Bold Expressions

Ermenegildo Zegnas artistic director, Alessandro Sartori, is no stranger to rewriting the rules, and as Mens Folio finds out, he is not done yet.

- Wilson Lim

In early February 2016, Ermenegildo Zegna announced Alessandro Sartori’s homecoming as its artistic director. It was a newly created position to helm all Zegna lines, namely the sports-oriented Z Zegna and the sartorial-styled Ermenegildo Zegna. In fact, Sartori was the creative director of the then newly created Z Zegna line between 2003 to 2011, but he was equally prepared for the Ermenegildo Zegna line with his experience at Berluti as its artistic director. His immediate goal upon appointment was to take the group to the next phase of its development – appeal to millennials.

Appeal, he did. Sartori presented the delectable Tiziano sneakers for his homecoming debut Couture collection in the Fall/Winter ‘17 collection. Cutting through the noise with stitches (similar to the techniques used on Zegna suits) on several panels of leather in the design, the mid-top staple was well on its way to become de rigueur and could either dress up or dress down any Ermenegildo Zegna looks and sneak into the hearts of sneakerheads.

Sartori did not just stop at innovative designs; he made sure the brand remained top of mind in the industry. He did that by putting up a show, both figuratively and literally, season after season. For Fall/Winter ‘17, he showed at a massive hangar featuring Anselm Kiefer’s larger-than-life collection of crumbling concrete towers, then went on to fill the show space at Università Bocconi with snow for his Fall/Winter ‘18 show. For Spring/Summer ‘19, Sartori chose the architectural feat that is the Oscar Niemeyer building as a backdrop while his designs walked down a narrow runway between pools in front of it. Every sartorialist had Ermenegildo Zegna on the cusp of his lips when it came to talks about menswear designs and shows.