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’s Milan Fashion Week pt 2: Massimo Rebecchi Fashion Show

It can happen only during a Fashion Week! It is a phrase that I heard a lot of times, but I now understand what it means… in my small world of lazy Sunday mornings- in bed until late afternoon, having an invitation for 9am is for sure challenging. But it was Fashion Week and the Massimo Rebecchi show so I decided it was worth an early Sunday morning wake up. I did my best to appear fresh and well rested and I understand that the result wasn’t perfect, but the show was absolutely to-die-for; the location – Accademia di Brera – and the VIP parterre was the icing on the cake!

In the Massimo Rebecchi SS15 collection you can find all the Massimo Rebecchi ingredients (silk, prints, colors), but mixed up with new elements (for example: dark denim and pop art colors and geometry) to create a completely new effect. And this effect reminded of the ’60s allure when pop art met fashion for new unexpected colors and patterns creating a completely new approach to fashion (anyone thinking of Yves Saint Laurent and his Mondrian dress?). But now the modern key is the tri-dimension: dresses and blouses have new forms and new graphics, and there is a blossoming of colors from pastels to color-block- mixed with more classic black and white.

But there are also the ’70s in this Massimo Rebecchi SS15 collection: strong colors mixed (light blue with red, yellow and red) and new asymmetric forms for long silk dresses and playsuits, along with flower mixes and jacquard. Plus a little wink to the ’90s sporty style with a new version of gym chic touched by new modern essential lines.

All these different inspirations found a place in an always recognizable Rebecchi’s style, where the lightness of materials and of the forms make him one of my favorites as always.

I wore Topshop navy silk blouse and my new beautiful handmade statement necklace from my summer trip to Singapore.