The Ladybug wears turbans on a vintage skirt!

Who said that turbans can only be worn on your head?

My love for turbans (and hats and headbands and whatever you can wear on your head!) is pretty much known, so you can understand why I totally fell in love with this vintage pleated skirt from Sine Modus when I saw it in their lovely shop near Porta Venezia in  Milan!

The pattern, model and color just got my heart and I couldn’t help buying it…it was “so me”!!

By the way, I totally loved Sine Modus vintage shop in via Sirtori: you can find there beautiful handmade turbans and headbands but also original and rare vintage pieces (clothing and accessories) carefully chosen by the beautiful Chiara, Manuela and Elena…and believe me, they are three of the ladies with the greatest style and taste in Milan!

I wore the skirt for work just a few days before summer holidays and I paired it with a simple white shirt (Cos) and a pair of retro inspired sandals from Lazzari.

I added my handmade Nepalese silver necklace and Miu Miu bag.

PS: Now you can find Sine Modus vintage also in Isola district, in via Thaon de Revel, don’t miss their amazing vintage pieces if you are in town!

The Ladybug is a Strawoman runner in Milan

This year most of women runners in Milan were very disappointed about the fact that our favorite run organized by Nike every year will not take place in 2016. Running with women has always a different flavor, there is a kind of sorority spirit that is missing during mixed runs. For this reason we decided to try the Strawoman this year, a 10K run (actually they were only 9 in the end!) completely dedicated to women!

Although our faces are clearly destroyed about the fact that again we woke up early for running on a Sunday morning, we enjoyed the run very much especially because for once we run in a new city background. The starting point was the new Piazza Tre Torri and the whole run was in the modern area of City life with its new skyscrapers, green areas and modern architecture (including an unexpected rise – with a more unexpected surprise on top of the hill!!).

Personally it was my first time in this new area and I enjoyed a lot to try a new path as most of the runs in Milan have a similar one around the city center and Parco Sempione. Also we loved to run in pink tees for once…we are just women!

PS. If you wondering about the surprise on top of the hill, it was two half-naked muscled young boys to cheer you up after the great effort!!)

The Ladybug on curls and contemporary art (at Boccioni exhibit!)

I finally learned to embrace my curls, I can say it loud and proud now! Many people ask me if this is my real hair or I made something to make them curly, well this is my real white-afro hair!

I can’t explain how my life changed since I finally accepted and loved my natural hair! I spent more than 25 years using straightening products because I wanted so much those classy straight hair instead of my lioness mane but I have finally fell in love with it (never too late!). I think it represents me so well and it really expresses my personality at the point that I cannot see myself with straight hair anymore!

You may wonder why I am so much into self-acceptance today and the reasons are: 1. I am always into self-acceptance and self-support; 2. I took this pictures just after a good haircut at my favorite hairdresser in Milan (the one who made me understand how great my hair was!) which explains why my curls are just curlier than usual!

The real goal of the post was to tell you about my visit at the Boccioni exhibit in Milan at Palazzo Reale (until the 10^th of July) but if I have to be honest, I expected a bit more from it. Too much space for Boccioni’s early works and so little room left for the futuristic artist that I love and appreciate! Still I think it is worth a visit for the second part of the exhibit and for the exhibit “2050” that could be visited with the same ticket until the 29^th of May, exposing 46 contemporary artists with 50 pieces interpreting the future of the planet. A great surprise and an amazing exhibit on contemporary art including one of my favorite artists, Louise Bourgeois.

I wore Zara pale pink spring coat, Topshop palm shirt and mom jeans (both from my last trip to Topshop in Edinburgh!), Nike 4 Other Stories white sneakers.

The Ladybug’s personal Stramilano “after party”!

As I mentioned in my last post, once the physical effort of running 10K at the Stramilano run was over, with the girls we thought that we deserved a serious “after-party”!

