Telma Vintage

Last year I missed a very important weekend in Milan because I was out of town: two events that I really wanted to attend to be precise. The first event was Swing’n’Milan, an event completely dedicated to the beautiful ’30s & ’40s dance Lindy Hop (swing). This event started last year- apparently with huge success, and I got an idea of what’s happening around the swing movement in Milan when I went and saw for myself how many people were there and how many of them were serious Lindy Hop dancers.

I admit, I am very bad at it: I can’t swing, but I started my very first steps during the free class for the beginners, like me, event on Saturday evening. It was funny as hell and I am still looking for the perfect dance school in Milan to start soon. By the way… do you have an idea of how many swing schools there are in Milan??? Loads!

Although I am not a dancer, I enjoyed the event very much: many bands took the stage during the two-day event and I saw the NP Big Band on Saturday night. People dressed in perfect vintage style were dancing to the rhythm of Lindy Hop in a lovely atmosphere full of vintage stalls of every kind: from the lovely girls of Place Minuit (one of my favorite retro shops in Milan) to the vintage pieces of Memory Lane and Telma Vintage, to the perfect retro barbershop (our friends from Bullfrog), to the lovely vintage corner full of American cakes by our friends from the Vintage Bakery!

Also, the location was near perfect: the Great Gatsby styled dancing room of La Pelota had the energy I believe was felt in the old black and white footage I’ve seen over the years. Well… at least until the end of the night, because like every night, at the closing of the ballroom- the party moved to a secret destination to sustain the atmosphere of an era past!

For the event I wore a lovely denim sailor dress from Pepaloves, brogues from Lazzari Store and a vintage bag that I found on Ebay!

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)