The Ladybug’s first “Star Wax” episode!

If you are wondering what is the “Star Wax” saga, well let me tell you that this is just a joke with my friend Ilaria, founder of Heka Couture and Madame Ilary, the person who created the wax trousers and turban that I am wearing in this post.

As we bought this 6 yards of yellow African print wax fabric, we were deciding what to do with it and we started calling it the “star wax” because of the white stars on the fabric. We imagined to create a pair of trousers, a jacket and a turban, and we called this mini collection the “star wax saga” as a joke!

I was thinking of this joke while writing this post to show the first episode of the saga: these trousers and turban handmade by Ilaria, mixed with vintage pieces and high street.

We were together when I first wore those two pieces: as it was a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon and we were heading to a garage market I decided to dare a mix of African print and stripes (top is from an old Zara collection).

As if it was not enough, I added vintage pieces to the outfit: a lovely vintage doctor bag that I bought during a special vintage event for buyers years ago here in Milan and a Nepalese statement necklace.

Final touch, my Casta and Dolly clogs from Arkivio Vintage!

PS: next episode of the Star Wax saga will be up on the blog soon!!

The Ladybug in Baby Blue and Baby Pink

Every night before going to sleep I try to decide what I am going to wear the next day. Basically I do it, I don’t try. But when I wake up in the morning, most of the times I change my mind. And mostly these changes depend on the weather (and on how much I could sleep at  night!). I see grey (outside and inside!): I dress in black. I see the sun: I take out all the colors of my closet and I mix them with no fear!

That day I felt the sun; more inside than outside actually, but before leaving the house I decided to switch my Burberry beige trench with this colored pink coat from Zara and I am pretty happy that I did it because the colorful outfit put me in a great mood (it was Monday, don’t forget!).

I started the outfit with this new & Other Stories denim dress that I bought online last month and I decided that I wanted to pair it with my adored Madame Cosette velvet boots (by the way, did I tell you that I decided to wear velvet shoes this summer? I love velvet too much to use it only in winter!). 

Tights were necessary that day…not only because it was quite fresh but also because my white legs are really awful so I won’t show them until I get a good tan or my new Collistar bb cream for legs!!

The Ladybug’s “Blue velveteen”

 

I don’t know what’s wrong with me but every time that I wear velvet I start singing Lenny Kravitz’s “Black Velveteen”, so I thought it was the perfect title for this blog post (with some changes of course!)

 

I love velvet, no matter the season, I could also wear it in summer if it didn’t look too weird (and I’m still not sure that I’m not going to wear my velvet sandals in summer!)…Anyway it’s Spring so I guess that it is still allowed! I also love jumpsuits (again, whatever the season is but with jumpsuits it doesn’t matter the season!)  which may explain why I madly fell in love with this handmade navy velvet jumpsuit from Heka Couture!

 

I totally love it! the fabric is so soft and the shape is amazing….I can’t stop wearing it night and day! It’s such a versatile piece you can wear it in the office, for a night out or just during the weekend depending on how you accessorize it.

 

This time I wore it for a drink out on a Saturday afternoon with a retro printed shirt from Zara.

 

I added my 60’s inspired Marella ankle boots and big earrings from Lora Nikolova Bijoux.

 

The Ladybug’s Barbarella moment: silver shine!

I don’t know what’s going on lately but even if I love colors and we finally entered the season to wear them (Milan is also offering unexpected warm sunny days!) during the last weeks I’m dressing head-to-toe in black. Many people made me notice that and I must confess that I’m noticing too. Maybe I’m not ready to blossom? Maybe I’m just a bit bored…I can’t say, but black is being my uniform lately!

Don’t be surprised then If my outfit today is an almost total black, except for my new pair of snake effect silver boots that just got me into my Barbarella moment! I saw these adorable ankle boots in a newly opened shop near my house: I kept looking at them every time that I passed by their window, always tempted to get in and try them. But I was being a good girl, trying to save money, so I never stepped into the shop during the whole winter….until the season’s sales!!!

When I saw them reduced 50% off I decided that it was time to approach those coveted boots and I found out that there was only one pair left…my size! I couldn’t say no as I did for so many times and for so many months! They are from Divine Follie, an Italian label that I didn’t know before but they’re super comfortable and I wear them so much!

This time I wore them with Zara black sweater and mini skirt and Max&Co grey tomboy coat! I added a black Michael Kors bucket bag and my Malian vintage necklace.

The Ladybug, a new haircut and a new biker jacket

Many people asked me about my new haircut: why did I cut so short?

Honestly sometimes you just need to make up your mind, refresh it with new thoughts or just re-style yourself and look at your own face in a different way! I just don’t mind about my hair being short, it’s not the first time (actually I cut it short quite often) and I know they it grows so fast that in a few weeks it will be long again!

I just take the good side of it at the moment: I can play with my makeup, I can wear big earrings and I can try it with very feminine looks or some tomboy style!

Here I was in this tomboy mood but I was proudly wearing my new faux-fur Zara black biker jacket that I coveted for so long before finally finding it online! I really love the texture as it looks like leather and it has an 80’s feel that I adore: I have been looking for a vintage one like this but I couldn’t find anything that I really liked so I decided to go for this high street one! The only thing that I don’t like is that I see it quite often worn by other people in the streets, but hey! this is the downside of high street!

I paired it with Acne Studios black denim and H&M denim shirt. I added my new 60’s inspired Marella ankle boots (one of my favorite picks during the winter sales!) and my Miu Miu bag.

