Forty years ago, Ermanno Lazzarin synthesized an aesthetic language that today’s most style-conscious men around the world follow, blending classic clothing, sportswear, and vintage.

“I grew up in a time when stores sold an ideal of perfection. Those luxurious shop windows were rigid, real engineering treatises; the stiff suits on mannequins were pulled tight with pins. Men didn’t dress—they disguised themselves in monolithic total looks that annihilated personality. Naturalness was not allowed.”

In his store “Eral 55,” Ermanno combined his taste for American memorabilia, exotic leathers, and artisanal knitwear with the family tradition of men’s tailoring in which he was raised. Wearing a wool suit that hasn’t been ironed with the authority of an industrial captain, he says, “imperfections are a value,” and opposes the image of a vain and superficial man with a concrete style that does not shy away from “blemishes,” but rather seeks them out.