Purses

I stopped by the purse outlet store in Piazza Bausan this week. There's one brand of purses that always makes me laugh, Braccialini. These are actually pretty expensive purses, though with all the appliques these look pretty goofy for an adult woman to carry around. (That said, Italian women can go for some whimsical stuff. It seems out of character.)



Some of them are actually quite cute, like this one of Romeo and Juliet, but I am still not sure I could carry one as a bag on the regular. If it were a throw pillow, I could go for it.



Of course, I probably shouldn't go into the purse store, because it's just temptation to buy stuff. I did work very hard over the last couple weeks, so a cheap cute purse was not an outrageous treat. I had been admiring this pattern of Coccinelle since the summer, when they had big beach totes with the flower pattern, both in this same plastic and printed on denim. I love this pattern, but nothing had struck me quite enough to get me to buy one.



However, this little pochette with the flower cut-out sides was perfect for me. It was tough to pick a color, between the purple and the teal, but I went with my old standby!

Fashion Night Out Swag

Here's my goodies from Vogue Fashion Night Out. They were selling the September issue (bundled with Vogue Unique, their true haute couture review, a special booklet on the story of Dolce & Gabbana, and a young designer newsletter) for 3 Euros, packed in an official Fashion Night Out sales bag. The Vespa store was also a swag hit, with Vespa magnets and little instant photos. I need to scan the one of me and Dariush, it's pretty good even if it's tiny!

Vogue Fashion Night Out

September 6th was Vogue's Fashion Night Out. I talked Daruish into going with me, and I was proven right in that it was awesome. We started off in Brera. It was amazing to see just so many people out in summer clothes. The only time I've seen all of downtown Milan milling with fashionably dressed people. The closest was the pre-holiday shopping, but then everyone is bundled up.



I think our favorite stop was the Vespa store in Brera. I was a good stop for free prosecco and not too crowded, actually!



They had some cute decorated Vespas that you could pose with!



The Mercedes store in the Galleria was also popping. Good prosecco, a fun DJ, and lots of people looking into the window.

Shoe Re-Do

I guess it's been a good week for shoe stuff. The blue-green sandals have panned out so far, and I did this fix-up of a pair of shoes my friend Esther gave me. She bought them at a street market stall quite cheaply, but they stretched to not fit her in about an hour I think. And then they stretched more when I tried to walk around in them. The issue is that the lace at the back slips off your heels, and you are mashing it down while the shoes are trying to slip off your feet. My solution: Tie little elastic bits through the lace at the heel and around my ankles. So far so good. The elastics aren't tight enough to bother me at all, but they do enough to keep the heel up.



The cream color of the lace is cute, and so far I have managed to keep them clean! I think the gold works well enough...

Just a quick mention of my dinner last week with my landlord Roberto at District 39. It's an all you can eat pizza place where they bring the pizzas by your table, it's actually a good idea since you can take your time eating but not worry about your pizza getting cold and stiff. My favorite piece I tried was probably the pear one. Apples and Gorgonzola is a semi-normal pizza option here, but this pear pizza had a milder cheese and maybe even a tiny bit of brown sugar...

We went to Mi Sciolgo for gelato after. I've been once before, I took Gerri and Linda when they were here. It's really one of the best places out there! I have got to start getting cups instead of cones, though, the name of the gelateria is quite accurate (it means "I melt").

Friday Downtown

After shopping we headed into town to start seeing the sights. First stop was going through the Galleria to find our gelato! For the first time I noticed the nautical details in some of the mosaics.



I made Miranda the traditional spin, she did a good job on it!



The Louis Vuitton store has arrows in the window displays, they are pretty cool! Miranda loved them...

Shopping Bag

While I was in Boston, I made myself a ridiculous bag to take as my shopping bag. I usually stuff plastic bags in my backpack to have in the case that I go shopping, so I figured I would stuff this in instead.



It's a little ridiculous, I admit, but I blame my sister for encouraging me to make such a big tassel. Everyone knows how much I like tassels, so she was just fanning the flames.

To be fair, this bag looks a little silly but I was able to fit all the food groceries here in there on my first expedition. I mean, they are all in there in that first picture. The straps felt a little stretchy, but the bag looked pretty good!



Anyway, this is my first round of groceries on my return, gotten last weekend. I will have to go again soon!

Clothes for Italy

I've been doing some spring/summer shopping for Italy! Last weekend Mary and I went shopping, and she got me this awesome dress!

I plan on wearing it with leggings for the spring. Same with this dress I got at Macy's!

I have my great tall boots, but I may need to get ankle boots for these looks, too...

Fashion (turn to the left)

Fashion (turn to the right)...

Women's winter fashion week was last week, the 22nd through the 28th. (There's two fashion weeks a year, the other is in... September or October?)

Getting tickets for fashion week is really challenging, so I did not attend any shows. Bummer. I just went down to get the lay of the land on Sunday. They put out a black and pink carpet on Via Mercanti.



They have a few little booths, including the news coverage hosting. They had a few cool booths where you could get hair and makeup consultations. I didn't quite have time to wait in line, but next fashion week, I'd go for it.



I walked around to check out the different venues and do some people watching. They had one of the major stages inside the courtyard of the Castello Sforzesco!



And this was my fashion week look. I think I rocked it!

Shoes for Italy

I brought some new shoes back with me to Italy!



