The Ladybug and the Little Prince “coincidence”

“Things always happen for a reason”. “Coincidences don’t exist”. How many times did we hear that? Sometimes we believe it is true, sometimes we don’t (depending basically on our mood) but I basically think that things really always happen for a reason.

This is a stupid but fitting example:

Lunch time with my photographer friend, in the Isola Design district in Milan, I am wearing one of my favorite vintage pieces that I found in Budapest last year in a lovely vintage shop called Szputnyik, and I feel super cute! When we head back to the office we see it: this amazing Little Prince mural that left us wide-mouthed! We didn’t know about it and we started taking pictures of this street art when my friend asked: “do you feel cute enough for me to take some pictures of you here?”.

“Coincidence” or whatever it is made me feel super cute with my vintage dress (it has some Egyptian style pattern, with pyramids and palms + this sand color that made me crack!), my dark green 70s inspired Strategia platforms and my handmade brass earrings (80s inspired) by Metalica Creazioni.

Also my hair was pretty decent…was there a better moment to shoot there? Probably not…

That night when I came back home I looked for my Little Prince book (I have it French) because I thought it was a sign (not a coincidence…) and I opened it on this page:

C’est une folie de haïr toutes les roses parce que une épine vous a piqué, d’abandonner tous les rêves parce que l’un d’entre eux ne s’est pas réalisé, de renoncer à toutes les tentatives parce qu’on a échoué…c’est une folie de condamner toutes les amitiés parce qu’une d’elles vous a trahi, de ne croire plus en l’amour juste parce qu’un d’entre eux a été infidèle, de jeter toutes les chances d’être heureux juste parce que quelque chose n’est pas allée dans la bonne direction. Il y aura toujours une autre occasion, un autre ami, un autre amour, une force nouvelle. Pour chaque fin il y a toujours un nouvel départ.

So no, coincidence doesn’t exist. It was exactly what I needed to read.

The Ladybug and the importance of being Angela

April 2012. I was walking down the streets of Harlem with the biggest excitement caused by the place and all its legacies and meanings; I stopped by to talk to a lovely man selling tees representing people and moments of the African-American culture and history. “What’s your name?” – he asks. “Angela”. “Ah, Angela…like Angela Davis”! He didn’t have a tee with her of my size but he really made my day when he associated my name with hers! “Yes, Like Angela Davis” I said with a big smile.

He didn’t know (but I told him afterwards) that Angela Davis is the second person I am proud of wearing their name (the first one is my grandma) because she is one of the women that I admire most and a true inspiration for me. Sometimes, when I am feeling angry and upset about the political, social and cultural situation of my country I read again what she wrote to find again the force to fight.

Many of my friends and family know about my love for Angela Davis, including Simona who told me about this beautiful artwork outside the bookstore Les Mots in Milan. We immediately head there to take some pictures and when I saw it, her smiling with her fist up, I immediately thought about her quote: “But there’s a message there for everyone and it is that people can unite, that democracy from below can challenge oligarchy, that imprisoned migrants can be freed, that fascism can be overcome, and that equality is emancipatory”.

It was a coincidence but that day I wore a tee and canvas bag from the talented artist Massira Keita: a wonderful Parisian girl with African origins who makes the most beautiful drawings with an afro twist. When I saw the Syra design, a young woman with a wax turban I fell in love with the style and I got the tee and the bag (and the iPhone case!) that I wore here trying to re-create the same style on me (this was done on purpose, not a coincidence!): military jacket from an old Zara collection, black skinny jeans from Acne Studios, snake silver ankle boots from Divine Follie and wax headwrap from Grazia Ferrari (better known as Gracchia F!). The black round sunglasses were courtesy of Simona to complete the Syra look! I added a personal touch with my silver Nepalese necklace and loop earrings.

The Ladybug plays matchy matchy in Sicily

The “Giardino Corallo” is one of the historical places in town with a long and complicated story: music, theatre, cinema, artistic center, it represents a bit of my hometown history and I really wanted to take some pictures outside this place because I like the “vintage” feeling.

I didn’t know that just around the corner a piece of street art was also waiting to be photographed!

It was one of hottest winter days of my Sicilian holiday (I didn’t need to wear a coat) and I wore a beautiful handmade coordinated culottes and turban by Heka Couture with a simple turtleneck Zara jumper.

Pointy ankle boots are from Francesco Milano at Merry Go Round in Milan, silver loop earrings are vintage and my new red lipstick is from Wycon Cosmetics!

