BEAUTY: Clothing--Sartorial Monk

Italian tailor, ex-model, and designer Sabàto Russo (born and raised in Foggia in the Puglia region) started his brand Sartorial Monk in 2016 after a stint as an assistant designer for Issey Miyake in Japan. Russo's interest in a Japanese aesthetic is evident in his few past collections (and the name of his label!) as well as this lovely, lyrical Spring Summer 2019 co-ed offering at Milano Moda Uomo. Wide legged trousers and flowing tops in linen and silk, layered tunics and skirts for men...it all captures an Elysian insouciance in which I'd love spend summer. (This collection comes after yesterday's post here about the SS '19 Etro collection, also beautifully Asian-inspired.)

http://sartorialmonk.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Etro

Kean Etro set aside the traditional paisley of the Etro house and instead focused on an Asian-influenced collection, called Natura Manifesta, with kimono silhouettes and obi waist wraps for his SS '19 collection at Milano Moda Uomo (Etro has a very Eastern-inspired sensibility...he is a seeker with a metaphysical bent--just look here at his FW '17-'18 collection based on the psychedelic and metaphysical allegorical novel MOUNT ANALOGUE by René Daumal).

A bamboo-stalk-and-leaf motif woven into fabrics signaled the fact that many of the garments are made of spun bamboo. There is interest not only at Etro but also on a global scale in sustainable materials. "Bamboo is virulent, infestate! You don’t need water to grow it. And hemp! We should go for these fibers, and we do. I don’t know why cotton was chosen—it’s not cotton’s fault, it’s humanity’s fault," Etro said at the show while the website confirms, "The word sustainability immediately refers back to love: love of Nature, pure love, the love that’s deeply rooted inside each one of us, something that’s primitive and ancestral, close to our origins. First and foremost, a way of 'feeling' that should be transformed into 'action', for companies, too."

Garments were colored with natural dyes made from beetroot and coffee. In addition to the bamboo material, he also showed pieces made from nettle, raffia, hemp, and linen as well as sandals of cane woven in the style of Viennese canework. It's a beautiful sentiment made manifest in a beautiful collection...but I confess, I do miss the paisley just a little...

https://www.etro.com/en_us/