tExt sUzy MEnkEs

206 AnOtherMan

When Lapo Elkann, the errant heir to the Italian Fiat empire, made his comeback appearance (after landing up in hospital, felled by a long, coke-fuelled, cross-dressing evening), he chose his outfit with irony and aplomb. The occasion was the launch of his sleek sunglasses line in a downtown Florence art gallery, where he was facing, for the first time since his fall from grace, all his artsy and aristo friends. He wore a white blazer – of the type once seen on the French Riviera in the days when people dressed for dinner to match the oleanders glimmering in the dusk – a formal shirt with short cuffs that revealed wrists painted with the Italian flag, and camouflage-print trousers. The jacket was a heritage piece from his famously elegant grandfather Gianni Agnelli; the trousers were street smart, more downtown New York than Milan couture.