Pitti Uomo as a First timer and second timer

What is Pitti Uomo?

How many of you have heard about Pitti Uomo? For those of you who don’t know Pitti Uomo is an internationally renowned menswear trade show. Pitti Uomo is organised twice a year in Florence, Italy. The winter edition takes places during January and showcases collections for the upcoming fall and winter, while the summer edition is organised during June and showcases collections for the following spring and summer.

Pitti Uomo gathers members from the menswear industry around the world to Florence twice a year. Among these are exhibitors, buyers, editors, influencers and enthusiasts. The trade show gathers around 30.000 visitors which means you’ll see a lot of well dressed men during the week strolling around Florence which is quite fun.

The first Pitti Uomo took place in 1972, back then it was much smaller in scale and was located in Palazzo Pitti. But as the fair grew in popularity and scale it needed to relocate to Fortezza da Basso back in 1982.

It wasn’t until in the late 00s when street style coverage from Pitti started emerging, and with the rise of social media the phenomena only grew. Now you can see a lot of pictures published here and there that have been taken during Pitti, either at the fair or in the streets of Florence during the fair. It’s said that Pitti is the place where you can find some of the best dressed men on the planet in one place.

The increased popularity of street style has also been accounted for by Pitti Uomo, there are now more exhibitors that showcase more street style than traditional classic tailoring and overall the fair does have quite a wide spectrum of brands and styles present.

Attending Pitti as a first timer

I attended my first Pitti Uomo this year in January, so the 103rd edition of Pitti Uomo. I had been wanting to go there for a few years already, but never got around to making it happen.

It did feel a bit intimidating to be travelling to Pitti alone. I had met a few people face to face who I knew were going to be at Pitti and knew a bunch of people from Instagram who I had chatted with every now and then who were also going to be there. But still I felt that I didn’t really know anyone for real there.

Fortunately I consider myself quite social most of the time, so I didn’t really think it would be much of an issue in the end to get to know people. I was also fortunate enough to get a couple of invites to some evening events from brands I had worked with previously which was really nice.

So when I first went to Fortezza da Basso on the first day of the fair it didn’t take long for me to bump into some people I knew through Instagram and I think I must have shook around 400 hands during my first Pitti. I met so many new people and people who I knew from Instagram.

I must say that it did surprise me how welcoming, inclusive and nice everyone was that I met. It was no issue at all to find a group of people to join for lunch or dinner.

Now obviously I already had quite a following on Instagram when I first visited Pitti, which I won’t deny, helped me a lot as a first timer going to Pitti. For someone who is new to the community of menswear and wants to go to Pitti, I’d suggest looking into joining The Sartorial Club (TSC).

TSC organises events around the world for people who are interested in the sartorial world. TSC also hosts a pre-Pitti event in Florence on Mondays, before the actual fair starts. As a member you can join the event and network there with likeminded people. As a member you have a group who you can hang out with during Pitti, go to dinners and also get invites to different events.

Pitti Uomo 103 in January 2023. I think this was the outfit I wore on the second day of Pitti.

Chatting with Niccolò Cesari (@niccocesari) on the streets of Florence in Pitti 103

Image captured on the streets of Florence during Pitti Uomo 104 in June 2023

Image captured inside Fortezza da Basso during Pitti Uomo 103 in January 2023

Attending Pitti as a second timer

I had so much fun during my first time in Pitti I decided that I would do it again during the next edition, which was organised in June 2023.

I also wanted to experience the difference between the summer and winter editions of Pitti to determine which I liked better.

The second time was much easier, I knew what to expect, I had met a lot of the people who would be there already during the previous Pitti.

This time I did join TSC and also attended their pre-Pitti event which was a really nice way to kick-off the summer edition of Pitti. I was also better prepared with having scouted the different events I wanted to join and RSVP’d to those.

I also booked accommodation with a few friends who I met during last Pitti, because the hotel prices during the summer edition are quite steep.

I would say that some of the excitement and novelty that I felt during my first Pitti had disappeared, but in it’s place I felt more comfortable and relaxed talking with people, roaming the exhibitions at the fair and attending the events in the evenings.

If I compare my second time at the fair with my first one I spent much more time at the booths of the exhibitors, while during my first Pitti I spent a lot more time outside talking to people visiting the fair. But I think this was mainly due to the fact that it was so warm outside and I wanted to go somewhere with AC to cool down.

Final thoughts

To summarise I’d say that in the future I’m not sure if I’ll be going to Pitti twice a year as it requires me to take some time of from work. However both times were extremely fun even though afterwards I feel very sleep deprived and usually also quite hungover.

For me personally the winter edition is most likely the one I will attend in the future if I only attend one and this is for two reasons:

• The temperatures are better suited for me, we northerners don’t handle heath too well

• The outfits are more inspiring and interesting with more layering and a bigger variety of interesting fabrics

However I must say that the ambience at the events during the summer Pitti is amazing, the rooftop bars and the garden parties are so nice, there is usually more space than being crammed into an indoors space.

If you are thinking about visiting Pitti Uomo for the first time, my advice to you is to do it, don’t overthink it. People are generally very welcoming and nice. Also if you don’t know anyone going to Pitti Uomo, do consider joining TSC, they have a lot of Pitti first timers also so you’ll feel right at home.

Also I suggest doing your research to find out what evening events are organised and see if you’re able to score an invite, or if you’re just there to see the fair and experience Florence, which is also a great way to do Pitti.

In case you have any questions about Pitti, feel free to reach out to me via DM in Instagram @sartorial_finn. As usual, for more frequent content, head over to my IG. At the moment I don’t have a concrete idea for my next blog post so not sure when I’ll be posting here next time. In case you have any ideas, you can also send them over via DM on IG.

Until next time, cheerios!