Esquire

From: Tiziana Molinu

Published: 6/20/2025

135 Years and Looking It Still: US Polo Assn. Celebrates Its Legacy at Pitti 108

From the most Instagrammed stand at Pitti Uomo 108 to a night with Clara, Benny Benassi and Pietro Terzini: this is how the brand celebrated its anniversary.

Evenings are usually better experienced than talked about. But when the C hiostro Grande di Santa Maria Novella becomes the stage for a party with over 1,500 guests with Benny Benassi at the console and Clara singing under the Renaissance frescoes, then yes: something needs to be said. It happened in Florence, at Pitti Uomo 108, where the US Polo Assn. celebrated 135 years of history and style with an event that combined sporting roots, American spirit, and international glamour.

Clara, Benny Benassi, Pietro Terzini and a cloister that transforms into a club

The invitation was clear: “ Live for the moment, Play for the Legacy ”. But no one expected that a phrase like that could translate into a full sensory experience, calibrated to the millimeter between emotion and spectacle. Opening the evening, Clara: magnetic, intense, perfect in the role of voice and face of the new course of the brand. Then the silence was broken by the beat of Benny Benassi, and the cloister was transformed into a dance floor under the stars, between flashes, toasts, and red carpet guests (yes, Jeff Goldblum was among those present). All orchestrated by Roberto Ciufoli, who gave rhythm to the evening like an orchestra conductor with the right irony.

The heart of the event, however, was not only in the performative moments. There was also a powerful visual narrative, which moved between architectural mapping by Luca Agnani and sharp, poetic and pop phrases by Pietro Terzini. Heritage, identity, fashion culture: everything mixed in real time, without nostalgia, but with a lucid, minimal, effective aesthetic. A real emotional installation, able to tell the story of the brand from 1890 to today without even using a brochure.

A stand that looked like a set

But daywear also had its say. The US Polo Assn. stand at the Cavaniglia Pavilion, one of the most visited at Pitti Uomo 108, was a successful mix of storytelling and Instagrammability. A 9-meter mega screen, a champagne bar, models dressed as polo players, meticulously crafted collages, and 3D “135” numbers made the experience a constant attraction.

Between an interview and a toast, guests such as Clara, Terzini, Ciufoli and even the Olympian Luca Dotto alternated. To complete the visual story: watches, accessories, footwear, and clothing designed by Incom, Bonis, EastLab, and EuroTrade, strategic partners of the brand. “This is more than a celebration: it is a declaration of identity,” said J. Michael Prince, global CEO of the brand. A phrase that echoes the words of Lorenzo Nencini and Antonio De Matteis, for whom the event was “a cultural moment”, not just a fashion one.

U.S. Polo Assn. shows that sport can be style, that polo can dialogue with art, and that a legacy spanning over a century is not a brake, but an engine to speak to the future. And when all this happens in Florence, between champagne and visual mapping, the celebration becomes an icon.

https://www.esquire.com/it/stile/moda-uomo/a65077012/us-polo-assn-anniversario-party-pitti-uomo-108/