Say ‘Amore!’ to high fashion’sCROONER-IN-CHIEFItaly is undergoing a cultural renaissance
right now. OK, maybe not exactly along the
Michelangelo/Leonardo lines of Renaissance 1.0, more
a lightly ironic surge of popular culture spearheaded
by men such as Gucci’s Alessandro Michele and king
of the wedding singers Alessandro Ristori.
If you are a regular on the Monte Carlo/Costa
Smeralda/Forte Dei Marmi circuit, then you will
know Ristori very well. But on the off-chance you
were unable to make Charlotte Casiraghi’s wedding
in the sprawling palace of the Grimaldis in Monaco,
where Ristori supplied what Shakespeare called the
food of love, he is the crooner-in-chief of the Italian
and French Rivieras.
The story of Ristori, who’s 40 years old and a native of
Faenza, follows a narrative arc with which aficionados of
The X Factor will be familiar. He was marked for greatness
by a teacher who appreciated the infant Ristori’s thespian
gifts. By the age of 16 he was a rockabilly musician,
but after a decade he realised that the life of an Italian
performance artist with a 90 per cent rockabilly
repertoire was never going to be a lucrative one and
in 2005 he made the decision to change: “We became
more popular, more mainstream, more... Las Vegas.”
It has allowed him to make the most of gifts as an
entertainer and, backed by his band, The Portofinos, he
has captured the imaginations of Italy’s industrialists
(the Berettas are big fans); fashion moguls (Kering’sMarco Bizzarri is a devotee and dresses Ristori in Gucci);
impresarios (he plays Flavio Briatore’s clubs all summer);
and of course the Med’s reigning dynasties (he is proud
to count Prince “Alberto” of Monaco as a friend and fan).
Shirt open to the navel, Cuban heels fully stacked, flared
trousers slung seductively low on his hips, microphone
cable wielded like a lasso, he cavorts, spins, perspires,
gyrates and hip-thrusts his way through a set that bridges
the world of easy listening – but energetic dancing –
between “Nel Blu, Dipinto Di Blu” (Italy’s 1958 Eurovision
entry, also known as “Volare”) and late-Vegas Elvis. His
particular area of interest is “early Italian rock and roll,
which was first heard at the Sanremo Music Festival 1961”.
Ristori evokes an Italy that is part Dolce Vita, part
Dean Martin, reinterpreting the great Italian songbook
with fun-loving panache that unites all generations on
the dance floor. And he is in demand. I recently chased
him on the phone from Italy to Switzerland to Monaco
over a 20-hour period. He now teeters on the brink
of international stardom: he played the closing of the
Sochi Film Festival, just one of what he reckons is 200
engagements this year. But if you have a hotel to open
in Gstaad or a jewellery line to promote in London, he
will try to fit you in and he is very discreet: “Politician,
actors... sometimes we do parties for important people.”
He just doesn’t always know who they are. “I don’t want
to ask too much,” he says, adding by way of explanation,
“I am an artist.”Elvis has left the
building. Enter,
wedding singer to the
Med’s neo-aristocrats
Alessandro RistoriAlessandro ristoriPhotographsGetty Images; Horst P Horst/GettyImages; Instagram/@alessandroristori.official- Master of surprise
Jeff likes to tip convention on
its head. See how he’s wearing
autumn clothing here, but in a
summer palette? He took the red
pill years ago: your move, Neo. - The outer limits
Jeff has one of the best jacket
collections outside Italy. See how
he combines skinny white jeans
with a black leather car coat?
Only two people can do such a
thing: Jeff and Jeff’s reflection. - Strokes of genius
Those atomically bright Prada
shirts are beautiful. Like an artist
with a fresh canvas, Jeff sets
them off with ice-white jeans.
[That’s enough Jeff – Ed.]
Three ways
to wear...
white jeans à la
Jeff Goldblum
Story by Jonathan Heaf
Illustrations by Kasiq JungwooStory by Nick Foulkes09-19HRAlessandro.indd 110 10/07/2019 08:36
106 GQ.CO.UK SEPTEMBER 2019