The looks to steal from the stylish at Milan’s furniture design show Salone Del Mobile.

Every April, Milan turns into a global hub for the great and good of the design world, as visitors flock to the city to experience Salone Del Mobile, a showcase of the latest furniture from leading manufacturers such as Vitra, Cappellini and the like. Among the highlights of the exhibition this year is new work from Messrs Max Lamb and Tomás Alonso (both of whom featured in our recent The Chair Men portfolio on The Journal), as well as cross-disciplinary exhibits by Nike and Loewe. There are some lesser-known attractions, too – namely, the people in attendance. The design world has an arguably more relaxed and notably more understated approach to style than the more peacock-y varieties of human being you tend to run into at Pitti Uomo or London Collections: Men, resulting in outfits that work powerfully, but carefully, with colour, print and texture. This means there’s plenty to learn from them, beyond which chair is their favourite – although they’re usually happy to chew your ear off about that, too…

You may be familiar with the concept, popularised by Ms Amy Heckerling’s teen comedy Clueless, of someone being a “Monet” – ie, they look great from afar, but up close, it all looks a bit of mess. This Salone-goer has very carefully pre-empted any such criticism by putting together an outfit that at a few paces is striking – thanks to its marked contrast of midnight blue and beige – but also triumphs in its minute textural details, thanks to the subtle slub fabrics in the trousers and jacket, which complement each other perfectly. From all angles, it’s a masterpiece.

When buying into the whole army surplus shebang, you can run the risk of looking like you’ve just been ejected from boot camp, rather than carefully picked an outfit yourself. Not so in the above image, where an intrepid-looking photographer has undertaken a deliberate non-sequitur by pairing his khakis with a contrasting, slightly hippy-ish floral-print shirt. The jacket makes the shirt more masculine, while the shirt makes the jacket look more fun. Everyone happy about that? Good.

In the surreal 1983 Monty Python comedy The Meaning Of Life, an executive at The Very Big Corporation of America summarises the titular concept thus: “People are not wearing enough hats.” We at MR PORTER believe the same could be said of the tan cotton jacket, a garment that really helps to lighten up a casual look without incurring much risk for the colour-averse. So, although people in general aren’t wearing enough hats or tan jackets, we’re going to take some reassurance from this street-style candidate, who has managed to successfully combine both.

Indigo is all a-go-go in the men’s style world at the moment, a fact neatly demonstrated by this cool customer, who has opted for an entire outfit in this rich, saturated colour. Luckily for him, blue is one of the few colours that’s easy to pull off like this without looking like a prisoner. You can do the same (if you feel brave enough) by training your browser to certain Japanese brands, including the aptly named Blue Blue Japan, which offers a range of classic workwear pieces in this Mr Yves Klein-worthy palette.

Oh, it’s such a cliché – a well-dressed man draped over a beautiful piece of furniture, breezily leafing through a copy of interiors and design bible Wallpaper*. If this is what you’re thinking, stop being so damned cynical. The table, chinos and jacket are all spot-on, and this month’s issue is fantastic, as ever. If, on the other hand, you feel like joining those of us who could see themselves in this enviable position, you could do worse than peruse MR PORTER’s selection of chore jackets, from the likes of Freemans Sporting Club, Orslow and Faherty.