The Ladybug devours the Magic of Armani | Silos

The 3rd of May, two days after the opening of the EXPO 2015 in Milan, another very important expo was inaugurated: Giorgio Armani decided to celebrate 40 years of his wonderful career by offering to Milan what the New York Times defined as “the place to be” – the Armani | Silos.

This museum, located in the Tortona area, celebrates the history of “King Giorgio” by offering 4500 square meters, consisting of four floors, of amazing creations from the ’80s to now in a surreal yet enveloping atmosphere.

The mayor of Milan defined it as a gift Armani offered to the town in order to demonstrate his love for the city, and believe me it really is!

The building is an old silo used for storing food and Armani decided to leave the name as it represents the way for fashion to be “nutrient” for the soul. The architecture is spacious and the game of lights are absolutely amazing. Not to mention the music: it’s a perfect accompaniment for the visitors.

The selection of the creations exposed doesn’t have a chronological order, but it tells the story and the most representative pieces of the Italian designer. Every floor represents a leitmotif that inspired or keeps inspiring Armani’s art work.

The ground floor is dedicated to men and women daywear- with a huge selection of men and women suits, especially from his latest collections, coats and day dresses with a huge prevalence of grey and camel tones.

But the more you climb the floors, the more you will be amazed and in awe.

First floor, I guess my favorite one: it’s completely dedicated to Armani’s exoticism: it collects all his pieces inspired by faraway lands, from India to Japan, Northern Africa, to Spain and the Far East. It is a blossoming of flowers, colors, embroideries, sequins and sparkling pieces… I spent most of my time there! In the middle of the floor there were also a collection of clutches, shoes, jewelry and accessories that will make you fight the simple desire of touching them and try them on!

The second floor is dedicated to Chromatism: the colors are darker. Stripes appear on night gowns, cocktail dresses and jackets and Armani’s use of black is surprising and thrilling. Even in the dark the embroideries sparkle and the cuts are amazing. A lot of black and white, red, electric blue, navy blue and many more “vintage” pieces coming from the ’80s!

When you reach the last floor, you can really say that you have seen the light! Light is, indeed, the inspirational theme for the last floor. There, you can be overcome by the sparkling of wonderful embroidered gowns and two pieces- from gold to silver. It is a jubilation of pure ecstasy and fashion perfection!

The floor also hosts a video room and a digital archive with more than a thousand outfits selected by category and collections.  It features more than two thousand pieces and accessories, sketches, backstage and catwalk videos, photographs from the advertising campaigns.

On the ground floor you can also find a gift shop, a cafeteria and the installation “Stars,” a red carpet leading to a big screen with images of all the celebrities wearing Armani.

As for me, I wore Imperial red pleated shirt, Amelia Verona trousers and Zara flats with a vintage touch: round sunglasses by Oggetti Smarriti, red quilted bag by Frendo Vintage and headband by Traffic People London.

The Ladybug Takes a Gander at the ’50s: Front and Center at the Une Nouvelle Vie Catwalk in Milan

This story starts last summer, during my visit to the Summer Jamboree in Senigallia: one night, while walking among the crowded streets of the city center, a lovely stall that sold Besame Cosmetics caught my eye. I was so surprised to see this in Italy that I had to stop and talk to the lovely blonde lady who was selling it among amazing ’50s dresses and accessories. This is how I met Antonella, the soul of Une Nouvelle Vie: we started chatting about our passion for vintage, especially the American style style of the ’50s, her trip to the States fifteen years ago and how she fell in love with this vintage era. We enjoyed our conversation so much that we decided to keep in touch and meet again.

I, indeed, got very excited when she invited me to the catwalk she prepared for her temporary exposition at the beautiful Spazio Epicuro in Milan. Une Nouvelle Vie will be exposing and selling her beautiful creations at this lovely venue until the 31^st of December, and to celebrate that she organized a beautiful catwalk with an aperitivo last Thursday.

Let me tell you, straight away, that I was very impressed with the location: Spazio Epicuro is a cultural center where creativity, fashion and quality meet in one place. Two floors of expos of different talented artists (I also spotted Colazione Da – the bakelite artist! – creations!) and a special vintage corner on the -1 floor.

I enjoyed the catwalk very much and for many reasons:

First of all the clothes and accessories, sometimes recreated from vintage patterns, were all done with great attention to quality and detail. The amazing mix of vintage and retro inspired, ’50s pinup and classy “Mad Men-ish” woman really amazed me! At some point I realized that I wanted them all!

From work-wear to cocktail dresses, the woman that the atelier Une Nouvelle Vie presented is classy and sexy, glamorous and creative, ironic and fussy all at the same time.

Part of this success also comes from the models on the catwalk: mostly friends and customers of the atelier who represented perfectly the beauty of the awesome average woman, the same woman that Antonella wants to dress. “I want to dress and make happy every femininity and body shape,” she declared. Beautifully styled by Antonella’s stage hand (who also took care of hairdos and makeup), the models gave good life to the creations.

For more information you can visit Une Nouvelle Vie site: www.unenouvellevie.it.

You can see a couple pictures that we took during the show here. But you can see them all on our Facebook pages by tomorrow. Don’t forget to have a look and give us a LIKE!

For the occasion I wore Everybody’s Buying Vintage vintage blouse, Zara pencil skirt and XC-Xacaret platform shoes. I added a patent black clutch from Dappa Boutique (one of my favorite vintage boutiques in London) and an handmade retro inspired fascinator by the London designer Emin & Paul.