The Ladybug in a vintage daisy field!

When I saw this little vintage silk dress full of colored daisies on Vinted I madly fell in love. The pattern and the shape were so cute and unusual that I didn’t think twice: I made an offer to buy it. The transaction itself was very pleasant: the French girl who sold it was having a huge clear out with her sisters and she told me the story of this dress that was coming from their grandma’s closet in Normandy. When I received it, it was even nicer than in pictures and the silk was fantastic, I couldn’t be prouder of my vintage find!

It was so easy to style it, because the print made it all: I love when dresses can be so easy because they really go with everything and for every occasion: I wore it for the first time at the office, then I wore it for an aperitivo with my friends and now I am wearing it for a second hand shopping session in Milan on a Saturday morning.

I wanted to re-create a vintage 50s style, even if the dress is a late 70s piece. This is a clear example of the fact that you don’t need to wear clothes of the 50s to create a 50s style: not only the dress is from another era, but also the other pieces that I am wearing here are not pieces from the 50s:

• The golden chain belt is a vintage piece from the 80s that I found at Bottega Rossa in Milan;
• The daisy earrings are deadstock pieces from the late 60s that I found at Sabrina Manin Vintage in Milan
• The Yves Saint Laurent golden sandals are a vintage piece from the late 80s found at Bivio in Milan
• The green rattan bag is a vintage piece from the 70s found at A rebours Vintage in Milan
• The handmade turban is a modern handmade piece from Madame Ilary

Could you tell?

Imagination is the only criteria to create the perfect vintage style of your dreams!

women dresses

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The Ladybug on wearing all the vintage we couldn’t wear in the last year!

How many occasions did we have in 2020 to go out, enjoy a night out with your friends, visiting a museum etc.? Very few I would say, this is why I will still remember that night as one of the best of 2020!

The occasion for a friends reunion was the fabulous exhibition at the Museo Diocesano in Milan of the amazing photographer Inge Morath. It was the first italian retrospective dedicated to the first woman photographer of Magnum Photo agency. More than 170 shoots that told her professional path from the begininnings with Ernst Haas and Henri Cartier-Bresson to her collaborations with the most famous magazines such as LIFE, Paris Match, Vogue etc. Inge Morath was also an insatiable traveler and many of her travel reportages were exposed, as well as portaits of Arthur Miller, Igor Stravinsky, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, Audrey Hepburn etc.

The exhibit was also an occasion for an aperitivo in the cloister of the museum and for a dinner with my friends in a lovely secret corner of Milan.

It was also an occasion to bring out some of my new vintage pieces as they were being suffering in my wardrobe for such a long time!

I decided to wear one of my latest additions, a lovely 80’s vintage dress London Corner Vintage, paired with a golden vintage belt from Bottega Rossa in Milan and a vintage rattan bag from La Maison G.

I added a pair of green t-bar shoes from Miss L Fire (you know how much I love this brand), an handmade turban from Madame Ilary and a pair of vintage Trifari earrings from A Rebours Vintage.

As it was one of my few “go-out-outfits” it just needed to be as big and as vintage as I could! I definitely tried to wear all of the things that I haven’t worn in the last months while locked at home and I often think of how many outfits I still will need to bring out for a walk in the next months…let’s hope for a rest of 2021 full of new occasions to wear our vintage clothes and accessories!

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The Ladybug is shining in her favorite color (and vintage!)

Not longtime ago I shared here my favorite colors and I put on top of my list yellow!

Since I was a kid yellow is my favorite color: its representation of sun and light has always inspired me and I feel really like myself when I wear it!

I have many yellow clothes and accessories, not only in summer: dresses, shoes, sweaters…I really can’t resist a good yellow piece, better if vintage!

Like this lovely dress a real 80s piece that I got from Humana Vintage in Milan, in the shop of via De Amicis during their inauguration party! It is like a long jacket with short sleeves and I always wear it with a belt (this one is from Mango) to give more focus on the waist!

I paired it with an amazing tapestry bag that I got in Budapest in a lovely vintage shop called Lovebug Vintage.

