warning: do not read if you don't wear a pajama shirt and jeans, icecream on one hand and a cappuccino on the other

March 26, 2015

Would you ever expect Camilla and Alessandra as 'human version' of a website called Ordinary Seaman?

I mean, the 'ordinary seaman' (OS), in Italian 'il mozzo', is the lowest rank in a merchant ship and honestly the least figure to associate to fashion, elegance, chic, jewelry, perfumes, heels and all that jazz we always swoon over.

Never judge a book by its cover?

Sometimes it is the people that no one imagines anything of, who do the things that no one can imagine.

If you have watched 'The Imitation Game' you have been impressed by the quote, and not because of Benedict Cumberbatch (yeah right), but because in a conservative England of Churchill's tenure, a woman or a homosexual couldn't possibly occupy a position and have a role that, indeed, a woman and a homosexual did.

Same with the OS: they tell you what they think about normcore and why if you don't account Iris Apfel as your muse you shouldn't even be reading their blog posts. You'll learn to love discovering young fashion designers, you will start wearing pink a lot, not only on Wednesdays, and you will end up adding quirky butterfly stickers to you MacAir.

And because I love my nightime job as a writer of all-things 'the Italian way' I had a blast interviewing them.

Why did I decide to feature them in this page?

You be the judge.

FB - I really think that Ordinary Seaman is the Italian version of The Man Repeller: what is the secret to your style that keeps you unique no matter what?

OS - Well, wow! Thank you so much, but we think The Man Repeller is über alles! We love to be funny, colored and we don’t take ourselves too seriously. If fashion is a circus, why can’t be our life too? Our style is a mix of John Huges' movie 'Pretty In Pink' and a cup of cornflakes. We’ve a milkshake style.

FB - Can you still be sensual and feminine without wearing heels and bandage dresses?

OS - Yes, we must do it! We need just a red lipstick, a good perfume and the perfect haircut! No matter what you wear, if you feel sexy no one can tell you otherwise. Any example? Our favourite pajama shirt and a pair of skinny jeans. what else? Oh, yes! A cornetto in a hand and a cappuccino-to-go in another.

Trends and good taste: clash or follow the same path?

Clash! Trends don’t always mean good taste! This is the game: no rules except one. It’s funny to wear prints all over and skip a monochrome dress, but what’s the limit? Unfortunately, the limit is ourselves and not everyone was born with a good taste.

[A NOTE: I have warned you that there's a point where Italians do it better]

What makes you drift away from preppy and matchy matchy and still be cool and feminine wearing ‘pink on Wednesdays’?

Our adventurous spirit , our curiosity, our personality. Sometimes you can't feel yourself in a pair of paint shoes, even your friends do it. Sometimes, you are fascinated by something new, sometimes, by something old but in a new way. Sometimes, you want be yourself so..just do it!

What’s an absolute NO in the Italian way of dressing?

White terry socks. Hey babe, it doesn't matter if you are walking in a new pair of Prada flats because if you wear terry socks, you suck.

Head over to the comment section whether or not you wear white terry socks, my alter-ego Edna Mode and www.OrdinarySeaman.com will forgive you too.

Slow living: it's a movement

August 3, 2014

Is it a Dolce Vita lifestyle as relevant in Italy as Hollywood stardom is in the States?

Yes if that means the impromptu coffee because there's always a good reason for one, an old friend in town or closing a deal.

Yes if that means taking time for a real lunch free of rush and calorie counting.

Yes if that means cherishing the bespoke navy cashmere blazer that makes a pair of ripped denim shorts look chic or sleeping in hand embroidered bed linen instead of keeping them just for special occasions.

Then yes viva la Dolce Vita, we just call it in a different way, the very Millennial 'slow living'. During my visit at la Biblioteca della Moda in Milan I was introduced to a magazine dedicated to it, called The Lifestyle Journal and its essence is a Diary of Slow Living as one of the editorial explains.

A movement that invokes living life by taking your sweet time. Think when you rewind a movie to detect details, colors, words, a musical note that were gone missing: when you rush through time with the pressure of beating time itself you end up disregarding all the senses. You miss the flavor of the unsuspected herb in the sauce, the subtlety of a fine fragrance, the bells ringing at noon. Slow life is an authentic life, surrounded by items collected throughout the years and handed from generation to generation, without excess or waste. Slow life is made of traditions, heritage, gracious random acts that make your life a fine and luxurious one. Slow living is discreet and understated like a fine cashmere sweater with elbow patches.

(image from The Lifestyle Journal @ Pinterest)

When you grow up in the Old Continent and then move and live in the New World, you are keen to notice the cultural bias and realize the golden treasure chest you carry without knowingly admitting it. You are brought up being conscientious and thoughtful, to the point that it is hard to part from things that accompanied you in special moments or that remind you of a vacation, a person, a family moment. It is common to cradle family memories that revolve around the kitchen, whether preparing the pomarola or story telling or just playing dress up and hiding in the cabinets. There's a gastronomic culture that goes beyond taking cooking classes (which you don't really do, on the contrary you learn by assimilation observing your grandmother cooking while life revolves around the table). Food is serious business and regulates the heartbeat of your lifestyle.

How does that connect with fashion?

A typical interview to an Italian fashion designer ends up talking about food, fashion and family, the order varies the result is the same. We are passionate and can't help it. Memories of an armoire of haberdashery, of summers spent cross stitching or creating the Carnival costume by grabbing garments from your mother's closet are common to all of us. Those are the rudiments, the roots that slow fashion wants to go back to. A time when things were done with time or like my grandmother says: le cose belle ci vuole tempo per farle bene, it takes time to make beautiful things. Just guessing how many hours it takes for an atelier of alta moda to embroider a gown is a gamble, however it doesn;t mean that you have to wear couture, not at all. It is the exact opposite to voracious consumption, fast fashion. We are all guilty of falling into the temptation of walking into H&M and grabbing that trend trapper that will have a one-month lifespan before either disassembles or fades in the misfits lane.

Moderating a fast paced life requires technique, tweaking modern habits and reinstating old ones like table manners, honoring time at the table for conversation, playing classical music. Let timeless elegance, style, culture, passion, originality go freely and savor the slow rhythm of quality. The pace of quality is slow and it helps touching an embroidery and recognize it from a print, indulge in a bite of a loaf of bread hot off the oven.

Being Italian is a privilege, how hard could it be to acquire the sophistication of the Italian style? Maybe if a book were written?

Here's a day in Milan, when you are a tourist in your own country you look up and smell the roses.

Summer's gotta start somewhere

July 25, 2014

Hello Milano.

The first shot is a usual urban summer afternoon in downtown Milan . The interno is 'Rear window' meets Alda Merini when she describes opening the windows and breathing fresh air in the Navigli.

Summers smell, a mix of peaches, honeydew, freshly mowed grass, belle di notte. Of dunes, golden bodies kissed by the sun and camucioli , fireflies and those blue skies at dusk.

Curtains vibrating 'cause the windows are open and the breeze comes in and the birds chirp, jasmines whiffling. Oh, and the cicadas ...

Tram's n.5 bell is a comforting background noise and dinner plates cling while you get ready to go out.

Graffiti bring you back to reality. I always thought that the Navigli were the Italian version of Wynwood back in Miami that mix of hippie, warehouses, galleries, gastro-pubs and vintage record stores. It's the 'hood.

Dischi Volanti in Ripa di Porta Ticinese: MUST visit. He always packs our records impeccably and when we open them at home it's like a Genie of the greatest unwraps.

Welcome to Italy #itsmellslikesummer