Pitti these days rarely throws up new, interesting brands. That might be partly the state of the market, partly the state of Pitti, but either way it hasn’t been about discovery for a while. You see new things but not new names.
Fortunately there was one exception this summer, as we met the guys behind Museum Garments for the first time, and they were genuinely exciting.
They’d been on our radar because we saw them at Colbo in New York last autumn, and indeed recommended a sweater in the October round-up. But it was very different seeing a fuller range, and meeting two of the founders.
Alain Duruy and Oscar Fassenot (a third founder, Joachim Piry, was not there) have a real enthusiasm for classic clothing. But they come from the fashion industry rather than starting as amateurs, which makes the brand more mainstream and gives a modern, cleaner aesthetic to a lot of their interpretations of heritage pieces.
It’s hard to appreciate much online – so much is about the materials.
Take the Labor Jacket for example. Online it’s impossible to see what the suede is like – not just whether it’s good or bad, but whether it’s light or heavy, soft or rugged. In person it’s clearly decent quality, but it’s also an interesting intersection of luxury and workwear – substantial and tough, but not as hard and heavy as a pure repro piece.
The same goes for the fit – the jacket has a unique, deliberate design, with a slightly wider shoulder and tapered waist, but it’s neither a straight reproduction nor as exaggerated as A Presse, Lemaire or other fashion brands. (I took a medium.)
What you do get a sense of online is the design in terms of things like colours and hardware. It feels simple and muted, with collar and body materials in related, complementary shades.
That jacket was the first thing I tried on at Pitti – suede outerwear being a real weakness of mine – and it was impressive. We immediately tried a white hunting jacket (not currently online) and a wool overshirt (above).
Both had that same feeling in the materials: more substance than a high-street piece, a little thicker, a little denser, suggesting the appreciation of vintage. But also quite modern: the chore very tonal with white cord on the collar, the overshirt stipped back to a single chest pocket, and with matching trousers.
The hunting jacket was the best fit I’ve ever found in a piece like that – the originals are so short and so A-line, that a reproduction feels almost comical, yet a normal fit loses all of the character. This was a nice place in between.
The reason I probably find Museum Garments so interesting is this meeting of worlds: it’s an interesting option for the PS reader that wants heritage-inspired quality but a more modern approach, and considered design without big-fashion prices (the jacket is £1150, the overshirt £240).
We’re not talking the most luxurious materials, of course, nor the handwork we often cover on PS, but for most of these garments you don’t necessarily want that.
It’s interesting to compare the brand to someone like Buck Mason, which is cheaper but offers straighter heritage designs rather than modern interpretations. I feel like some readers will err more towards the traditional side like Buck, others towards a modern take like Museum Garments.
There are some Museum Garments designs I don’t like. The ‘Dad’s Shirt’ has a small button-down collar, for example, which I don’t think is great (above). But it is referencing a particular look – nineties Polo one-pocket shirts, big and untucked, and that’s not what I’m after.
This inspiration is spelled out on all the labels of the Museum Garments clothes, which is a nice touch.
Every piece has a different one, and for the Dad’s Shirt it’s a little cartoon of an Ivy-looking gentleman working away at his desk. The Pumpist Jacket has a service station, the Labor Jacket a stylised factory with the smoke saying ‘Tough Skin, True Craft’.
“We like the fact that the labels connect us to the customer, telling them what we were thinking about,” says Alain. “It’s also something that’s just for the wearer, as nobody else sees it. It’s a little reminder every time they put it on.
“We do love vintage clothing but it can be a little dusty, a little tough,” adds Oscar. “And we’re French, from Paris, so we wanted a little bit of that French chic. That’s why a lot of the designs are quite stripped back.”
With this kind of menswear that can be a problem – the clothes and the lookbooks often seem rather unremarkable, because the pieces are classic and the designs so simple. The Museum Garments clothes are a good example of this, and it really does mean it’s best to see them in person, to appreciate both the details and the materials.
Unfortunately the brand isn’t stocked widely yet, but that’s because they only launched in 2024 and are properly starting wholesale for the first time this season. So the various stockists that came to see them in Florence and Paris will have the clothes in spring 2027.
For the moment, the availability is online, at Colbo, and in a handful of places in France and Switzerland. This autumn there will also be Galleries Lafayette in France, Ships in Japan and Presidio Post in San Francisco. Hopefully there will be more soon.