After stretching, partying with the other runners and showering we were ready to head to the Navigli to have a serious drink and food session in one of our favorite spots in town: the Brazilian-Sushi restaurant Temakinho! They have irresistible sushi made with Brazilian ingredients and everything on the menu is a mixture of Japanese and Brazilian cuisine that we adore! Also, they have the best caipirinha and amazing fruit smoothies…but it wasn’t a day for smoothies…we needed to celebrate!

We spent our Sunday afternoon on the Navigli just enjoying the sun and the cocktails, walking around and taking some pictures for my outfit post hehe!

I wore a retro printed pink shirt from Diffusione Tessile, Max&Co navy cape-coat and Imperial navy trousers. I added  New Balance sneakers, Valentino shades, Miu Miu bag and a retro touch with my palm brooch (a tribute to the upcoming warm season!) by Marion Godart.

La Ladybug e Treatwell hanno un regalo per voi…

Oggi si parla italiano su The Ladybug Chronicles! Perché? Beh perché ho una cosa da raccontarvi che può essere utile alle mie lettrici italiane…

Si, perché la scorsa settimana ho fatto un test interessante: ho provato per la prima volta il portale internazionale famosissimo e usatissimo in tutta Europa Treatwell. Ero particolarmente stanca e affaticata dopo due settimane all’estero e ho pensato che una bella pulizia del viso con massaggio annesso mi avrebbero sicuramente aiutato a rientrare nel mood giusto e soprattutto avrebbero ridato luminosità alla mia pelle dopo due settimane di maltrattamenti, soprattutto alimentari (non credo che litri di Guinness e quintali di fish and chips siano stati molto graditi!).

Beh, il mio test è stato un successone! Dal sito Treatwell.it ho potuto scegliere il trattamento che volevo fare (potete fare di tutto: massaggi, cerette, manicure, pedicure, capelli, trattamenti viso e corpo) e ho potuto scegliere tra tantissimi centri convenzionati a Milano (tutti top e sparsi per tutta la città). Personalmente ho scelto The Luxury Beauty & Spa a Milano in zona Duomo presso GetFit dove la bravissima Vanessa mi ha fatto rilassare per un’ora ridando luminosità e leggerezza alla mia pelle…proprio quello di cui avevo bisogno!

Il tutto in pochi click! Fantastico no?! Volete provare anche voi? Treatwell regala a tutte le lettrici di The Ladybug Chronicles un buono sconto di 15 euro (per una spesa minima di 25 euro) fino al 31 Marzo 2016. Dovete solo andare su www.treatwell.it e scegliere cosa fare e dove farlo, Treatwell propone i migliori centri beauty e benessere in tutta Italia: prendete appuntamento dal portale stesso (potete modificarlo in qualsiasi momento), pagate e il gioco è fatto! La procedura online è molto user-friendly e il portale è facilissimo da utilizzare! A proposito, al momento di pagare non dimenticatevi di inserire il codice SOLOPERTE15. Cosa state aspettando?

PS: Mi raccomando fatemi sapere com’è andata la vostra esperienza con Treatwell (ma sono già certa che ci tornerete!)

(Immagine dal sito Treatwell)

The Ladybug’s personal search for Vivian Maier

Not too long ago I told you about one of my favorite exhibits ever, Vivian Maier’s photographs in Nuoro, Sardinia this past September (see here).

I knew that the exhibit was going to move to Milan soon and I decided to go and see it again before it ended, yesterday. I expected to find the same pieces that I saw in Nuoro but to my big surprise only part of the photographs exposed in Nuoro were in Milan at the Galleria Forma Meravigli (and for the double of the ticket price!), taken from the 50’s to the 70’s by this mysterious nanny-photographer who reached a huge success only after her death (in 2009), when her rolls where accidentally found during an auction. The exhibit structure and presentation was honestly less attractive than in Nuoro (I missed the yellow walls!) and maybe the small space and the crowd didn’t allow me to visit as peacefully as I did in Sardinia (where I was almost alone!).

It was still a pleasure getting lost into this woman’s world that feels so familiar yet so full of mystery.