The Ladybug’s hardest “goodbye” to Sicily

Of all the street art in my hometown (Messina in Sicily) this is definitely my second favorite. For this reason I wanted to take some pictures here before leaving Sicily after my winter holidays.

Every time that I go home there is this hardest moment, when I have to say goodbye, knowing that I won’t be back for many months. Even if I try to smile and be happy there’s clear melancholy in my eyes and when I am writing this post I can catch that feeling perfectly. The good news is that now it’s less time compared to January!

For my last Sicilian day of winter I wore a Zara maxi sweater (that I bought at the airport in Milan before leaving…since they opened a Zara store there I can’t help buying something before leaving!) with my new AMAZING Levi’s grey denim jeans. I am in love with this high-waist denim, the color and the shape. It looks like a vintage one but I bought it a few weekend before Christmas in Milan and I wear it all the time! One of the greatest buy of 2017!

Pointy black ankle boots are from Francesco Milano at merry Go Round in Milan and sparkling electric blue and golden headband is from Madame Ilary. Golden loop earrings are from Mango.

The Ladybug’s big dream: Basquiat exhibit in Milan

Six years ago one of the biggest European exhibits on Jean-Michel Basquiat opened in Paris, at the Museum of Modern Art. I was seriously thinking of getting a ticket to Paris just to see it but although my huge love and admiration for this incredible American artist, I never managed to see his art live. The first time that I saw a few of his paintings I was at Miart in Milan in 2013 but that’s nothing compared to the huge exhibit started at Mudec Museum this October and showing more than 100 works (from private collections) of the short but intense career of this amazing artist who died in 1988 at 27.

He has been defined a writer, a graffiti artist, the symbol of the new African diaspora and a son of the African slavery but what I have always loved of Jean-Michel Basquiat powerful art is the way he put together his African roots and the energy of NYC suburbs. These two sides of his art are a huge part of this beautiful exhibit that will be in Milan until the end of February 2017 and I am thinking of going back to see it again before it ends.

The exhibit also shows his art as a bridge between different cultures and it is probably one of the biggest occasions to see Basquiat’s art in Europe or at least in Italy and I must say that it is absolutely worth the visit.

For the exhibit I wore a beige Please sweater, Topshop boyfriend jeans and Max&Co navy coat. I also wore my new clogs from Archivio Vintage and my new Bonne Maison colored socks with my Cavalli e Nastri vintage 70’s handbag.

The Ladybug and Her Berlin Liebesgeschichte!

In my last post I told you about my long experience in Munich and about how great it was to live it… even if just for the weekends! And although I really enjoyed my time in Bavaria, my colleague and I decided to fly to Berlin for a little weekend since neither of us had been there before and we were both very curious.

It was a windy, freezing and quite snowy weekend, but this this didn’t prevent us from enjoying this amazing town!

I know, you are thinking that I was in vintage paradise, and I was indeed, but I will leave this part for the next post… today I just want to talk about Berlin!

It was such a special weekend: we walked a lot and tried to enjoy as many things as we could: from our first stop at Brandenburg Gate, to a long walk to see the famous Victory Column, Potsdamer Platz, a guided tour through the German Parliament (the Bundestag), the touristic Checkpoint Charlie, a long walk along the Eastside Gallery (enjoying the street art in the longest part remaining from the Wall), the Jewish Memorial, the Fernsehturm and the beautiful Cathedral- our day was quite busy. We just had a quick stop in a lovely Thai and Vietnamese restaurant near Checkpoint Charlie to recharge the batteries and warm our cold feet before going back to our busy tour! As you can imagine, we didn’t enjoy the Berlin’s night as much as we intended to! (if I’m not wrong, we fell dead in our bed at 9:30pm!)

But the atmosphere of this sad yet modern and vital town is incredible and I didn’t believe it until I visited it myself! There is this space for the past, to remember, to keep the memory alive that contrasts often with the modernity and of the future towards which the city is going.

Walking along the wall was also a sad experience: although the street art is amazing (Bansky and other great street artist have made their artistic home all around the town), it is impossible not to think of how life was until just 25 years ago.

These are my favorites of the pics I took there to share with you.

On my first day I wore my inseparable Woolrich parka and Ugg boots, Acne Studios jeans, Dixie beige sweater, Max& Co bag and Madame Ilary handmade black turban.

More about Berlin and our vintage tour next time!