THE JOURNAL
It may come as no surprise that, here at MR PORTER, we spend quite a bit of time marvelling at Italian style. We understand it’s no great mystery; we know very well, for example, that Italian tailoring is truly special, and that a ‘‘Made in Italy” label is a mark of the highest quality materials, a dedication to craftsmanship and design flair. Yet we come back from weekends in Rome, work trips to Milan, a getaway to Naples or Venice and wonder just how Italian men do it.
Spend any time roaming around a palazzo in Florence, cruising the waterways of Venice or simply on the hunt for gelato in the capital and you’ll know exactly what we mean. Italian men have incredible taste in great clothes, which they happen to wear with a touch of nonchalance. They have a term for it, of course, sprezzatura, aka the art of effortless dressing. And while the country’s iconic houses and tailoring masters each have individual styles of their own, this artful yet casual charm is in the DNA of the fashion industry itself.
Is there perhaps something in the water? That’s the question one could ask of Barena, a brand that feels quintessentially Italian, while wearing its city’s influences through and through. Take its latest AW24 collection, which features an array of weather-ready suiting options in typical Italian tailoring style. Here, a checked wool jacket feels looser and less structured than, say, an English counterpart. Paired with checked wool trousers, it’s a suit that makes you feel properly dressed, but relaxed about it. The kind of modern workwear – bold, playful, and yes, effortless – that calls for a working lunch at the Venice Biennale.
Founded in Venice in 1993, Barena – like the millions of visitors the city hosts each season – can’t help but be inspired by the place. It’s a Venetian brand through and through (the name, for example, is taken from the shoals and sandbanks that border the deep waters of the lagoon upon which Venice is built). For three decades, the Italian brand has produced charming collections that feel utterly at home in the floating city.
“Barena’s formalwear typifies its approach. The brand’s soft tailoring emphasises comfort and longevity”
But Barena is also a brand that considers the practical implications and efforts of living there (there’s a clue in its motif, a Venetian fisherman). The picture-postcard beauty of Venice belies the centuries-old graft to maintain a presence here, which, among many other things, has always necessitated a practical approach to dressing. This workwear influence has helped harness a specific style at Barena that feels both timeless and everyday, in the best possible way.
Again, Barena’s formalwear typifies its approach. The brand’s soft tailoring emphasises comfort and longevity, found in virgin wool-flannel trousers with an elasticated waist or a suit jacket with just a hint of stretch, whose insulating wool fibres speak to style that endures whatever the choppy water around the city throws at it.
This is design with smart thinking attached, like a beige cotton-corduroy overshirt that has the look and feel of a chore jacket and can be dressed up or down, depending on the occasion. Want to make a splash? Team it with matching straight-cut trousers that will turn heads at the Venice film festival.
“While Barena finds inspiration in the everyday, it is not immune to a dash of spectacle. How could a Venetian brand not?”
And while Barena finds inspiration in the everyday, it is not immune to adding a dash of spectacle to proceedings. How could a Venetian brand not? The drama of Venice is everywhere, from its masterpiece artworks and architectural wonders to the very fact of its existence teetering on the lagoon edge. It’s a place of intrigue and carnival, art and serious commerce.
All of which demands a certain style to meet the occasion. For this, we advise an investment in the Barena winter coat, as sturdy as a fisherman’s peacoat, in a heavyweight wool-blend fabric, but belted for that touch of local drama. It’s Italian dressing, Venetian style.