GEORGE CORTINA IS JUST THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE LATEST MALO COLLABORATION
words by DEBORAH DRENOFCI
"Just a feeling" is the starting point of fashion editor and stylist George Cortina whenever he embarks on a new project. For Cortina, the fashion world "has changed so dramatically that the landscape is basically unrecognisable," and yet, amid all this rapid change, he still uses his ever-transforming inspiration to give garments a spirit. It's not necessarily one found in the past, perhaps not even in the present — but one found in the borderlands between the two. His collaboration with the Italian cashmere house Malo embraces exactly this way of seeing.
images courtesy of MALO
Malo x George Cortina is a limited-edition men's knitwear capsule. Launching in late September 2026, the collection brings forward twelve pieces with cashmere as the base, colour as the mirror of emotion, and timelessness as a way of living.
Malo's roots date back to 1972 in Florence, where the house built the knowledge and craftsmanship to honour the cornerstone of it all — cashmere — and to handle knitwear with mastery. Today, the house has embarked on a journey of renewal with respect. A time machine with a contemporary lens has set off for the Malo archives, and the captain of this voyage is none other than George Cortina.
“I wanted an editor’s precise instincts to approach an archive of this size — someone who knows what to sharpen, rather than believing everything must change. George found the current in our classic menswear without losing what made it classic.”
Digging deeper into the archive, Cortina found himself reminded of cinema's leading men of that era, which he describes as a period of real craftsmanship and innovative ideas. "Shaping this collection has been a process of blending that spirit of sprezzatura with Malo's signature archival techniques."
“Throughout my career I’ve loved taking a heritage brand and turning it upside down. The goal is to bring the clothes to life through a lens of where we are today.”
As the captain of this journey, Cortina puts the emphasis on choosing the right person to wear a garment, because only then can the spirit of those liminal spaces be truly captured. "I choose the person that I want to shoot and then I dress them accordingly. I choose the person first and then I dress them, giving them character."
“The idea is that a garment comes alive once you put it on the right person, otherwise it’s just a piece of clothing hanging on a rail.”
Malo was, and still is, a pioneer in treating cashmere as a field of colour. Eleven shades carry the collection, from Flamingo and Melon to Sunshine, Grass and Vin Rouge.
"I approached colour the way I always do, without fear, filled with confidence," said Cortina. So for every man who swears he could never pull off a flamingo-pink knit, Cortina would disagree.
“Find the colours that suit your skin tone, nothing is off the table as long as it suits your tone. Take nothing off the table and define it by your own personal style.”
But beyond colour and cashmere, Cortina ends with a note that matters not only to brands creating capsules but also to us and our personal style. "I've developed a capsule for people to have free choice in what they choose. Every piece can be worn easily with jeans."
“I think the essential ingredient necessary in a wardrobe is ease.”
The word ease caught our attention. It is that simple, isn't it? Perhaps that is the real lesson of sprezzatura. The effort belongs to the archive, the craft and the cashmere. The ease belongs to us.
