In His Words: Paul Surridge

"Z Zegna is a brand which is not definable by age, it's more a mentality. I like the idea of a Zegna man who is not a fashionista; we're moving away from flashy fashion shows and going towards a more believable, real point of view for menswear.

"This collection is the first time I didn't really think about me or the heritage of Zegna, I just thought about what we have to say about menswear today in general. I wanted to deformalize sartorial wear: It's very much clothes for outdoors, not meant for sitting in an office or for the city slicker. This season is a reference to the distant past. It's more interesting to me to take inspiration from an era that no one alive today would have experienced.

"The work of Caravaggio was my starting point for the colors and the general mood of the collection. I also looked into medieval culture: early patterns before the print industry was developed, jacquard material, embroidery and embellishment techniques used in the Middle Ages.

"At the same time, I'm on a constant search for a three-dimensional aspect in menswear. The use of 3D textures is something I would like to explore further in the future. This season, we made multi-faceted shoes, embroidered jackets, and we added prism details on accessories. This three-dimensional quality makes the collection more relevant in the digital age."

SLIDESHOW: See details of the Z Zegna Fall/Winter 2013 collection