SS Daly puts on a rousing show at the Pitti and welcomes Harry Styles to his capital

SS Daly, designer Steven Stockie-Daly’s label, has just welcomed an unexpected new investor, famous singer Harry Styles. An event worth celebrating with a lively parade on Thursday evening in Florence. Unveiled at Palazzo Vecchio, Florence’s town hall, the collection borrows the codes of English private school uniforms, against a backdrop of summer romance. The show was held as part of Pitti Uomo, the world’s most famous men’s ready-to-wear show.

Pitti happens twice a year. Most events take place at Fortezza da Basso, an impressive medieval fortress. However, the highlights are usually the unique parade of young talents. This was confirmed on Thursday evening with a brilliant presentation by SS Daly, against the backdrop of huge frescoes by the painter Giorgio Vasari, author of the most important treatise on the Italian Renaissance and its artists.

Seizing the opportunity, the House announced Harry Styles’ entry into its capital at the same time. The famous British singer has taken a minority stake in the company, and this commitment should result in a close partnership during which the artist will support the development of this brand established in 2020.

This parade would surely have won the support of Giorgio Vasari. Models were walking around luxuriously Hall of the Five HundredDressed for the occasion with half a dozen wooden pillars filled with pillows.

“I took a lot of inspiration from former Oxford students who were at boarding schools. I wanted to transform this concept into an abstract idea of ​​a bedroom and these sculptures are a symbol of that,” explains the creator behind the curtain plunged into darkness where a certain confusion reigns.

The parade was started by a young student in a black dress, white vest, silk scarf and no pants, as if he had jumped out of bed to attend a secret meeting after midnight. Born in Liverpool, Steven Stockie-Daly plays a lot with his famous red thread-embroidered quilted dressing gowns and scarves. Forming long trains, they are worn over khaki green spy trench coats and wide black balloon-cut silk pants.

SS Daly House now makes a good part of its collection in Italy and the result is more careful. The designer especially signature silhouettes with unstructured shoulders with precise cuts. Overall, the effect is fresh and new, thanks to a gaggle of contrasting buttons and models, each smaller and cooler than the last.

“When I first visited Florence I came with a very open mind. I was so impressed by the wonderful tapestries that I saw everywhere that I wanted to translate it into all these handmade sweaters, which refer to it,” breathes the designer with great sensitivity after the show.

A fine mesh poncho showed an English dandy on horseback. Everything about the model’s appearance is reminiscent of a young boy who barely got out of bed, wearing the first item of clothing he could get his hands on. Although it’s hard to imagine key journalists and buyers in the front row riding horses, the designer’s source of inspiration was clear: the new A tale of panicBy EM Forster, describing a trip to Italy by a British traveler and published in a collection of 1911.

Add to all this plush checked trench coats, fuzzy millery striped pants and a stunning white shirt printed with salmon.

At the crossroads of theater and fashion, the show was excellent in every way, as was the collection of over thirty looks. None of them were too much.

This may be one of the highlights of Pitti 105 and Steven Stockie-Daly has emerged as a serious contender for the award for the most original European menswear ready-to-wear collection. Confirmation will be made at the end of Men’s Fashion Week in Paris on January 21.

Harry Styles didn’t honor his presence at the Florentine fashion show, but the singer-songwriter can welcome his new investment with more than just this successful fashion show in mind. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“Harry and I share a common vision for the future of SS Daly and we look forward to this new chapter of collaboration. We will focus on the longevity of the brand and its development as a modern and traditional British house,” assures the young designer.

With a degree in fashion design from the University of Westminster, Steven Stockie-Daly seeks to reinterpret British elitism through the country’s public school institution. In 2022, he won the prestigious LVMH Prize, then the British Fashion Council Award for Best Emerging Designer. Suffice to say its future looks promising.