the famous lyrics of ZZ Top – “She has legs / She knows how to use them” – and you come straight to one of Stefano Pilati’s concerns for his Random Identities collection for fall 2024. Gams, pins, sticks, you name them however you like, but they can be seen in the designer’s interpretation of formal, bare Bermuda shorts.
Raising the zoom is partly the result of observing what’s happening on the streets: “Many young people, especially boys, want to show their legs, something that only women did,” Pilati noted during a phone call. Then there’s an experience he had this summer: “I got invited to a party and I was on the phone with a friend of mine, and I was like, ‘Are you wearing long or short?'” he said. “I noticed that I was actually thinking like a woman would. Should I wear a long dress or a short dress, regardless of whether it is evening or day? And that is something that has stayed with me.”
Dark gray flannel shorts formed a suit with a loose yet soft shoulder jacket that was lushly pleated at the back, an ’80s style that completely matched Pilati’s new romantic vibe. That theme continued in a sweatshirt with raglan sleeves and elastic at the wrists and neck, creating delicate ruffles that nod to the British scene without being stuck in the past. Pilati was busy discovering new things on the Emerald Isle; he enlisted Lux Gillespie to design the trompe l’oeil T-shirts. A T-shirt printed with a loose bow tie was paired with a sleek gray flannel suit with a slightly curved narrow lapel and narrow, straight shoulders that were attached to the body with a pleat instead of the ‘usual padding’.
One of Pilati’s missions with Random Identities is to eschew gender normative binaries. At the same time, the focus on craft and technology is absolute; A lot of thought goes into these designs, some of which carry symbolism. Take the low-rise silhouette of a T-shirt with a printed belt and a sweater with a dropped waist with a belt. The double waist is something Pilati has explored in his collaborative pre-fall line-up for Fendi. His preoccupation with movement can be ideologically traced back to the Jazz Age, when low-waisted flapper dresses freed women’s legs long before minis did. A documentary about Mickey Mouse inspired a retro photo print (which Pilati says goes back to a print he made of the crowd at Woodstock for a 2007 Yves Saint Laurent collection).
As for the gesture, the tips of Pilati’s pantoufle shoes curve up toward the thigh; a collar, on the other hand, is cut slightly lower, so that it drops forward. The narrow pocket in front of the point fits a banknote and makes it easy to play with a wallet. At Random Identities, the pursuit of elegance is an open matter.