I am still non completely convinced about the reconstruction of her story made by John Maloof (the one who found the rolls and gave Vivian Maier an incredible success with his documentary on her life and a traveling exhibit around the world) as I still can’t believe how great she was being a simple amateur photographer. I keep being convinced that she was a real photographer and that she knew more about her art than what they want us to believe. At every picture of her I keep finding the proofs of my theory…but I guess it will keep being a theory!

For this freezing cold day in Milan I wore Diffusione Tessile coat, Whistles hat, Liu-Jo ankle boots and Miu Miu handbag. Brooch is handmade from Lora Nikolova, scarf is thrifted from Oxfam charity shop in London.

The Ladybug walks through the history of The Great Mother

When I came back to Milan after my summer holidays I saw an ad about one of the exhibits held in Palazzo Reale that I was very interested in. The exhibit was La Grande Madre (The Great Mother) and it was produced and created by the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi. I waited until the last day to visit it (as usual!) but I am happy that I managed to see it as it was one of the most interesting things I have seen in Milan lately.

It is a huge exhibit that retraces the iconography of motherhood in the art during the last two centuries through the work of more than a hundred international artists. As a result the exhibit also traces the history of women’s empowerment, gender struggles, sexual politics and clashes between tradition and emancipation.

It was also an occasion to admire artists as Lucio Fontana, Frida Kahlo, Man Ray, Salvador Dalí, Jeff Koons, Louise Bourgeois (I adored her installations), Robert Gober, Andy Warhol and Maurizio Cattelan, just to name a few.

I wore a casual outfit (Acne Studios jeans, Replay biker boots, Uniqlo cardi, Michael Kors bucket bag) with a vintage touch (my green handmade asymmetric hat by Stondo Firenze).

The Ladybug answers THE question: did you visit EXPO?

If you live in Milan I’m pretty sure that the most frequently asked question you have answered in the last few months is always the same: did you visit EXPO? It happens at least once a day and it may come from a friend, a colleague, someone you meet in the subway, your family and friends leaving somewhere else, the owner of the bar where you use to get your coffee in the morning: the question is there and you need an answer! Also you need to get prepared for a second question coming in case of affirmative answer: How is it?

Well, as I had to cope with this question for the last few months I decided that, as EXPO happens in my town and it is “just around the corner” I had at least to step in and see what it was all about!

The occasion came a few weeks ago, when we organized a ladies night out with my colleagues to go to EXPO in the evening to watch “Alla Vita!”, the Cirque du Soleil show especially created for the EXPO: it is a one-hour show at the open air theatre and if you haven’t seen it yet and have never watched a Cirque du Soleil show before you can’t miss it (you have time until the 31^st of August). You can admire the dancers, acrobats and artists who made the history of Cirque du Soleil and believe me, the show is really worth a visit!

At the same time you can take advantage of the five-euro ticket for the night entry to have a look around and see what EXPO is, while sipping a Colombian mojito or eating Belgian fries with your friends! You can also take pictures at the China, Ghana or Nepal pavilions or get lost in the colors and scents from your motherland (yes, I needed to have a look at the Sicilian pavilion!). Of course the main attraction remains the famous Tree of Life, incredible at night with its colored lightening; I guess you have seen it in pictures everywhere but I must confess that seeing it for real is an experience!

If my answer to the (in)famous question is then “Yes”, I’m not sure that I’m really prepared for the second one: How is it? As I didn’t spend too much time there and only had a quick look around before the show I allowed myself a second chance for a whole day, just to make sure that I can give a serious advice while answering the second question; in the meanwhile I just answer: “Seems cool!”

As I wanted to do EXPO in a vintage style, I wore a lovely dress from Episode Vintage in Bruxelles, Lazzari shoes, Michael Kors bucket bag, Topshop belt and Valentino sunglasses.

Be sure that I will share my second “serious” visit here but now I want to know: did you visit EXPO? And…how is it? 😉