Vitale Barberis Canonico X CARUSO X Gio Pagani
by No Chaser Magazine
Let us begin with a word.
A word older than tailoring, older than looms, older even than the city of Milan.
VOUS—from the Latin word “vōs” means “you”.
A cerebral spark. A silent knowing.
The kind of knowing that doesn’t need to be explained—only felt, in the fingertips or behind the eyes.
This spring, as the design world once again descends upon Milan in its annual pilgrimage of spectacle and substance, a quieter conversation emerges. Not shouted from LED billboards or branded installations, but whispered in wool, in wood, in the cultivated space between experience and experiment.
Caruso, sartorial maestros of Italian elegance, and Vitale Barberis Canonico, the godfathers of fine wool (and no strangers to longevity—they’ve been weaving since the Thirty Years’ War), have joined forces with architect and material romantic Gio Pagani. Together, they present VOUS—a mentorship initiative with all the hallmarks of a great suit: deliberate, generous, and stitched with intention.
But let’s be clear: this is not a design “incubator” or another bright-and-shiny marketing stunt dressed up as altruism. No, VOUS is that rare thing—an offering. A true transfer of craft and care, passed down from seasoned hands to young ones just beginning to discover their grip.
Four emerging designers—Edoardo Patetta, Matteo Yeuillaz, Anna Todorova, and Elisa Longoni—have been selected not merely for their résumés but for their resonance. Under Pagani’s guidance, they will conceive and create design objects rooted in the codes of sartorial tradition, yet aimed squarely at tomorrow. The results won’t be decorative. They’ll be discursive.
If you know Pagani’s work, you’ll know this is not about flash. His forms are sculptural but reserved, nostalgic but not sentimental. His materials speak first, and often louder than he does. That’s the kind of mentor you want—not a star, but a compass. “Mentorship is not a one-way relationship,” Pagani says. And we believe him. It rarely is. The master, if he’s worth his salt, always learns from the student.
There is, of course, a uniform. This is Italy, after all. Caruso has crafted a special edition Saharan jacket for the occasion—a nod to utility cloaked in elegance. Rendered in Vitale Barberis Canonico’s iconic Super 120’s wool (because if you’re going to learn, you may as well do so in impeccable tailoring), it’s finished with a colored membrane for waterproof, wind-stopping functionality. Function meets fantasy. Practicality meets poetics. No surprise—it’s what Caruso does best.
But VOUS isn’t really about the jacket. It’s about what the jacket stands for.
You.
In French, VOUS means you. The collective. The chorus. The community of minds and materials moving toward a shared vision.
What’s being sewn here is not just fabric, but future. And not the tired, buzzword-heavy “design of the future” kind. No—the future as it might be if we slowed down, listened to our elders, and remembered that elegance, like knowledge, is best when passed hand to hand.
In a cultural moment obsessed with disruption, it’s refreshing to see a project dedicated to continuity.
To beauty that’s learned, not just imagined.
To ideas that are tailored, not templated.
To designers who know that the best things in life—like a well-cut jacket or a well-placed word—require time, training, and a little faith in the unseen.
And so, in the heart of Brera, in quiet ateliers and intimate salons, a new kind of design dialogue unfolds.
Not with spectacle, but with sincerity.
Not with slogans, but with stitches.
A lineage is being extended—not by shouting, but by showing.
And that, dear reader, is the kind of passion we at No Chaser will always raise a glass to.
Measured. Meaningful. And immaculately made.
