Brunello Cucinelli was his own best example at this presentation of a collection “dedicated to the contemporary man who refuses imposed definitions.” That was because instead of rolling up to his conservatory-meets-showroom as is customary, the label’s founder was at the Shanghai International Film Festival this evening for its screening of the Giuseppe Tornatore documentary about Cucinelli’s life, fashion, and philosophy.

Even in the absence of its director, back in Milan this collection’s authorship was evident. Arguably the key pieces referred back to Cucinelli’s original breakthrough category: the cashmere sweater. Hanging in the conservatory from some varnished bamboo were a dozen cable-knit cardigans, crew necks and half-zips in a palette that ran from blues to sage green to apricot, orange and raspberry. All had been garment dyed in stages, with a resin treatment, creating an eye-catching contrast between the pale raised part of the knit and the darker zones below it: a sort of knitwear negative space.

Similarly a lot of the collection was built around tailoring that was gently recontextualized through fabric selection, treatment, or placement in the full look. Pretty much uniformly jackets retained the customary sartorial structure, with Cucinelli’s favored broad lapels, but they were cut in fabrics ranging from washed white linen to seven-ounce indigo denim.

Formal pieces were mixed with the less formal. A navy dinner jacket was worn with white pleated trousers rather than a conventional tuxedo trouser, and a white pinstripe blazer was styled with a pale sweater tied over the shoulders and washed cargo trousers beneath. It was less about creating oppositions than gently teasing apart elements of uniformity.

There were safari and field jackets in pale gray washed cotton and dark brown suede and leather. These were worn with shirts and ties, sometimes under the season’s washed cable knits, and paired with shorts or tailored trousers. Leather blousons and biker-inflected jackets in pale brown had been given a surface treatment that left visible lightening and abrasion across the panels. Just like the wash applied to the cable knits, the effect created a subtle dissonance between the softness of the handle and the toughness of the visible surface: a space between facade and feeling.