All my jewelry is vintage too (except rings that are handmade): 80s hoop earrings from Viola Vintage (I got them during a vintage fair here in Italy, probably Valeggio Veste il Vintage) and golden vintage JJ brooch from A rebours Vintage in Milan. Rings are handmade from Afrohemien (cowrie ring) and Francesco Tramontano, except the tiny yellow ring that is vintage found in a little vintage shop in Osaka, Japan.

The shoes are very old caged boots from Jeffrey Campbell.

More women dresses here.

The Ladybug embracing her curves in a flattering vintage dress

When I first published a picture of this outfit on my social media I received a lot of compliments from many people: friends, colleagues or readers saying that they were not used to see me in such feminine clothes, showing my curves but that I should wear them more often as they liked it a lot.

I had to admit that I don’t like to show my curves too much, not that I don’t embrace them, I totally do, but I always feel like I’m trying to “expose” them and I start feeling uncomfortable.

But when I was editing the pictures and writing this blog post I realized that I loved so many of the pictures and that I was genuinely smiling in most of them. I couldn’t help thinking of what people told me and I guessed that I should give this type of dress another chance as the results seem very interesting!

This beautiful blue dress has a lovely shape, color and print (I love the colored hearts printed on it!) and it is an 80s vintage gem from Chiara Boni, now on sale on Opherty & Ciocci site. Oh, apparently it also gives joy and happiness when you wear it! This is also the reason why I wanted to take pictures of this dress in a park, as it represents the natural peace of mind or what it looks like it the most in a big city like Milan!

I paired the dress with old L’autre Chose platform shoes and beautiful bold vintage earrings from IZ Vintage (my new Turkish discovery!).

Photo Credit: Milena Molinari

The Ladybug has found the One: the red Odicini dress at Opherty & Ciocci

Do you know this incredible feeling of falling in love with something? That you can’t stop thinking of it, that you want it so badly and you can’t live without it?

Well, this is my feeling with this fantastic dress. When I was asked to choose a piece from Opherty & Ciocci and to style it for the blog my first choice was this amazing vintage red Odicini dress! I have looked at it for so long on their website and this was nothing compared to the feeling that I had when Marco brought it to me in Milan: it is wonderful, no picture can make it justice! I shouldn’t be surprised considered that it was created by the hands of the Italian couturier Andrea Odicini, one of the most talented designers in my personal opinion.

The shape is just amazing and the volumes are incredible: I couldn’t stop smiling when I wore it (can you tell from these pictures?!). I usually don’t wear a lot of red clothes but this dress definitely made me change my mind on red!

I didn’t wear anything else: just a pair of black pumps and vintage 80s golden earrings because all my attention was focused on this piece of art!

If you want to buy it, it is still available here …but do it quickly before I buy it for myself!!

Photo Credit: Milena Molinari

The Ladybug and the little Japanese vintage dress

When I was in Tokyo last summer I got completely crazy for the amazing vintage scene of this incredible city. Entire areas full of vintage shops (if you are interested I dedicated a post lately to the best areas for vintage shopping in Tokyo), amazing vintage clothes and accessories almost everywhere, wonderful vintage designer finds and of course the best vintage kimonos I’ve ever seen!

My credit card was warming up when we arrived in town but it exploded one day in Harajuku when I found the famous Chicago Thrift Store, one of the biggest and most famous vintage shop in town. I really had to stop myself from buying half of the store (still I didn’t completely manage!) and I was lucky enough to be quite big for the average Japanese size so many things just didn’t fit.

Among the tons of clothes, dresses and kimonos that I tried I had a crush on this little vintage floral dress. I wore it immediately when I came back home, with a tan Topshop belt and a pair of retro t-bar shoes from Sohegasm that I found in NYC during my last trip there.

The cameo ring is from Alcozer & Co in Florence, while the tiny yellow rings are Japanese too: the “universe” one comes from a lovely shop in Tokyo while the other ring is a vintage find from a lovely vintage shop in Nara. The green earrings are handmade from my talented auntie (Soleiado shop in Lampedusa).

