The Ladybug’s passion for charity markets and bargain prices!

I have been buying vintage and second hand for almost 20 years but there is nothing, and I say NOTHING, that can beat a charity market if you want to buy the best things for incredible bargain prices!

Since I live in Milan I am a charity market addict, you know those markets that happens once a year, where the rich ladies in town open their wardrobe and donate their amazing vintage designer pieces for a good cause? Well, they are definitely my favorite ones!

Not easy to find or to get into this “charity market lobby” but when you find one, make sure to subscribe to their newsletter and to find them for the next event (usually the best ones are just before Christmas) because that’s where the best bargains happen!

Last year I was invited to one of these amazing events by a friend of mine and I got out of there super happy about my finds (even more about their price!) and about the fact that all the earnings of the event went to a charity association. So: great vintage shopping + bargain prices + good cause, what can we ask more?

It was at this event that I found this beautiful green and purple tartan skirt with its tiny purple belt from Valentino in mint conditions for only 20 euros! I loved the colors and the buttons on the front (it also has buttons on the back) and the price was too good to leave it there!

It looks like an 80s piece (maybe early 90s) and I paired it with a new & Other Stories frilled shirt that looks so 80s and that I found during the last days of sales in super promotion last year.

Black laced boots are new from Ouigal while all my hoops earrings are vintage.

PS: I know that now you are wondering what other bargains I got from that event but I promise that I will show them all in the next few blog posts!

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.

The Ladybug on Spring, girlfriends and Herb Ritts

Imagine the first Spring weekend (well, the one just before!), your girlfriends being in town for the Stramilano (Milanese run) the next day and many girlish things to do during the weekend. What is on the menu? Food, running, shopping, pictures, art and much more!

It was hard to put everything in a weekend program but we managed and we are very happy about it, even if on Monday we felt like we needed the whole week to recover from the last two days! But let’s be honest, the time spent with your friends is the best time ever whatever you decide to do but when you do all the things you love and they love, well it is priceless!

This is just the photo-story of a Saturday in Milan, from a healthy regenerating lunch at God Save the Food to the Herb Ritts exhibit at Palazzo della Ragione, from shopping in the city center (including our favorite Bivio shops) to a vintage glass of wine at the Sine Modus shop in Porta Venezia, ending with a delicious Russian dinner at La Veranda, my favorite Russian-Ukrainian place in town.

Let me just add a few words on Herb Ritts exhibit “In equilibrio” at Palazzo della Ragione until the 5^th of June: there is not much to add about this incredible photographer but believe me, the exhibit is absolutely worth a visit for the collection exposed of fashion and celebrities photographs (including one of my favorite Prince photograph and my adored Bill T. Jones series) but also to admire his incredible art of making powerful portraits.

This is basically how we prepared for the 10K run of the next day…not really healthy preparation I know but incredibly fun!

I wore Diffusione Tessile navy maxi coat, Penneys striped shirt, Met jeans, Traffic People headband, Valentino glasses, Miu Miu bag, Nike 4 Other Stories white sneakers and Nars red lips courtesy of Simona!).

The Ladybug’s vintage riddle of the day!

November has just ended and I have a little riddle for you: which amazing vintage event takes place twice a year in Milan, in April and November? I know, this is easy and as I guess that you are a vintage lover it is even easier! It is the Milano Vintage Week! The thing is that, if you are a vintage lover in Milan there are for sure a few shops and markets where you can go for vintage shopping but many of them are way too expensive, so all that you can do is wait for your favorite vintage event in town where you can still find good pieces at affordable and fair prices and where you can breathe (and shop) vintage for a couple of hours!

This year I brought one of my non-vintage-lover friend who ended up buying vintage inspired pieces, which is the first step to move into vintage fanatics world! I did the same of course, but this is no news!

As always my little vintage paradise in Milan was full of great stalls and pieces and I could see my “vintage friends” (Opherty & Ciocci, Shabby Chic, Magnifica Preda, A.N.G.E.L.O.), meet new dealers and crafters and be part of some of the many events and activities that at every edition make this Vintage Week fun and pleasant (workshops, presentations, beauty and hair tutorials, retro inspired photoshoots).

