What is the first thing that pop up in your mind when it comes to Italy? The world of pasta, the homeland of catenaccio or the country of legendary artist namely Leonardo Davinci or Rafaello.
It would be a big mistake if we skip fashion (yes, Milano is there the wholetime). No one would blame you of exaggerating if you insist this boot-like country is among the plances where fashion is born. Contradictory to the common belief, not everything classical is untouchable. Spezzato, the unbelievably Italian flamboyant matching style is an example.
SPEZZATO: PIZZA OF THE TAILOR WOLRD
Yes, it is pizza that I’m talking about. Worldwide famous and freedom are the characteristic of Spezzato style. Etymologically speaking, Spezazato means “Broken”. In this style, the practitioners match two pieces of different suits to combine a stylist and attractive look. Just like the way the chief put any imaginable food on his favorite pizza, spezzato can go beyond limits. Not only did it unlock a whole new way of using your wardrobe, it can be a manifesto of the wearer aesthetic sense.
Nowaday, the definition of spezzato is expanded. You can devide a jacket from a suit and mixing it with a casual pant like cotton pants, jeans or even (god forbid) shorts. Like having said before, spezzato is all about freedom and creativity.
WEAR IT RIGHT
It might weird to hear, but Italian never eat pizza with ketchup. No matter how it closely related to the mediterranean pomodoro, pizzas don’t go with ketchup. Similarly, there are certain principle to bear in mind when practising Spezzato.
For the clothes: using matching pieces in term of color, quality and fit
Your jacket and pants must be of significantly contrasting colours for this style to work. For example, a navy jacket perfectly matches a grey pant or vice versa. Combining a midnight jacket and black pant will just look like a mistake of a hurry morning. It’s also possible to choose pieces with contrast in term of hue or shade: a powder blue jacket might go well with navy pants. To even further the contrast, use an appropriately patterned suit jacket with solid trousers.
Make sure that the items you are pairing are of equal quality. There’s no point in wearing a faded decade old pair of pants with a newly tailored jacket; it just won’t work. You also need to pay attention to the fabric, try to use compatible material that work together. You wouldn’t mix a summer wool-silk-linen jacket with moleskin pants. Instead, combine jackets and pants of roughly the same weight. The safest bet is the same sort of fabric, which you can sometimes find as “suit separates.” If you want to go for a sport coat and pants look, combine a linen sport coat with cotton pants, not another linen, to give just one example.
Normally, a spezzato combination goes wrong not because of it mismatch color but of the wrong fit. For a successful spezzato it’s essential that you not mix the slim fits and classic fits. While you might get away with ultra slim fit pants and a slim fit jacket, the same cannot be said for regular and slim.
For the practitioner
No matter how confident you are, each style works when used at the right time and in the right place. Don’t go to a formal event trying to be the most colorful wearer in the house or you will risk the peacok. This is especially true if you never try the mix before, stick to a more subtle form using neutral tones such as greys and blacks would be a good idea.
Spezzato is not only a style, it is a manifesto. Always remember Spezzato is all about freedom and casuality. If you’re new to this style then people will surely notice the change in your appearance and when people notice things, they ask questions. Be confident and explain that you’re trying something new and once your friends and colleagues realise that this is an intentional mismatch of formal wear and not a dry cleaning malfunction they will most likely look on you and your outfit in a new light.
