august in 1 minute

IN FASHION TERMS

• Nathalie Massenet left Net-A-Porter, suddenly and unexpectedly for the most.

Could the merger with Yoox really have been the last drop to fill her bucket? You will thank me and The Business of Fashion for the whole story. 

• Style.com is GONE. It is now called Vogue Runway as it was incorporated by Venus-fly-trap US Vogue. I am not a reader, fan nor follower of the Wintour-ed brand and I enter the new era with quite a load of scrupulous questions. I will have the answers as early as next week when Fashion month kicks-off in NYC. The moment of truth though will be when the caravan migrates to Milan.

WHAT HAPPENS IN ROME

• Shut down: everyone is on vacation.

I have worked every August 15 as usual and still, after 19 years, it still bugs me that nobody in the US knows what Ferragosto is and nobody in Italy remembers that.

It is what it is, frustration like confetti.

HURRICANE COUTURE

• Scorching hot: 1000% humidity with temperatures in the high 90s is no good. Anybody willing to convince me that this heat is sexy, chic, elegant and acceptable?

B R I N G I T O N

• August 24 is my friend Fernanda's b'day and the anniversary of the most devastating hurricane that recent history remembers in the Southern Riviera.

That doesn’t make Fernanda a natural disaster, but right up that alley, first week back-to-school we went though the first hurricane scare.  We all bought water, supplies, food, wine, champagne (I don’t drink beer) that will last until Thanksgiving when we will end up donating to Miami Rescue Mission. Trying to make us all look good here.

Note: alcoholic beverages will not make it there, as, some of you may already know it, I have been inducted to the “wining mothers” Hall of Fame.

But this is another story.

• Remember that switching wardrobes every 6 months business? Get ready ‘cause it’s around the corner   

Tailored men: trend-spotting at Pitti fall 2014

It is not the usual trade show, Pitti Uomo is where you spot the trends for the season to come (just watch closely).

Pitti Immagine is a state of mind, I don’t know if I read it somewhere. I most probably made it up because I believe in it.

Imagine having an automatic teller randomly dispensing gorgeous men impeccably tailored and formidably dressed for three consecutive days . Unabridged, like a dictionary, un-interrupted and thoughtfully edited. 

No Milan, New York or London compares. Maybe Paris for Couture, but you have to be in the street and venue hopping. In Florence it all happens in the magic of the Fortezza da Basso. And here comes my being Tuscan and growing up with Florence in my pores, but maybe that is one intrinsic reasons why Pitti is Pitti and the best showdown of that sophisticated European sensibility.

La Fortezza, the ‘barn’ where the Medici used to keep their horses for pleasure and for war during the florentine renaissance, opens up for Pitti Uomo (not to confuse it with Palazzo Pitti, another historical Palazzo where another piece of fashion history was made when Italian fashion was born in 1952). It is a Pandora’s Box that opens up to centuries of history, battles, the Renaissance period, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, the arts, the culture and everything that the dynasty of the Medici family left for the world. There, not in any other frescoed palazzo Strozzi, in the barn, is the background for the showcase of men fashion for the next season.

Here’s an example of what happens through those graveled alleys. It is not the usual trade show, Pitti Uomo is where you spot the trends for the season to come (just watch closely).

Tailoring and pinstripes. Casentino, an exclusive fabric produced in small quantities nel Casentino, is coming back. When we were kids it was orange or green, now it comes in all shades of grey = a man wearing Casentino knows his chicness and exquisite shit.

Prince of Wales and houndstooth 

Devils in details: beard (well groomed), bracelets and the perfect touch of color in an otherwise wintery mise.

When a man knows how to mix patterns is marriage material (I said it).

What are the lessons we can get from a man closet that would make us wear man clothing and still be feminine and chic?

On to the next post peeps and if you have ideas, by all means, come along!

Pitti and London Collections and you will never look at the Men Collections the same

In January, Fashion season begins smoothly and silently with the chicness of a high speed train arriving on the track.

This year the Men shows of Florence and London are contemporary, we’ll see what happens.

Here’s what yours truly has in mind. 

As a good Italian from Tuscany and one expat in the US, I have a bias infatuation for Pitti Immagine.

