>> The Pitti Uomo tradeshow in Florence is a vast maze that I've learnt to navigate over the past few seasons. I know to avoid the area where some skiwear/surfwear brand is blaring out awful house music. I know to head to the Tuscan delight of a press restaurant before the 1pm colossal queue. I know that if you wander around looking the way that I dress, you can bet that the many many suits n' glossy shoe brands aren't going to mistake me for a smart menswear buyer. I tend to hone into the areas where the younger brands and designers are set up.
Last week at Pitti, I stumbled into the stand of Licia Florio in such an area, where she was presenting her L'F Unisex shoe label. I gave the label a brief mention previously but Florio is a young Italian designer, who represents one of the rarer strands of young Italian fashion blood that is pumping well and good right now, with her own womenswear girly-girl label flourishing and a nifty shoe concept that definitely has legs... or err feet... whichever you prefer...
Peppered with Juno-esque writing fonts, L'F Unisex' website prescribes us a shoe that has "No shoelaces, no tongue, but a great personality." It's a shoe that comes to us wrapped up with a smile and a group hug and judging by the many satisfied L'F Unisex customer Instagram pics, there are definitely happier feet all round. As per many companies showing at Pitti, L'F Unisex prides itself on its craftsmanship, with all shoes being made in the mountainous region of Piedmont in Italy, equipped with a sturdy Vibram sole, normally used in outdoor pursuits footwear.
For A/W 13-4 (if you can think that far ahead...), once again L'F Unisex have many colour combinations onboard for their "Classico" shoe.
They've gone one step further with their metallic range and made them holographic. The all over silver ones are speaking to me what with my current obsession with all things lenticular and foil like.
In addition to the Classico, they debut a multi-functioning style called "Steve", which is a Derby shoe that can have two leather parts fitted to it to create an ankle boot.
You will also be able to dress the L'F Unisex shoe up with add-on lace-up gaiters.
The traditional mountain hiking shoe from the Piedmont region inspired this Vig walking shoe.
Of course, as per all posts of excitement over things seen at tradeshow, you'll need to wait to probably at least July before any of this begins to show up in stores or online. For now though, L'F Unisex does have a well-stocked online store if you want to check out what they currently have to suit your tongueless and laceless needs.