I also visited the lovely exhibit (in collaboration with A.N.G.E.L.O.) dedicated to Valentino with some of his beautiful pieces from the 70’s and 80’s. The two rooms dedicated to the designer were a real paradise for those who love vintage, but also for those who appreciate a good piece of fashion. I spent a lot of time admiring the decorations and the wonderful work on these pieces, and I was really amazed to find a kind of creativity that doesn’t exist anymore. It was a way of reminding me why I love vintage fashion so much!

I wore Heka Couture lace jabot, Dixie black culottes, Max&Co black coat, Maison Momonì folk clutch, 8 pointed brogues and & Other Stories glitter socks.

The Ladybug Gets Trapped in the Closet with Valentina Cortese at Palazzo Morando

I know, I am the last chance girl: every time I read about an expo that I am interested in and want to visit, I manage to get there on the last day of the expo!

This is what happened with the wonderful expo on the Italian diva actress Valentina Cortese at Palazzo Morando in Milan. The expo was an event to market the publishing of the book “Valentina Cortese: 100 portraits.” The world of fashion celebrated the actress with an expo of about 50 of her wonderful dresses, bags and accessories starting from the ’40s with pieces created for her by the most creative famous designers like Dior, Mila Schön, Valentino, Capucci and the very extravagant Maurizio Galante (I really enjoyed the creativity of his art).

But in this case I can truly say, “much better late than never” because Valentina Cortese herself was “visiting” the expo with us and told us some anecdotes about the different dresses and when she wore them… this was absolutely priceless!

For the occasion I went for a black and white outfit: Marks & Spencer silky white shirt, vintage velvet shorts and a lovely white coat from Oviesse!  I added my Zara quilted black bag and my new black Chelsea boots from the charity market (I will tell you more about this next week!) and I played with these funny tights  that I bought during my last trip to Warsaw (I will tell you more about this too very soon!).

Yes, you can call this outfit “How to make your best in a crisis!” Not bad the result though, don’t you think?

The Ladybug is a Maniac… Maniac in Treviso: visiting “VintageMania” in Bassano del Grappa

Another weekend, another vintage fair, another tour in Veneto!

After the great experience of Arsenale Vintage Market in Verona, here I am again on my way to Bassano del Grappa heading, for the first time, to VintageMania.

As soon as I arrived I felt as if I was in Belgioso, probably because of the beautiful location of Villa Giusti (a wonderful two floor villa with an awesome patio and a huge park all around), but also because of the crowd and the very chic customs (French would say BCBG!). I must say I was quite surprised about the variety of people that I found inside, especially the range of age with particular mention of an adult band of customers that I don’t usually see in vintage fairs.

The two floors of Villa Giusti were entirely occupied by beautiful vintage clothes and accessories (including stallers I’d met in Verona and more) and handmade creations from many amazing handcrafters of the area. I like seeing more and more artisans at vintage fairs because of the uniqueness of the pieces they present- it’s a wonderful thing that they share with vintage pieces and moreover, the attention to detail and quality standards insure that one day these very things will be in someone’s vintage collection.

It was a beautiful warm day. Outside was full of people chatting, drinking and listening to live vintage music (especially rock ’n’ roll) in the amazing park surrounding the villa.

Even if it was hard to have a detailed look because of the crowd, it was also nice to meet Leonardo Chiti from Deuda Vintage and Nicola from Bidonville (a new friend from Bari that I met in Verona last weekend!). Also Dorotea Vintage was there with Michela from Lumière Bijoux and my beloved Laura from Oggetti Smarriti (yes, I bought another pair of vintage frames!).

Two interesting expos were presented at the Fair: on the first floor Elizabeth the 1^st exposed vintage tribal and ethnic pieces (this one in particular was my favorite!)

and on the 2^nd floor A.N.G.E.L.O exposed some wonderful vintage gowns and cocktail dresses (these are the ones that I loved most… especially the red Valentino!)

It was interesting to meet some local vintage dealers like L’Ottagono, where I took this funny pic with his amazing antiques piece!

As for my finds of the day, let me say that as long as Oggetti Smarriti is around I can’t help buying a new pair of vintage frames! These aluminum cat-eye beauties are to die for, aren’t they?

And since I am all about small vintage bags lately, I found this late ’70s purse from Foxy Brown, a vintage seller from Padova whose stall was definitely one of my favorites of the whole Fair!