La Fortezza has been the first backdrop of my fashion life, back when Pitti was Uomo and Donna.

Nerd fact: La Sala Bianca in Palazzo Pitti glamorously hosted the first exhibition that signed the birth of Italian Fashion, in 1952.

Forgive me the namedropping, but Guccio Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo and Emilio Pucci are from Tuscany and they are one of the reasons why fashion reigns in our pores the same as a good Chianti wine and olive trees. 

And here it begins.

PITTI IMMAGINE 85

It kicks off on the 7th, just because January 6 is a celebrated holiday (that one that puts all decorations down and brings us back to reality).

My pre-Miami Beach life was determined and catalogued by the seasons opening at Pitti followed by Milan and Paris.

In a flashback, the Christmas holidays were abruptly interrupted by il Pitti.

The looks lined up by day on the bed, just to make sure all was cohesive and coordinated. ‘it’s going to snow, bring the puffer jacket with your crepe blue dress’ Looks involved those spring pieces you had been collecting since the last sample sale. No matter blazing winds or freezing temperatures, you had to endure a spring wardrobe.

'I will see you at the Luisa Via Roma party', oh that was the highlight where, if you had spent New Years in Malindi, it was your moment to shine out of that non-artificial tan (no smartphones or social media then).

(image from The Bespoke Dudes)

Now, I can only be a remote and melancholic audience member [here’s what I went home with last year]. I count on WWD, Style.com and The Sartorialist to see pop on screen my friends working alla Fortezza, reading about the trends and the runways in magnificent palazzo and antique venues where the Medici used to live.

At the same time, if you are brave, gotta face the Brady bunch of bloggers meeting at Villa Cora and parading for 3 to 4 days for the #Firenze4ever organized by Luisa. That’s when Suzy Menkes her ‘fashion circus’ comes handy and couldn’t be more au curant. 

Things have changed and clearly not for the better: the path that the Fashion paraphernalia has taken is not as classic and chic as the Carrousel and Rivoire in Piazza Repubblica. Still Florence remains an undiscussed hostess to the mostest with her breathtaking scenarios. 

What to expect

On a more mundane and remotely not related wave, Eataly and Laduree are some of the exquisite delicatessen spots where to refresh your palate (as if Procacci wouldn’t be sufficient). If we want to talk about proposals and fashion tradition, aristocracy, heritage, utilitarian, experimental, ‘eclectic tailoring’, rigueur, excellent Italian workmanship, slimmer and closer to the body suits. 

LONDON COLLECTIONS: MEN 

#LCM has begun. 

London has been facing a few hurdles which the British Fashion Council has tried to adjust. London is known for that contradiction of being inspirational and fertile for new talents and       

You can interpret it as the right place to debut for a new talent as there are not big houses overshadowing, however the bigs add weight to a presence that should be taken into account. 

Longevity vs. trends is the debate that in London is reinforced by that Savile Row tradition that balances innovation and current fashion. 

Overall, some of the most iconic pieces of a Gentleman’s wardrobe claim their birth place in British sole: wellingtons, the three piece suit, the trench coat, the boiler hat to name a few. Is there any doubt why London self proclaimed itself the home of menswear? [grab a copy of History & Heritage].

In London you can find this 

or this

What to expect.

That sartorial, bespoke, rigorous, undiscussed, decadent, sharp, impeccable British men style and a refreshing of a Gentleman wardrobe. 

Trends (by yours truly)

Short pants, I mean seriously short hemmed pants,

no more peek-a-boo socks but I-need-you-to-see-my-legwear striped 

patterned socks and well groomed long beard which we find very Bohemian and sexy. 

Editors, journalists and buyers have already landed. 

Cheers & salute, see you at the shows.

#MFW Spring 14 Episode 1: is Marni the new black?

What to say if not that in Milan is where we get hit by the I-love-them-all bug and the-fashion-week-of-the-titans fever.

However I rigorously stick to my rule of this season: select one of the ‘veterans’ and one of the ‘newbies’ that I feel betting on, that inspired emotions, that showed once again the core of fashion, regardless of PR, publicists, advertising and the fashion circus, to say it with Suzy Menkes or ‘fassholes’, the new noun circulating the rooms.

