The father who does not see the gift

The Father's Day gift has an address problem. It tends to be bought for a figure, the generic father from the August commercial, and given to a specific person, who thanks for the gesture and puts the object in a drawer. The tie, the mug with the joke, the barbecue kit for someone who has never barbecued. None of this is about the man who receives it. It is about the role he occupies.

The Lacoste campaign for this year tackles this problem at its root. Instead of telling the story of the father through the eyes of the children, it turns the camera on the man himself. The film is called Also known as: before being introduced by name, the protagonists appear by the role that reorganized their lives. Luiza and Kalu's father is also known as Rafael Zulu. Francisco and Tereza's father is also known as Renato Góes.

The choice of the two is not illustrative. One has already established his role as a father, the other is going through the early years, and the distance between them prevents the piece from becoming a single portrait. The idea is that fatherhood does not create a new man, it reveals what was already there, every day, a little more.

Assuming this premise, the question of the present changes. It is not what is given to a father. It is what this man would choose for himself if no one was looking. This is the question that organizes what follows.

Aramis: the piece that hasn't gone out of style

The Aramis brand has been creating men's tailored clothing since 1991, betting on an unpopular idea in the fashion retail industry, which is that good clothing doesn't reveal the year it was purchased. On a gift list, this becomes a practical advantage: the risk of making a mistake decreases when the piece doesn't depend on a particular season to make sense.

This winter's collection is organized into three levels of commitment. The basic t-shirt and Color Five pants are the safe bet, the gift that no one returns. The long-sleeved shirt and sweater provide a seamless transition from the office to dinner without requiring a change along the way, which is where most men waste time. The bomber jacket, priced at almost five thousand reals, is the catalog's object of desire, for those who want to make August an event.

Urban: when technology disappears from clothing

Men's fashion typically struggles with technical clothing, often prioritizing appearance over function: it emerges from the closet looking like equipment, and the man seeking comfort ends up dressed like an athlete on his way to a meeting. Urban, from the same house as Aramis, takes the opposite approach, using performance fabric while concealing the evidence of it

The Bonded line is the best argument in this direction. It eliminates visible seams on the collar, cuffs, and hem, and the result is a piece with a clean finish that does not evoke a sporty aesthetic. The pants use four-way elasticity; the polo and t-shirt contain silk in their composition. Outside of this, the Scuba Neoflex polo does not require ironing, and the 3Ways jacket separates into two pieces, one thermal knit and one liquid-repellent vest.

The campaign features swimmer Gustavo Borges and his son, Luiz Gustavo, both with a background of high performance and now working together outside of the pool. For a brand that sells technical fabric, this is a choice that speaks to continuity rather than performance, which is rarer than it seems.

LIVO: the object he uses without realizing

Reading glasses are the most underestimated category in August and the easiest to get right. Almost every man over forty has a pair hastily bought at a pharmacy, scratched, forgotten in some room of the house. Vision tires sooner than expected, and this is not a disease, it is screen time.

The LIVO approaches the category as design, not as convenience. The frames use TR90, a material about half as heavy as acetate, which matters in an object of continuous use. The readers line named its models after Hilda Hilst and Mário de Andrade, a positioning choice well above the industry average.

The models cost between R$ 119,70 and R$ 499. The brand itself makes this reservation, and it is worth noting: ready-to-wear glasses do not replace an ophthalmological consultation.

Father's Day falls on August 9. The four collections are available in physical stores and on the brands' websites.