The Ladybug’s silver Christmas

About two months ago I bought at Zara silver culottes: it was one of these days when you are JUST walking down the streets of Milan full of shops and sparkling windows; you JUST have half an hour before meeting your friends to go to the cinema and you are JUST outside Zara and you think that “well, I can go JUST for a short tour, I won’t buy anything”; 30 minutes later you JUST find yourself late, your friends are calling you to know where you are and you are JUST queuing to pay your item!

It happened exactly like that when I bought them: the fact that I spent 30 minutes in the shop was due to the fact that I was not sure about how to wear them and when; but they were lovely and cheap and I couldn’t resist!

Indeed it also took a while to wear them as I’m doing almost two months later and for my Christmas Eve dinner! Anyway I decided that the best way to wear them was inspired to me by Alexa Chung who used to wear golden and silver midi skirts with knitted sweaters to make them less “serious” and more “easygoing”.  This is why I decided to pair them with my new COS pale blue oversize sweater with big bow on the back.

I wanted to wear them with flat boots but I didn’t have any with me during the holiday season and it was still Christmas eve so I could wear a pair of Liu-Jo heeled taupe ankle boots.

Nars “Mysterious Red”  on my lips was a “must”!

The Ladybug’s oversized Sunday brunch

It is now in our running routine to organize a brunch or lunch after every run, especially when we run early in the morning and we deserve proper food and drink to reward our double effort (running and waking up early during the weekends!).

After our Strawoman run we decided to try one of the most interesting venues in town, Otto in Chinatown.

We loved the place, the beautiful green area outside and the welcoming space inside. We had a perfect after-run brunch with avocado toast, potatoes, fruits, Greek yogurt with honey and orange juice (ok, we had also a small dessert!) and we had the time to take some pictures around.

I was very tired from the run so I decided to take it easy and comfy with an oversized outfit for a Sunday casual brunch!

I wore my oversized Topshop denim shirt with oversized Zara culottes, Superga shoes and Celine sunglasses. I added handmade fish necklace from Pamphlet and souvenir folk bag from Ecuador (a present brought to me by a lovely friend visiting South America…I love when people bring me things from their trips!).

The Ladybug on curls and contemporary art (at Boccioni exhibit!)

I finally learned to embrace my curls, I can say it loud and proud now! Many people ask me if this is my real hair or I made something to make them curly, well this is my real white-afro hair!

I can’t explain how my life changed since I finally accepted and loved my natural hair! I spent more than 25 years using straightening products because I wanted so much those classy straight hair instead of my lioness mane but I have finally fell in love with it (never too late!). I think it represents me so well and it really expresses my personality at the point that I cannot see myself with straight hair anymore!

You may wonder why I am so much into self-acceptance today and the reasons are: 1. I am always into self-acceptance and self-support; 2. I took this pictures just after a good haircut at my favorite hairdresser in Milan (the one who made me understand how great my hair was!) which explains why my curls are just curlier than usual!

The real goal of the post was to tell you about my visit at the Boccioni exhibit in Milan at Palazzo Reale (until the 10^th of July) but if I have to be honest, I expected a bit more from it. Too much space for Boccioni’s early works and so little room left for the futuristic artist that I love and appreciate! Still I think it is worth a visit for the second part of the exhibit and for the exhibit “2050” that could be visited with the same ticket until the 29^th of May, exposing 46 contemporary artists with 50 pieces interpreting the future of the planet. A great surprise and an amazing exhibit on contemporary art including one of my favorite artists, Louise Bourgeois.

I wore Zara pale pink spring coat, Topshop palm shirt and mom jeans (both from my last trip to Topshop in Edinburgh!), Nike 4 Other Stories white sneakers.

The Ladybug and the fabulous world of Alfons Mucha

Yesterday was the last day of one of the most interesting exhibits held in Milan lately: Alfons Mucha and the Art Nouveau atmospheres. Maybe his name is not very familiar but when you will see his work you will understand what I am talking about: the Czech artist is the father of Art Nouveau and his affiches and decorative panels were the expression of a new way of using art as a communicative language (for example for advertising).

More than 100 works are exposed in such an harmonious and powerful way that your path along the exhibit is a real amazing total involvement in Mucha’s art. From the wonderful iconic posters of the theatre actress Sarah Bernhardt to advertising posters, from the female representation to the oriental influences this exhibit is pure pleasure for all senses and a real proof of the best Art Nouveau works.

I was completely amazed by his art and I spent a lot of time lost in his golden panels and in his women images!

I wore Max & Co grey coat (another winter sales bargain!), Sandro sweatshirt (sales bargain again), Acne Studios jeans. I paired with Replay biker boots, Zara quilted bag and handmade yellow hat with bow by Madame S.

The Ladybug and her journey through the heart of Italy

Italy seen through the eyes of the most famous international photographers in the last 80 years: this is the main theme of the exhibition “Henri Cartier Bresson & gli altri” that ended last February at The Palazzo della Ragione in Milan. The exhibit presented more than 200 photographs, starting from Henri Cartier Bresson and his long trip to Italy, to Robert Capa – in Italy during the Second World War -, to Salgado and the last Sicilian tuna fishermen, to Helmut Newton and his night pictures of Rome.

But also Milan, Palermo, Venice through the eyes of Herbert List, Steve McCurry, Paul Strand and many others…a wonderful exhibit that I visited quite by mistake because I wasn’t in the mood to go back home after work and decided to head to the city center and to join my friend who wanted to visit it.

The medieval Palazzo della Ragione makes a wonderful frame for this beautiful exhibition as well as the beautiful Loggia dei Mercanti just outside in the amazing Piazza dei Mercanti.

I wore navy coat from Max&Co (I got this beautiful coat during the last winter sales!), Zara navy culottes, striped shirt and animal print booties, Miu Miu handbag.