The Ladybug Goes Short Before the Shorts: Vintage Outfit and My New Hair!

I found this set of pictures the other day in a folder called “The Ladybug Goes to the Cinema.” So I guess, in my mind, I was preparing an outfit post (with vintage pieces) for a cool afternoon at the movies, and I was trying to remember what I watched when I realized that it was only an excuse for showing off my new short haircut! How vain am I?!

I like my hair like this, but more than that- I find this curt incredibly easy to dry and I get my hair done in less than five minutes. Sometimes it even gets a ’40s wavy vibe that I like a lot which I tried to use to inspire this outfit. I am wearing a vintage navy polka-dot dress, a great bargain at Humana Vintage in Milan, along with the bag (the same of my post on Klimt’s expo).

Shoes are jeweled flats from Bagatt and Tortoiseshell sunglasses by Prada. And yes, this is a no makeup day!

By the way; I just remembered, the movie that I watched was “When Pigs Have Wings”…incredible!

The Ladybug is Vintage-Modern-Vintage at Sephora’s Italian Beauty Book Event in Milan

The other day I shared with you my lovely evening at the Sephora “Italian Beauty” book event in Milan, but I also wanted to share my outfit for the event.

I am mixing modern and vintage again and I decided to focus on this amazing vintage Lanvin skirt. I found it in Humana Vintage in Milan, for a ridiculous price during last January’s sales. And even if it didn’t fit at the time, I decided to buy it anyway. Good move as it fits perfectly now (the last post shared why)!  It is not easy to coordinate, but I think that it looks pretty with this Max & Co black blouse with white peter pan collar.

I added two of my favorite buys of the year, one modern and one vintage. The modern is referenced in these de-structured ankle boots from ASH: I was looking for a pair of ankle boots, but I wanted something a bit different than the average. It took a while to find these peep-toes that were gazing at me in their shop in Rome. They are amazing and uber comfortable (I wear them all day in the office for example!) and I love their shape so much, especially the heels!

The vintage piece is this pair of wonderful cat-eye frames with strass and studs from Trisha Lovers that I bought at the Vintage Roots Festival in Inzago last June.

Red lipstick KIKO cosmetics, red nails OPI.

The Ladybug Answers London’s Call Again: 1st Stop, Pop Up Vintage Fair at Old Spitalfields Market

My trip to London is now a regular date on my agenda. London has always been one of my top destinations, but now I have a lot more reasons to go there every chance I can. Aside from my very well known long love affair with the city, I’ve been blessed with beloved friends Daisy, Salina and Maxine who live there and I really need to see them as often as possible. We always have great times together and we always complain of how little time that we have every time we meet. Plus many things have happened in their lives lately, AND – let me tell you – they know the best vintage shops and coolest places in town!

After a quick tour at Alfies Vintage Market (one of the most famous antiques markets in town) where I had the chance to see Daisy’s new space (we’ll talk about that again soon) and a quick stop at Deborah Woolf Vintage (beautiful shop where I found a beautiful African dress and a lovely charming owner), and after a beautiful flower headpiece for 2.5 pounds from the one and only poppydaisy.com in Old Spitalfield- Daisy and I finally got ready for the Meeting. We decided to head to Old Spitalfields Market where our lovely Maxine was all busy with one of the dates for the Pop Up Vintage Fairs, which I consider my favorite fair in London… and I must not be the only one because for the second year in a row they’ve won the The Vintage Guide to London’s Best Vintage Fair Award.

The Vintage stallers join here with the market’s regular staller for a multi colored and sparkling party where you can find handcraft, vintage, antiques in a beautiful frame of lovely shops and restaurants (like Collectif…. that was up for a sample sale that day!).

We had a great lunch and some cupcakes and we spent a lot of time chatting with the sellers and enjoying the market with my adorable friends.

When the market closed, Daisy and I moved to Dalston, at the Dalston Street Feast, a beautiful night market where we enjoyed the best food from all over the world, beer, laughter and gin! We finished the night at a lovely bar full of vintage and antiques surprises in Dalston called Farr’s School of Dancing- WOW!

For the day I wore a vintage red dress from Humana Vintage, studded boots from Strategia, messenger bag from Max&Co and my beautiful flower garland from poppydaisy.com

The Ladybug is a Butterfly in the World’s Best Cocoon: A Wonderful Change Has Come Over Mi – lan!

Yes, this is another “lost folder” post… more particularly an outfit “lost folder.”  I took these pictures almost a year ago, in an area of Milan that is constantly changing: here I was in Corso Como and Piazza XXV Aprile, before the arrival of Eataly and before many changes had happened there. I love seeing how it evolves and I like discovering new things every time that I take a tour around the area.

I’ve changed too, apparently: I had longer hair and… well, let’s just leave it at longer hair!

