If you visited Pitti Uomo 2018, you will have seen it on display at the Xacus stand. Because among all the fabrics and ideas, this year Xacus also presented a publication that is unique to the industry. In fact, Xacus published The Shirt Anatomy, a book that provides detailed descriptions of the shirt in all its different aspects: from its history, to the origins of the different raw materials, weaving and the small details that all go into a men’s shirt, through to tips for caring for your shirt after purchasing.
This book has been designed to be a manual that will help those who work in the shirt business – such as owners of clothing stores - as well as those who simply have a passion for fashion and who are looking to find out more about the technical aspects of modern shirt making.
Exclusive content and visual tips, illustrated by hand, together with historical research, The Shirt Anatomy guides the reader on a voyage of discovery. The creative concept and publishing project - curated by the Gruppo icat communications agency – originates with a bold basic metaphor: the men’s - or women’s - shirt, is like a second skin; it is a living thing that evolves and adapts to its environment. Just like a living body, like a human body, and every chapter picks up on this metaphor to talk about the different parts of the shirt - collar, sleeves, and bust - as if they were anatomical elements. Weaves are what form the skin of the shirt - the origins of cotton and textures are examined as if they were the shirt’s skeleton, while its history is told as if it were the evolution of a species, as written by Darwin. And finally, movement: each shirt is a dynamic element that is created to live in a context, to emerge from the static nature of a wardrobe and express itself in outfits that continue to change according to the occasion.
As the writer Alessandro Zaltron says in the introduction:
“the following pages inform, divert and encourage. It was about time there was an instruction booklet with none of the boring, pedantic parts, but with all the necessary information: a kind of study guide to fashion. And now it’s here.”
The book, published by Grafiche Antiga, will soon be on sale in the official shop. In the meantime, you can download the
digital version here, for free.
Happy reading!
