It’s not all clashing colours and patchworks of prints at Pitti Uomo. Some men can pull off looking quirky and gentlemanly while still sticking to a single, coherent colour palette. A red beard matches perfectly to earthy brown hues in both three-piece suit, tie, piercing brown eyes, and hat.

I first photographed Filippo at Pitti last season, sitting on the sidelines blowing a white cloud of smoke into the summer air. He has the look of someone stranded in the wrong time. When your eyes land upon an older version of him, separately wandering the grounds, at first glance seeming to be identically dressed, the mind tangles. Side by side though it’s obvious there’s…

Prominently placed in the central hub of this season’s Pitti Uomo is an installation with a chess board (usually flanked by two stylish gentleman, each with one hand on beard and one on the board as they concentrate on both playing the game and looking stylish at the same time) and around it a series of objects. The objects are those of men’s fashion, designed…

Pitti brings many tailored menswear looks out into the open… But that’s not to say you can’t spot casual, off-duty outfits in abundance too. This one features skinny jeans, boots, a simple black tee and oversized parka. A floral scarf adds boldness and flamboyance, but you could just as easily do without for a more toned-down look.

Lino Ieluzzi is one of those men who you know won’t disappoint when Pitti Uomo rolls around. With a penchant for double-breasted suits and ties embroidered with the number ’7′, the owner of Milanese haberdashery Al Bazar never looks anything short of the bold and yet traditional Italian gentleman.

Being the menswear tradeshow of the European calendar, Pitti Uomo is filled with impressive stalls, stands and installations. But of all, you’d be hard pressed to find one with a better view than the Ben Sherman space at the very top of the Fortezza Da Basso. Ascend a tight, stone, spiral staircase to where the brand is celebrating ‘A Heritage of Modernism: 50 years of…

Wearing three pieces doesn’t mean they all have to be matching pieces. This look photographed at Pitti Uomo demonstrates, the wearer throwing a bright blue jacket over a houndstooth print vest and pants.

Street style photographers are doing their thing. Men are daring to step out in floral ties, brightly coloured beanies, varsity jackets and turtleneck sweaters. Turn your collar up against the cold, it’s day 2 of menswear extravaganza Pitti Uomo. Stay tuned for more photos coming soon.

Birds of a feather flock together, as the saying goes. So it’s not surprising that one immaculately-dressed gentleman should be in the company of another. These two happen to be oft-photographed, highly regarded gents of the men’s fashion world: on the left, Antonio Rossi who heads up a business designing quirky cufflinks (iltravasodelleidee.it); on the right Ignatious Joseph, purveyor of fine men’s shirts (ign-joseph.com). Between…

Many men are daunted by the prospect of wearing florals, such is their feminine connotation. But for anyone wanting an example of how to wear them in a way that’s styling without being girlish, look no further than this street style look from Pitti Uomo.

If there’s any place that camo print for men can be spotted with reliable regularity, it’s at Pitti Uomo. That’s particularly true when the print is really very much on-trend – as it has proven to be for both fall and spring 2013. This is just one of the examples we spotted today, pairing a camo-print jacket with a denim shirt and blue checkered bow-tie.

Dapper looks are not hard to come by at Pitti Uomo, but each holds its own unique appeal. This look mixed refinement and ruggedness in equal volumes: a smart pair of spectacles, side-parted hair, and felt grey tie giving refinement to a plaid shirt, cargos and a suit jacket with raw edged detailing.

There’s a particular style code that permeates much of Pitti Uomo, and breaking it – even just a little – can make one truly stand out. Forgoing the suit jacket and coat in favour of a tough leather bomber jacket is one way to do it. The bomber itself may be fairly understated in plain black, but when paired with a popping bright red v-neck…

The grounds of the Fortezza da Basso in Florence are a vastly different picture to what they were in June: the cool green grass where people lay fanning themselves has been overlaid with stiff white wooden decking; the scarecrows that threatened to combust in the blazing heat have been replaced with an installation of book pages; and the sea of chinos and bare ankles that…

Nikita changes hair colour a lot. She’s like a rainbow, like the girl the Rolling Stones sang about – she combs her hair, she comes in colors everywhere. When I shot her at Pitti Uomo earlier this year it was raven and blue. On one of the days she was decked out in galaxy leggings and black lace and on another an unfussy black sleeveless…

Some people adhere to the philosophy that you should take one thing off before you leave the house; others in the opposing camp say you should add one thing. It really comes down to the type of person you are, whether you have a tendency to go overboard, or whether you’re more inclined to be too timid in your accessorising. Working out which you are…

If I described an outfit as consisting of a t-shirt, denim shorts, and sneakers, you’d probably be asleep before I’d even finished the sentence. It doesn’t exactly sound riveting. But don’t give up on the concept just yet: make the tee a slouchy one that shows a peep of midriff, put the shorts on the right pair of legs, and you have yourself an outfit…

Tucked away at the back of Pitti Uomo – away from the buzzing hive of menswear activity – was a hidden womenswear gem. If the antidote to testosterone overdose happens to be pink and hemmed with frills, then the brand’s installation was it. Models posed around a room that could have been a set from Mad Men: retro furnishings complimenting the sixties inspired fashion that…

When is a designer not a designer? The answer to this seeming riddle comes not in the form of words, but in the form of a person. A person whose uncommon approach to design earned him the moniker of le chirurgien du jean (‘the denim surgeon‘).

Nikita isn’t aware of Jem and the Holograms; that magical ’80s cartoon in which our protagonist, Jerrica, transforms from normalcy to superhero secret identity with a touch of her star earrings. Jerrica’s alter-ego is a rockstar called Jem: pink-haired, ultra-cool, crystal-voiced and as partial to face paint as Gene Simmons (if KISS’s thunderbolts came in pink). She may not have been the regular kind of…