I enjoyed a sunny spring day walking around with KNAGUI and I wore one of my favorite vintage pieces:  my “carpet doctor bag”, a real bargain from Humana Vintage in Milan!

I made it the accent piece of a H&M jumper, American Apparel long skirt, Marc by Marc Jacobs mouse ballet flats and H&M necklace (red lipstick and nails by Kiko).

[Photo Credit: KNAGUI]

The Ladybug Considers Her Own Portrait While Visiting the “Il volto del 900 expo” at Palazzo Reale, Milan

It seems my theme lately is about my museum visits.  I feel like Ben Stiller telling you of my nights at the museum: this time it’s my visit to the Palazzo Reale’s Expo “Il Volto del 900. Da Matisse a Bacon” (The Portrait of the XX Century: from Matisse to Bacon) in February.

Again another great expo in Milan, and again I was not really into going to see it, I am not a fan of portraits, but the look and the perspective given by the expo was completely different from what I expected.

More than 80 portraits and self-portraits arrived from the Centre Pompidou to present the evolution of the art of portraits during the XX century and how it changed based on the arrival of photography, psychoanalysis and the annulation of human identity due to wars and totalitarian regimes.

And as the face represents the door to the human being, the artists used their own and others to try to represent not only the person, but also to narrate the human soul in many different ways.

Picasso, Matisse, Bacon, Modigliani, Giacometti, Dalì, Magritte, all the biggest ones’ contributions were exposed, but as usual I locked my eyes on my own personal favorites:

I adored Kupka’s portrait of the young woman putting on lipstick and Tamara de Lempicka’s Kizette portrait, as well as Raysse’s woman portrait and the very modern portrait of Noel McGhie by Rancillac.

For the occasion I wore an American Apparel long skirt, Asos aran cardigan, Topshop animal print coat. I paired it with Sam Edelman ankle boots, Balenciaga bag and vintage necklace and felt hat (my latest hat from Humana Vintage).

The Ladybug Visits the Rodin Sculptures at Palazzo Reale, Milan

Another lost folder in my computer (my gosh, there are so many!) with a set of great pictures… not too old this time, but not too recent either- had these!

Last December, when KNAGUI arrived in Milan for his winter tour, we decided to see what was at the Palazzo Reale and we were quite confused as many interesting expos were held there all at one time. For a strange reason we both decided to go for Rodin’s sculptures. I say strange because neither of us is a sculpture lover, especially KNAGUI. But I was attracted to the name and he trusted me… plus he owed me for his never-ending trip to the Star Wars Expo (he’ll always owe me for that, fyi LOL).

It was for sure, to our big surprise, one of the most beautiful expos we’ve visited: sixty masterpieces arriving from the Musée Rodin in Paris, exposed in the very suggestive Caryatid’s Hall.  I studied Rodin’s sculptures at school and I saw some of them in the past, but having them all together in that wonderful sequence and atmosphere was really a huge experience. One of my favorites pieces was the The Kiss and KNAGUI could not move away from The Hand of God.  I also discovered more interesting pieces where the artist gave soul to the marble.

 

As it was a festive period, so I went all red with my Patrizia Pepe red coat, Zara black jumper and trousers, vintage red hat from Humana Vintage; I added Marco brogues, Topshop lace tights, Vic Matié bag and H&M lips scarf.

(Photo Credit: KNAGUI)

 

 

The Ladybug at Milan Design Week 2014, pt. 2: Milano Vintage Week

So let’s recap: we said that the most important week in Milan is the Milan Fashion Week. Then comes the Milan Design Week, but what if I tell you that we also have a Vintage Week?

Indeed, during Design Week, Milan hosted the first Vintage Week ever- with stalls, expos and workshops all dedicated to Vintage. Let me say first say: compared to last year, I was very surprised by the relevance of vintage during this year’s Design Week and not only in terms of inspiration for design, home-ware and decoration, but also in terms of vintage related events.

So the last day of my Design Week, on a sunny and warm Sunday morning, I brought my friend Kay who was visiting me from UK to the first event of the day… the Vintage Week at the Riccardo Grassi Showroom. This vintage marathon attracted different kinds of customers: from buyers to vintage lovers and addicted, from fashion lovers to simply curious people trying to understand what vintage was about.

Clothes, accessories, handbags, glasses, jewels, shoes, books, home-ware… every kind of vintage article was exposed to fulfill everyone’s expectations on the theme!

The Vintage Week was an event in collaboration with A.N.G.E.L.O. who brought his beautiful collection of 24 wonderful silk vintage Hermès carrés.  Another small expo, “Vintage for Love” was dedicated to the vintage brides and weddings worlds.

It was great to see my friends Marco from Opherty & Ciocci and Nicoletta from Shabby Chic (two of my favorite vintage sellers in Italy), but a part from them the area was a bit bland: maybe because it was Sunday morning, but nothing “new” was really exposed and it was quite “standard business targeted on Italian customers” (what I mean is: “the more labels the better”). I was a bit disappointed by this event that was very well advertised- which is why my expectation was so high!

