A dormitory. Awakening time. Soldiers on permanent leave, going back home. The day after the truce – final, definitive, liberating – rules blow up, in a faultless tailored mash.up. With his F/W 12/13 collection, Umit Benan creates a new army of characters – multi.ethnical, composite, inhabitants of a changing world, global, with no frontiers . He dresses them up his own way: reinventing shapes, cuts and proportions with an easy.going precision. The choice of the dormitory is the message: a place where social differences, race and status do not exist. Umit Benan appreciates and explores this aspect of the military culture: the moment of unification and aggregation, with no barriers. A moment of suspension that the utopia of the style can make permanent. Benan confirms his verve of composed instigator: he works on archetype shapes and iconographies, reinventing new silhouettes through masterly balance. He twists and distorts with inexorable subtlety. He is the undercover agent who reverses plans. He turns everything into a party, a game, never allowing chaos to supervene. His vision is both rough and sophisticated. It’s a matter of manners, attitude, point of view. The culture of dressing well sublimates in suits of concrete elegance, made to be worn intensely, perfect in extreme situations. Umit Benan works on codes: hybridizing them, side.slipping them, altering them. He never falls into literal quotation: no camouflage but an abstract Chevron; no metal buttons. Everything starts from volumes: exaggerated, generous; or on the contrary, compact and slim. The silhouette is the synthesis of contrary shapes: over exaggeratingly over, like the double breasted “countryside in winter” coat worn over slim cut pants in yarn.dyed technical cotton; or vice versa, out.bursting tops complete voluminous cargo pants. Civilian and military gear swap role using the symbolic suggestive power of colors: the tailored suit adopts the military green hue while the officer jacket and the tank man pants – cut just above the ankle – are made of pale grey flannel. Unexpected citations get here and there: the knitted leisurewear recalls the underwear of the past, suggesting a domestic yet body.conscious comfort; quilted jackets and nylon blousons are performance oriented. Accessories include sturdy boots, caps and berets. The whole idea expresses a nonchalant put.together: rules are broken, with a masculine consciousness. Fabrics are close.woven, rough and precious: wool, Shetland, cashmere cloth, yarn.dyed cotton, dry cotton.nylon. Chromatics are concentrated: hues of green, saffron yellow, pale grey and intense black form a color palette that subtly undermines the martial aplomb. Umit Benan’s army celebrates peace. It marches free of any patterns, even if it knows them well.