The Pitti Immagine Uomo Award 2018 goes to Bagutta

Who knows whether the textiles imprinting of his maternal family or the dash and artistic breadth of his father Gianandrea – one of the tutelary deities of 20th century music – had the upper hand, but it is certain that Pino Gavazzeni had a fortunate entrepreneurial intuition when in 1975 – in the wake of the affirmation of pret-a-porter garments – he created Bagutta which immediately established itself as an international reference point for high quality shirt-making for men and women that was synonymous with creativity and Italian style, dividing itself between its own brand collections and the production of garments for some of the greatest Made in Italy stylists. Now that Pino’s interest is mainly as a shareholder, his son Antonio and nephew Andrea are at the helm of the company, respectively as CEO and president.

From their production plants in Arcore and Milan, where around one hundred people work with great passion and skill, the Gavazzeni family, who are proud to be from Bergamo, keep their gaze firmly on the future as they work to renew their sartorial tradition which is characterized by loyalty and coherence with their original identity. In recent seasons, also thanks to the arrival at the company of Mario Stefano Maran, the concepts of the collections have been revamped and the brand has undergone a decisive repositioning, with a distribution strategy that has led to Bagutta being present all over the world, favoring high range clients in Italy and, above all, abroad, which now represent 40% of the turnover, particularly Japan, South Korea, Russia, Germany and the United States. In this story there is also a role for the Pitti Uomo fair, in which the company has participated since the end of the 1970s – and there is a role for Florence as well if it is true that, to this day, Antonio Gavazzeni recalls with emotion the time when, as an adolescent, he discovered the Fortezza da Basso and when instead he accompanied his grandfather on one of his many conducting commitments with the Maggio Musicale orchestra and they both stayed at the Hotel Villa Medici. So who could be more deserving of the Pitti Immagine Uomo Award 2018 than Bagutta?