The Ladybug Investigates: WHITE Milano and Coontemporary Mood During Milan Fashion Week

Last month I had the chance to have a closer look at Milan during Fashion Week. I already knew that it wasn’t all about fashion shows and amazing parties, but I finally got a glimps of the affairs happening around this important event that make a whole city change for 7 long and busy days!

For example the fairs and presentations and the pop-up events with emerging brands and handmade artists.

I spent an entire Sunday around via Tortona visiting Coontemporary Mood and WHITE. These two events, equally different, are an example of what you can discover during Fashion Week in Milan.

Coontemporary Mood is a special pop-up event completely dedicated to creativity in art, fashion and design.  It’s where 25 emerging brands and artists are selected to expose and sell their creations. This year was its third edition and I loved it not only because of the many beautiful things that I saw but also because I am such a fan of young emerging brands: their creativity and their artistry is a gift and it is always such a great discovery for me when I meet a new handcraft artist. During my visit I fell in love with Stefania Nicosia’s soft leather clutches and with two jewels makers: Metalíca Creazioni and MarinaMa Creazioni.

Metalíca makes wonderful and impressive handmade jewels mostly in bronze and brass with different types of stones; I was amazed by the eccentricity of the design and by the use of the materials. MarinaMa makes handmade luxury jewels and I was dying for her earcuffs and necklaces!

The White Show in Milano on via Tortona is a completely different event: it is a tradeshow, an International contemporary fashion showcase with a great selection of designers from all over the world both emerging and well settled. WHITE is open to buyers, offering them a mix of the most interesting brands and designs from International contemporary fashion. WHITE is considered an innovative container of ideas and services in the fashion scene and also within the Milan metropolitan environment.

The new trends and product for the SS2015 were presented and I fell in love with this big box full of clothes and accessories to come and of new brands that I fell in love with!

Let me just give a special mention to G.Kero, a French Brand that I discovered at WHITE that I adored… let’s call it love at first sight; I was totally amazed by their prints and patterns!

For the day I wore a Topshop silk navy shirt, a vintage skirt from EBV Everybody’s Buying Vintage and Topshop shoes and bag. I added one of my favorite handmade pieces: a statement necklace that I bought this summer in a craft market in Singapore.

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.