Still; I tried some cute pieces from Telma Vintage, (what do you think of these frames?)

and some amazing headpieces from Shabby Chic (yes, I bought the straw hat with the purple net and flowers!!).

For the occasion I wore a vintage sparkling sequined top from Humana Vintage, Zara trousers, an H&M biker jacket, Sam Edelman ankle boots, Balenciaga red handbag and Peter Pilotto for Target sunnies.

…Oh, and how could I forget my TOG “create” canvas bag… my Design Week favorite!

(Photo Credit: Kay Wilkinson)

The Ladybug Springs Forward… One Year Later!

As you know already I often forget sets of pictures in my folders and they get lost until I find them again by “mistake!” This is what happened with this shoot from about a year ago that KNAGUI took of me while we visited the Museo del Novecento in Milan together (at the Andy Wharol Stardust collection) and the Palazzo Reale.

Better later than never, right?

I am wearing a yellow dress from Zara, brown boots, a Max & Co navy cape and vintage accessories: my brown leather bag (from Vera Vintage in Florence, some years ago)  and this brown hat that I found in Humana Vintage some time ago for a ridiculous price!

I’ve always loved this shoot we did inside the Palazzo Reale along with the shots by the “bookshelves” of the Museo del Novecento and the forbiden ones KNAGUI nearly got us arrested for just outside nearby!

(Photo Credit: KNAGUI)

The Ladybug’s Vintage Vacation: From Russia with Love – Day #2, Saint Petersburg

My second day in Saint Petersburg was full of walking and visiting around, this why I went for another comfortable outfit for the top of Saint Isaac’s Cathedral to admire a wonderful view of the whole town; from there I walked to one of the most beautiful churches that I’ve ever visited in my life, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood: I was astonished standing in front of such a wonderful church. Very similar to the Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, but somehow more impressive, it took my breath away.  It is very small inside, but as beautiful as it outside.

I had a lovely lunch at the Singer Café, in the amazing Singer building (yes, the sewing machines company) that is now a nice book shop and a very good café with view of the canals and the Kazan Cathedral.

I spent the afternoon looking for one of the most interesting vintage shops in town, Off. I found it in my Lonely Planet guide, but when I went to the place where it was supposed to be- I found out that it moved a bit out of town. So I decided to challenge the subway (mostly written in Cyrillic) and the fact that most of people don’t speak English (let alone Italian, French or Spanish) to find my shop. I finally found it in a sort of small shopping center and it was nice to see that it looked like a very European shop… I’d say the kind of Scandinavian vintage shop, full of lovely things mostly coming from Europe.  Still I managed to buy a folk pouch and two Russian pins for my new DIY!

I wore my Woolrich parka, with Stefanel camel jumper and American Apparel long skirt. I added my lovely ASOS animal print earmuffs and of course my UGG boots and Max & Co leather satchel.

That same night I went to what I can call one of my most beautiful experiences in Russia: I went to see the ballet (Carmen) at the Mariinsky theatre.  Believe me, it was such an experience! Not only because the theatre is beautiful and this is THE ballet, but also because I realized that for people in town it’s much like going to watch a football match for us. They are passionate and involved, but they are also very critical and are real experts on the subject!  It was one of the most exciting and interesting experiences of my life!

My evening wear was a vintage ’80s dress with batwing sleeves, velvet inserts and sequins from Humana Vintage, my Rag & Bone black ankle boots and again my Max & Co bag. I added a “Russian touch” on my hair wearing this lovely braid that I bought on Ebay just before leaving!

The Ladybug’s trip into vintage fashion starts from Milano Centrale…

I don’t know what it is about 2014 that’s reminding me about all the 2013 shoots I’ve never posted! Maybe I just feel that there is a lot great stuff (as there IS!) unseen and I want to post everything now!

So, this is a shoot from June (or May?) 2013. It was taken in Milan at the train station and done completely by chance: I was waiting for KNAGUI to arrive from I don’t know where and BOOM!, he decided to take pictures of me right there!

The result is quite cool even if I wasn’t prepared at all… in other words I wasn’t wearing makeup!!!

But some natural style is not as bad as many of us think, so I decided to give these pictures a public tour!

I am wearing another of my vintage dresses from Humana Vintage (definitely one of my massive vintage providers lately!): an ’80s black shirt dress with a Topshop black skinny belt and a biker jacket from H&M.

I added a pair of black suede boots from Vic Matié, a black sequined fascinator from Topshop (but I got it thrifted from a charity shop in London) and a lovely orange ’70s bag that I purchased in Florence at Officina Vintage a couple of years ago.

[Photo Credit: KNAGUI]