So here you go: my Milan Fashion Week veteran winner is:

Marni 

• modern (that last white look … anyone wants to marry me? that last look is perfection),
• sheer sophistication (she’s capable of making transparent look enviable, wearable all day long, chic and the opposite of vulgar)
• true DNA maintained and brought to the next level, like a designer does. Matter of fact, what is it that you want from a designer that you admire and love wearing? That she does the usual but better and she surprises you with beauty and inspires you with a story. Here we don’t have the classics revisited (the death of fashion), Castiglioni took us on her journey of evolution.
• colors: Consuelo you have hit us, our faves
• accessories: those masculine elements like platform flat sandals, squareish shapes and even the plain dull insignificant visor embellished become the ITems to be owned

understated simplicity

geometry is an opinion

My Sheer Lady

bomber + embellishments = forward-ist

did you say funny pack?

effortless unfinished 

the bride

#LFW Spring 14: the veteran & the newbie

When it comes to London it’s a whole “different pair of sleeves” as we say in Italian.

It might be the vibe, the energy, the posse of the street style, the rain, high tea at Fortnum & Mason and river, driving on the other side of the street or H.M. Queen Elizabeth, but all has that je m’en fous attitude. By ‘all’ I mean that everything that you don’t expect in NYC you do in London from the catwalks to the street.

The fashion caravan moves to the U.K. and you expect wit, grunge, romantic, classic, punk, corky, un-programmed, effortless Brit style. More on the street encounters on our Pinterest board (thanks to The Cut, Style.com and WWD for sharing).

As per the shows, here’s the veteran and the newbie we LIKED.

Temperley London recreated the Sixties with swooshing silks, devores and color blocking. The Mad Men-ish trapeze shifts and evening coats  add that extra zest to the je ne sais quoi (sexy)animalier juxtaposed on flowers of Mrs. Robinson’s memoirs.

Thomas Tait is the promising newbie who reveled its talent for technique, brilliance, tailoring and that exquisite combination of athletic and couture that catapulted him to our Olympus.  Because we love the underdogs and we don’t go by the Instagrammimg swarms of bloggers to like a collection, we got captured by its under toned show and utter simplicity. 

As we agree with Leonardo that ‘simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication’, white as a fil rouge can prove itself tricky and dangerously difficult however it was performed at its best. White paired with a surprising delicate version of acid green and cement grey, with unexpected silver zippers and whimsical colorful ostrich feathers, turned heads at every look. The contrasting effects of see-through silk chiffons with crinkled technical fabrics made it oh so we want it right now.

… next is Milan’s turn

7 ways to break the 'no-white-after-Labor-Day' rule

On the ground of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls finds, here’s some oh-wow eye openers and brows lifter stats right after NYFW.

• 5% count Labor Day as the official time to switch things up. It cannot be we are ONLY 5%

• 7% wait until the first official day of Fall, which is Sept. 22. All right girl, do it if you please and don’t complain if you feel the pariah, a leprous Martian at fashion week

• 35% of women retire their Summer wardrobes once the temperature dips under 70 degrees. If that were to happen in Miami you would NEVER retire the summer wardrobe, you would never have you winter looks and wish list since February. That is a language not spoken down here.

• 54% of women say they will wear white — and florals — after Labor Day. Yes, yes and yes provided the whites and the florals come from the right season, that is fall. By that we mean not Stella & Jean but Saint Laurent florals. 
• 57% say pastels are fair game too. Let’s make a deal, if you want to be friends, we pretend not to have heard this one. Ok?

• 52% plan on wearing open-toe shoes through the Fall … hell yeah, even in St. Moritz. Prada and Marni platforms with ankle socks, peep toe evening Gucci t-straps and no panty hoses and the uber-chic Birks. That’s the way, haha, that’s the way to do it …

• 48% will keep shorts, sleeveless tops, and dresses in constant rotation. We don’t know anyone who would do that, right?
• 40% intend on rocking linen post-Summer. And here in Miami we are exposed to this offensive 40% all together.