The Ladybug’s Spanish dress

When I was in Madrid last winter, I spent my first afternoon in town in Malasaña, one of my favorite areas (maybe my favorite one!) full of bars and vintage shops. I found there a little street, called Velarde, that I named the vintage street because there are tons of second hand, vintage and thrift shops one next to the other and I thought that Heaven must have a street like this!

During my crazy shopping in this street, I found a lovely shop called Le Freak Olé where I got very nice pieces at bargain prices including this beautiful vintage dress! I loved the colors, the shape and the lovely neck and it became one of my favorite dresses in my wardrobe!

Here I am wearing it in all its glory, matching with military green tights and thrifted mud platform t-bar shoes from L’Autre Chose (on Depop).

Vintage earrings and retro inspired cameo ring from Alcozer.

The Ladybug received a beautiful vintage gift…

Carmen is one of my best friends since we were students at University: we have been sharing moments, experiences, smiles and tears since the end of the 90’s meaning that our friendship can be considered almost vintage!

I don’t see her often as she doesn’t live in Italy but during our trips we always try to meet somewhere in the world just to spend some time together and to get updated with each other life news live instead of texts and expensive international phone calls!

A few weeks ago she came to see me in Milan and she brought me two beautiful gifts: her adorable dog and a beautiful vintage dress from Germany! Regarding the latter she told me: I didn’t know how to wear it, then I thought you would!

I accepted the challenge and I wore it straight away: long dresses are my passion and I can’t wear them without a statement necklace. This time I decided to wear two pieces that I found in two different markets: a Nepalese silver necklace and a leather black one.

I also imagined it with a pair of white sneakers (mine are Nike for & Other Stories) just to make it more versatile for a Saturday afternoon stroll in the city center.

Bag : Miu Miu

The Ladybug’s new vintage dress is Irish!

Are you still on holiday? Or are you preparing your return back to the office? Anyway, sooner or later we have to go back then, why don’t we prepare a vintage return with a lovely vintage dress that you can easily wear at work?

I bought this lovely pleated polka dot beige dress in Dublin last winter for just 10 euros in a lovely shop called Om Diva mixing beautiful vintage dresses with handmade and retro pieces (clothing and accessories). When I was there this winter all the vintage dresses were on sale for 10 euros and I tried at least ten before picking my favorite one! (To be honest it was the only one that fitted me properly, the others were too big or too small!!).

I wore it for work with a retro inspired Zara golden belt with lips and with an old pair of sandals from Vic Matié that I bought on sale many years ago and that I still adore!

I added retro inspired round frames from Valentino and Miu Miu bag.

Not bad for a vintage return at the office, what do you think?

PS: Consider it as a good excuse to wear more vintage every day!

 

The Ladybug’s personal view on William Klein

Before going on holiday I made sure to visit all the interesting exhibits happening in Milan…just not to miss any of them as they will mostly end in September and I don’t want to be famous anymore for being the last visitor of the last day of the exhibit!

In a hot Thursday afternoon I joined my friend at the Palazzo della Ragione to visit the William Klein exhibit, “A modo suo”. I always love the exhibits in this amazing place and I fell totally in love with this one! Klein’s multifaceted work (from painting to photography, movies and literature) is grouped in nine thematic areas starting from Abstractions, his first exhibit in Milan collecting his wall paintings for various Italian architects.

And then New York, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Moscow the towns where he lived and/or worked, a real journey in his favorite places in the world where he didn’t stop going around with his camera day and night to catch the essence of events or just ordinary street life.

The last part is dedicated to fashion and movies, two big areas where Klein exposed is talent and spread innovation.

If you want to visit the exhibit it is open until the 11^th of September 2016.

For the event I wore my new vintage gem: a dress that I bought from Vintwear2 at Frock me Vintage in London, an original late 40’s dress with rare tropical print that I adore!

I paired it with Swedish Hasbeens shoes, Traffic People headband (both from London but from a few years ago!) and Miu Miu bag.