For its 82nd edition, scheduled to take place from June 19th to the 22nd in Florence, Pitti Uomo will bring together 1,020 brands, while Pitti W, the event devoted to women's preview collections, plans on welcoming 70 exhibitors with Nigeria as the guest of honor . The show, which hosted 32,000 visitors in June, including 20,000 buyers, promises a schedule of four days of fireworks, much like the one unveiled Thursday in Milan.

To entice buyers, especially from emerging countries, Pitti Uomo has chosen the overall theme of food in step with the green trend of ecology and nature. Its June issue will therefore take place under the slogan "Wonderfood Pitti" and will include an installation designed by Oliviero Baldini in its central pavilion, as well as multiple colorful geometric gardens throughout which 30 scarecrows will be scattered, each dressed by international designers such as the French Marchand Drapier and Pierre Louis Mascia or the Indian brand Pero Aneeth Arora.

The program of festivities will include major special events such as an exposition-- the first of its kind-- devoted to the 30th anniversary of Stone Island which will open Tuesday, June 19th at the Stazione Leopolda and run until July 6th. Another event, the fashion show for the Valentino men's collection designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli. “To our surprise, after having showed at Pitti in January, they wanted to return because of the great reception they had” says Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine. The fashion show will be held Wednesday, June 20th and will be followed by Peter Pilotto, guest of honor at the women’s Pitti W fair.

“The designer duo Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos has done very well on the London scene with coherent and thoughtful work, which corresponds to our type of selection,” explained Lapo Cianchi, director of communications and events at Pitti Immagine. “In the same spirit, we chose Carven as the guest of honor at Pitti Uomo, a choice in line with the kind of elegance that we are trying to impart to Pitti, with a historic French brand revived by a very young designer, William Henry , who is one of the most important actors the Paris fashion week scene.” Carven will show on Thursday, June 21st, as will Andrea Pompilio, the youngest winner of the 2011 contest Who is on Next Uomo. “He showed at Pitti in January and we wanted to give him the opportunity to consolidate his brand presence,” said Lapo Cianchi, which confirms the strong commitment of the Florence fair to the promotion of young designers.

In June there will be a fourth edition of Who is on next Uomo, with the presentation at Pitti of collections by six finalists. The competition will be improved this year by a prize partly sponsored by Yoox. This will enable the winner to appear for a season on Yoox’s online sales website. Finally, to make the event more interesting as well as intense, Pitti is launching Alternative Set, a new project that will enable designers to present their collections through innovative installations in the show.

However, Roberto Cavalli will not participate in the event as had been suggested recently. The Tuscan fashion designer failed to find a suitable place in time to show. But this project could be deferred until the next edition of Pitti in January.