Photography by Rikesh Chauhan & Luke Alland.
For those that haven't attended Pitti before, allow me to give you the run down of a typical day. It's usually a 7am rise, out of the door by 8am to pick up a coffee en route to Fortezza da Basso. The show takes place from morning until around 5pm, after which there's an hour to get ready for the evening's events. About 5 or 6 of them, and they all start and finish at the exact same bloody time. Once the steps are well and truly clocked up, around 9pm is when most mosey on to their reserved tables at some of Florence's finest trattorias. Post-dinner, the international set head to Gilli or Paszkowski from 11pm until close, whilst the majority of Brits (in somewhat stereotypical fashion) end up at Fiddler's. It is, as you may have figured, an Irish bar.
One morning over coffee, we were discussing with our friends at Anderson & Sheppard how great it would be to pay homage to the UK's pub culture with a darts or pool tournament at Pitti Uomo. While throwing sharp objects all over the gaff at 2am—having downed several litres of wine and copious pints of beer beforehand—probably wouldn't be the smartest of ideas, the pool tournament definitely piqued our collective interest. A few weeks later, the tournament format was complete, the fixture list confirmed, the venue (Fiddler's, naturally) was ready. Sixteen well-dressed players huddling around a comically small pool table, in the back room of the Irish bar, was certainly a unique sight. Which is why we captured the whole thing.
A big thank you (and commiserations) to our wonderful players, and of course, a hearty congratulations to the first ever tournament winner, Lloyd, who not only left with a sizeable kitty, but is now proud owner of a pretty rad Pitti Pool Party trophy.