Mary bought me these awesome black boots. Boots are the look for women in winter in Italy. Black and flat is typical. Mine are a little more detailed than a typical pair here, but honestly they're more me than a plain pair.

The Pumas I bought back at the end of the summer with the intent of bringing them to Italy, but just didn't have enough room in my suitcase. They aren't quite as comfy as my New Balances, but far more stylish.

La Mia Borsetta Italiana

My Italian purse... I walk by a purse store on my way to work everyday. It's sort of an outlet store. One day when I walked by, they had this purse in the window:



I ended up plucking it out of the display, finding that the price was very reasonable, and buying it. All leather, "Luana" brand. Purses that have both handles and straps are popular in Italy right now, and I find it pretty practical that way. I wear it cross body sometimes, and when my shoulders get tired I tote it by hand. I have not much worn it one-shouldered, though I will probably try that. It's a medium large tote, big enough to put my small laptop and a water bottle in. There's one downside, which is that it doesn't have a proper bottom with hardware and the like. That's really nice when you are carrying it, since it's more comfy and body conforming, but a pain when you want to put it down somewhere and dig around in it... it doesn't stand up on its own.

Anyway, it's my go-to purse in Italy, since it's relatively roomy, comfortable, and fashionable.

(Side note: Borsa Italiana is what they call the Italian Stock Exchange! Gotta look out for that...)

Missoni Disappointment

Oh, and Target sucks. Apparently they oversold the Missoni products on their website, so I am not getting the hoodie I ordered. They are "making it up to me" with a gift card that won't cover the price difference of buying it on eBay, let me say that. So boo to you Target.

As mentioned before, I think I am only keeping the two dark sweater dress tunics, the shoes and the tights. I am for sure returning the pink and green sweater dress. Didn't fit quite right, and there were a few manufacturing defects. A few spots on the dress had thread breaks in the knit. Reparable if I really wanted the garment, but one was right in front under the neckline. While I think that is pretty common in cut and sewn knitwear, I was not so pleased with it. The multicolor swimsuit was odd to put on and looked like a sack on. The black and white one had some of the same problems in fit, but the larger weave had more stretch. The downside is an oddly placed elastic band in the middle. It's too far down to be supporting the swim bra. I think it's just there to prevent bagging in the middle. I'm not sure on that, going to try it on again. The long blue knit dress is cute, but I am just not sure when I would wear it. I know maxi's are in, but I think I would be better off with maxi skirts. More versatile!

Missoni Decisions and More Pimsleur

I am going with:

The shoes.
The two short dresses.
The black and white swimsuit.
The sweatshirt when it arrives.
The impostor tights.

The multicolored swimsuit didn't fit as well as the black and white one. The woven part just was to stiff. I did like the long dress, but it didn't fit me quite as well as I would like, and with the whole knit and under-dress thing, it seems awful warm for a summer dress. I can't tell, maybe it is a fall and spring dress? It's just not quite doing it for me.


Pimsleur Italian 1, Lesson 14: Numbers up to 19! Diciannove! This lesson was all about the vendor-customer interaction. "Give me..." Mi dia... It's a pretty natural progression from the last few lessons. So far so good!

(Oh my god!) Shoes.

My Missoni shoes came in the mail today. Oh my god! shoes.

I am very happy with the pattern placement on the toes. Also, these are incredibly nice for Target shoes. They have leather soles, and the uppers are multi-layer under the knit. Very nice.

Also, H&M has these faux Missoni tights now. I bought a pair. Think I can wear them with the tights, or would it be overkill?

The title of my post refers to this Kelly classic:



"I think you have too many shoes." Mildly not safe for work, language.

Missoni Whoa

My stuff came today! All except the hoodie, which is apparently in a separate shipment from another facility. And whoa, the swimsuits are actually knit! It's just hard to tell on the site because the knit is quite fine... Damn, I may have to keep both of them after all...

One Thing I Am Sure To Keep

So there is one Missoni purchase I am pretty sure I will keep:

It's loud, it's crazy, and I love it! But I am a hoodie person in general, so any hoodie I get I will probably end up wearing a ton.

(I should also mention that all of these Missoni photos are copyrighted to Target, not me.)

Missoni Swim

I also ponied up for the two Missoni 1-piece swimsuits:

Apparently the black and white one has been more popular, but I think the multicolor is more likely to look good on most people. I will not be publishing pictures of me in these swimsuits to the blog :D

The cut of these suits is very high in the back, which is pretty appealing, actually. The only bummer is that they are just prints, rather than the textured knit/crochet swim wear that Missoni often designs. They do appear to be fully lined... Another good thing! Even at Target prices, I will probably only keep one of the two. I admit to being satisfied with $15 swim suits for casual beach wear most of the time.

More Missoni

These are the other three Missoni dresses I ordered. I like the top two the best, but I really like the cap sleeve on the last one. Again, I have to try them on and see how I feel. In person, the few of these knits I did get to feel were very nice, heavy weight, heavy enough to wear without worrying about coverage, though I can definitely see the first two with light button down shirts underneath. Also, I have to watch out for the length. If I totally love any of these, I might use one of them as my second dress at the upcoming family wedding.

Anyway, I want to wear more dresses. The problem is actually, believe it or not, the shoes. I am really a sneakers person, and that don't work with dresses. Though, it Milan, it will be hot enough in the summer that I will probably go with sandals a lot during the summer, and plenty of mine are cute enough to support dresses.