FRA
Jamily Coach & Correspondent
Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 5477
Location: London don
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 Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 14:44 |
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the best dressed man in the Free World is an italian
Lapo Elkann, the Fiat heir turned independent entrepreneur, is racing on all cylinders. Having transported nearly his entire wardrobe to Brazil for Vogue so he could have some styling fun in the sun—channeling everyone from "chill-ax" rock star (his word, combining chill with relax) to the Duke of Windsor—he is repacking now during a pit stop in New York for a flight tonight to Italy. Only 29, the best-dressed man in the Free World—if you want to argue, go ahead, disagree with me—is fielding some invasive fashion questions in his loft.
"Do you travel with a portable steamer?"
"No," he answers.
"A valet?"
"That was my grandfather." For the uninitiated, Grandfather was Gianni Agnelli, who was the best-dressed man in the Free World until his death in 2003. Lapo inherited his clothes, and the rest is style history: mixing the elder gentleman's custom suits with his own more contemporary, lushly colored, richly patterned tailored pieces, American Apparel cotton V-neck T-shirts, or the looks he designs for Italia Independent, the label he recently launched with state-of-the art carbon-fiber sunglasses, to be followed by clothing and home furnishings (Italiaindependent.com).
"Private plane?" I ask.
He shakes his head no. Big, blue boating eyes: A friend once described them as the color of Windex. "How do you say"—he says, although his English is perfect, but just in case it isn't—"I go commercial. I like to look at people; it's my job to see what they want and need." He walks—actually, it is more of an elegant slide—to the kitchen area of his one-room loft in downtown Manhattan. Mind you, it is a very large one room, an aerie-like, terraced, high-ceiling cube painted the colors of the Italian flag: red, white, and green. "I am patriotic, not nationalistic," he says. "The French would be nationalistic."
Lapo is serving strong espresso. He reaches for two demitasse cups. You can see his many tattoos, including an Italian flag camouflaging the spot where once rested the name of an Italian starlet with whom he was very much in love. "What is more important than romance? My flag," he explains about the tattoo, and looks inside the demitasse cups to make sure they are clean, clean enough.
"I am not a good house guy," he says, pouring the coffee. "The place is a mess."
How do you say, You don't see a mess. You see a Roy Lichtenstein sunset, an Alfa Romeo bike, a framed Hebrew blessing—"My father's father was the head of the Jewish community in France," he says. (His father, the writer Alain Elkann, was married to Margherita Agnelli, Gianni Agnelli's only daughter.) Then there is Lapo's skateboard, zebra-print rugs, a collection of small potted cacti, a scattering of sneakers, free weights, white Pratesi linen with red piping on the bed, and, oh, from a friend, a framed poster for a 1967 film about a hermaphrodite, I Was a Man, with the tagline "The Body of a Man, the Feelings of a Woman"—just a little levity and a sober reference concerning one life-altering evening with some pretty tricky operators in Turin two years ago.
Airing on two groaning racks are the clothes. We study his grandfather's suits for the exquisite details. For an Agnelli, elegance is a masculine art. Since he was a child, Lapo loved clothes. He gave his grandfather suspenders for presents, and his grandfather would give him suits. To Lapo, dressing is an excellent daily exercise for creativity; in Brazil, he put together his outfits to complement the fashion on model Doutzen Kroes (I asked, but no—"Just friends").
"Where are your suitcases?" I wonder, looking for the important luggage.
Lapo points to a half-dozen oversize duffel bags on the floor. "Twenty dollars from the Army-Navy store," he says. "No logo, and you don't advertise for anyone. I don't believe in imposed luxury. I believe in built luxury. What do I mean by 'built'? Something you refine with your own taste." He reaches for his Italia Independent sunglasses with no obvious logo.
"Mass luxury is not my luxury," says the man who finds even new designer shoes "disgusting" until they are lived in. "The only status leather item I ever bought was an Hermès briefcase." It is light, electric Hermès blue, and why not?
"It is beautifully made, the best in the world, but let's also be honest." Lapo laughs. "It matches the color of my eyes."
 http://www.style.com/vogue/
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