Luciano Barbera is a menswear icon for many reasons. For me, however, the most important is that he always emphasised dressing comfortably, appropriately and in an understated manner. 

Dressing comfortably means eschewing the uber-tight suits or uber-pointy shoes that still plague some areas of menswear. Dressing in an understated manner means avoiding the extremes of fashion. And dressing appropriately means many things, but one of them is not cosplaying – not trying to force a three-piece suit into a time, place or occasion for which it is not appropriate.

“The most forceful statement is understatement. It is the philosophy behind everything I do,” he once said. 

These are all powerful, practical things to remember – and I think they should remind us that even if we wear less tailoring than we did 10 years ago, there is still much we can learn from those Italian icons, which would also include the likes of Simone Righi, Mariano Rubinacci, Sergio Loro Piana or Matteo Marzotto. 

But today we’re here to talk about Barbera, and there are a few more specific and tailoring-related things I think readers can learn from his style. 

1. Try contrasting shoes

Barbera was a great fan of tan-coloured shoes, and took every opportunity to wear them. A lot of the time that made sense because his suits were light in colour, and the shoes were still darker than the suit material. 

But he also wore tan shoes with slightly darker grey trousers, doing the thing we discussed last year of wearing shoes a little lighter than the trousers, for a touch of visual interest. (Anyone that has yet to understand why that’s unusual, read the article.) 

I suggest that readers can take this from Barbera, even if they would never wear the ties, hanks or other more formal elements. 

2. Wear a very soft hat

God knows, brimmed hats are hard to wear. But if there’s one thing that makes them easier, it’s being soft and worn in. Barbera’s always looked as though he’d been sitting on them for half an hour, and as a result often receded into the background. 

How do you get that type of hat? Well, you buy one in a soft, unlined felt and you treat it like crap. One of Locks’ rollable hats will look like that the quickest – all it takes is being kept rolled a couple of times. And a stiffer felt will look like that over time if it’s not babied. You can also soak a stiffer felt in water, but I confess I’ve never had the courage to do that. 

3. Or a beanie

Barbera also wore a flat cap, even a beanie or a baseball cap, as trilby alternatives. But the flat cap always made him look older and less stylish to me, while the baseball cap looked like a joke. A beanie, on the other hand, gave him a cheeky just-put-together look that was quite appealing. 

The cap may actually have been a joke for all we know, or at least some kind of commercial stunt. But it is good to see how a small wool beanie can flatter someone so elegant. 

4. Learn colour combinations

Barbera was a master of colour pairings. It helped that he wore quite rural ones – greens, beiges, browns – that were easier to wear with other bright colours, but he really made the most out of it. My three favourites are shown above, in order: yellow and mid-brown; red and green; cerise and dark brown.

All these are combinations you can work into your wardrobe in different ways to the ones shown: a yellow scarf with a mid-brown suit; a red-striped shirt under a green jacket; a cerise knit with a dark-brown coat. You don’t have to wear a suit and tie to be inspired by these outfits. 

5. Have fun with mixed patterns

We have to go back almost 20 years to find the first mention of pattern density on PS, but it hasn’t lost any of its appeal. There’s something about seeing a tie, shirt, jacket and pocket handkerchief in different patterns – yet all working together – that still stirs the soul of a tailoring enthusiast. 

The secret, of course, is to keep the densities of neighbouring patterns sufficiently different from each other. A big check in the jacket, a small stripe in the shirt, a club diagonal in the tie, and so on. You can also deliberately flirt at the edges of this; I like a striped shirt with my striped DB suit, for example, but then keep the thing balanced with a dark, solid, anchor of a tie in the middle. 

I rarely wear a patterned handkerchief today, but I do like to play with this interaction between suit, shirt and tie patterns. It’s a good way to add interest without resorting to bold pattern or colour. 

I have also learned over the years, by the way, that Barbera’s colour of glasses only works on ruddier or more Italian-tanned individuals. It took me a long time to make peace with that – as you can see here. 

Like all the most iconic dressers, Barbera never seemed to striving for style in any way. It helped that he dressed within the relatively narrow confines of classic menswear, but even so. 

It is him I often refer people to when they abuse the term ‘sprezzatura’. It means the opposite of what they think: “It literally means detachment, but a better way to think of it is quiet confidence or low-key style,” he said. “Style is having people noticing you without struggling to do so.”

Whenever I read Barbera’s interviews and quotes, he inspires me to look at fabric more closely. Fabric was his heritage of course, and he always talks about hating ‘flat’ fabrics, those without character – and how natural fibres are best for that. He makes me want to feel cloth in my fingers, rather than ever click through it online. 

Below are a few more of my favourite Barbera pics. Remember, all it takes is one element to be inspiring. The point is not to recommend whole looks. It never is, really.