Mix + Match series. Portofino Aperitivo. MPM Ristretto, MPM RPT, Loro Piana, Schiaparelli, Aubade, Chanel.
Portofino does not need to try. The harbour is small enough that the coloured houses — ochre, terracotta, pale yellow, the faded rose of the one on the corner — form a backdrop that any photographer would spend an hour arranging and that nature simply left there. At the Calata Marconi, the gozzi fishing boats rock gently at their moorings as the evening light comes in low and grazing across the water.
A group of six is standing at the quay's edge, glasses of Franciacorta in hand, the conversation easy and unhurried. One woman has her hand on the shoulder of another.
The man in the group is speaking, his right hand holding his glass mid-gesture. She is beside him, passing her hand through her hair with a smile.
He is wearing a Loro Piana Ice Wish polo in navy blue, white trousers, woven brown leather shoes.
His MPM Ristretto in tan is on his back, worn as a backpack, its warm caramel leather sitting comfortably against the navy.
On him, invisible but present: Chanel Allure Édition Blanche, a fragrance that smells of exactly this kind of evening, clean and warm and faintly luminous.
She is in a Schiaparelli tailored dress in ecru, her dark blonde hair in an elegant bun, grey patent leather loafers on her feet,
the same grey as the strap of her MPM RPT, which she carries as a crossbody.
The RPT — Reisepass Tasche, German for passport pouch — is a new piece in the MPM line and a different proposition from anything else in it. Slim and vertical, 110 by 225 by 38 millimetres, it carries a full transit life inside: passport, boarding pass, cards, smartphone, flat charger, and whatever else the journey requires. The front face is smooth box calf, the back and strap grained taurillon, the same dual-leather combination that runs through the Ristretto and has become an MPM house signature. The embossed monogram sits quietly at the centre of the front panel. The YKK zip runs along the top spine.
Underneath the dress, white Aubade — because the right underwear is always part of the composition, even when no one or should I say, only one, can see it.
Her fragrance is Chanel No. 5, which has been the correct answer to Portofino evenings for the better part of a century.
The pairing works quietly and without effort, which is the Portofino way. Her ecru dress and taupe RPT share the same sandy warmth, nudged toward something cooler and more precise by the grey patent loafers, a small metallic note that keeps the whole look from settling into beige. His navy polo and tan Ristretto are a classic pairing made interesting by the quality of each piece, the Loro Piana fabric against the full-grain leather, and by the woven brown shoes that carry the tan of the bag down to the ground. The two bags are also, in themselves, a kind of Mix+Match: same house, completely different design language. The Ristretto is compact and box-shaped, worn across the back. The RPT is tall and architectural, close to the body on a single strap. One is for movement, the other for stillness.
Then there is Chanel, perhaps the most understated pairing in the series so far. The same house, a masculine and a feminine expression worn simultaneously — Allure Édition Blanche and No. 5 — one fresh and clean, the other complex and powdery, both of them entirely at home on a quay in Liguria at this hour.
The Franciacorta is nearly finished. Someone will order another very soon…
Further reading:
More details about the MPM Ristretto
More details about the MPM RPT
Mix + Match series. Paris, café Le Nemours. MPM Cappuccino, Christian Louboutin, Church's, Krug
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