Paul Surridge knew he had big boots to fill when creative director Alessandro Sartori, who launched and established the reputation of Z Zegna, left for new pastures last year.
'It's a very fast pace and the desire to push forward is quite strong,' says Surridge, 38, when we meet in the sleek glass-and-steel modernist building that serves as Ermenegildo Zegna's worldwide headquarters in Milan. 'I am trying not to think about what's been done and think about what there is to do.'
Some items in his debut autumn collection are already available in Hong Kong, with more due next month. He has also just presented his second catwalk collection - for spring-summer 2013 - in Milan. 'In winter there are lots of coats and tailoring, and you can play with volume and structure. Summer collections are a little more difficult, as you have to provide more content,' he says.
'Content is important in both, but for summer you are relying on different constructions, colour, and lighter-weight fabrics.'
Egg-shaped car coats, elegant slim-line suits with a sporty cagoule or blouson slipped on top, feature in his autumn debut. It has a sporty Pierre Cardin-style modernism, but there is a hint of retro early '60s vibe evident in the tautly fitted polo shirts tucked into trousers, and the white sweater and sleek black trousers combo, which, worn with black gloves, gives it a bit of Cary Grant Hollywood gloss.
Colour and fabric are the designer's starting points, and he has used a manly palette of navy, charcoal, ebony and khaki with royal blue and emerald highlights and copper-coloured zips in the collection. The Zegna group is renowned for the fabrics that it produces in-house and these tweeds, lambs-wool and mohair cloths are as luxurious and polished, interspersed with leather and techno fabrics.