Milan, Paris or London?

Italians (especially from Milan) follow Fashion "by the book" most of the times and make sure they are absolutely perfectly in style for every occasion. They would wear the latest Fendi, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana...and even when they can't afford the brands, they still make sure they are following all the fashion rules of the season, the colors in trend this year, the rights cut/length for their skirts/pants,the correct heels shape as shown at the fashion shows and so on...and of course in the end they look just perfectly elegant!

The Parisians instead do follow some fashion rules, but not for everything they are wearing. They always like to add a little bit of their creativity to their style. You will notice in fact how they like to mix couture with other items found at the markets or the vintage shop and this way they look naturally elegant.

As for the Brits, they use almost always pure creativity to chose what they are going to wear and they follow the rules only when they have to attend formal events, otherwise in the streets and nowadays even at work they use their imagination only. They mix and match clothes from the high street, with clothes from Carnaby street or even from Camden town market. Just look around in London and you won't find anyone wearing clothes that don't look original and different from others and the end result is that they look elegant in their own unique way.

And it might surprise you, but elegance for me is mostly represented in London than in Milan or Paris actually and that is because for me elegance can't forget creativity, true elegance needs to be original too (according to a survey by The Global Language Monitor, which uses a system that monitors how often certain words and phrases are used in the media, London has taken over as the world’s fashion capital, beating Paris and Milan).


Photos: 1st on the left: Covent Garden Market, London
2nd on the right: Carnaby Street, London
3rd on the left: Jigsaw in Chelsea, London
4th on the right: Jigsaw window in Chelsea, London

What's in the blog

Photo: Kookai at La Rinascente, Padova, Italy


Photo: Makola boutique, Padova, Italy

I  have been living in Italy, Spain, France, UK and the US and I have to admit that the less fashionable place is of course the US. I have learnt that this is not for lack of resources or talents here, but just because of a complete different mentality. In just a few words, we can say that here in the US they care much more about being comfortable, than being elegant, without understanding that you can actually be and should be both!

One day during my Art class – I was 16 and was attending High School - my teacher asked everyone to define Art. He didn’t like any of the replies he heard, excluding mine. He loved mine! My answer was:- “Art is fantasy and it’s all that it’s beautiful to our eyes, it’s not something made to be functional or just made to express something. Art is something very very beautiful, so for example a bridge can be Art, but before being functional it has to be beautiful to us”. He said to the class that if I wasn’t God I was very close to be God.

Still today this is exactly what Art is for me and fashion is art when it makes you feel very very beautiful and elegant!

In my Blog “Eleganza per me” I will not be talking about big brands only as not all that is created by the big fashion designers is actually beautiful or wearable. If you want to be truly elegant, you need to pick something that looks good on you as we are all very different!

Don’t we all know how important it is to chose a frame for a painting or what a difference it makes a nice packaging for a present? Frames and packaging can make the painting or the present look better or worse if we don’t pick the right one.

You can have a nice body, nice hair and nice posture, but if you wear clothes that are not right for you, you won’t look and won’t feel good.

I’m writing this Blog not only for women but for men too. 
Please remember that “l’abito fa il monaco” and don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise.

Get ready to read my advices on clothes, accessories, even furniture and plants, paintings…because elegance is all around us and beautiful things do make our life better!

Here below one my favorite paintings: "LES HEUREUX PRESAGES" by Magritte