Memo from Milan
There is an energy, an enthusiasm that floats over Milan that is in direct contrast to the drab industrial stained buildings that make up most of the city. Milan is not pretty, too much was bombed during WW2, but there are enough eye catching locals to make up for the post war concrete rebuilds. Milan is full of fabulous people; young, old and in-between. DD and I walked wherever and whenever we could. We weren't in a hurry and that was the luxury; she had to move into her flat and find the office and all I had to do was offer moral support and go along for the ride.
Milan is a fashion city and it would seem that shopping is the pastime of choice. The Milanese look good. They are well groomed from top to toe and designer labels are du jour. Italy is the home of Dolce, Prada and Gucci...so why wouldn't they be patriotic? Like most cities the girls had their particular 'look'. They were sexy in their tight jeans tucked into high heeled boots with their 'latest' big bags hooked over their shoulder. (I am pretty sure those slim pretties are not tucking into pasta every day.) Italian girls somehow manage to appear voluptuous even if they aren't. They are not classically pretty but they are striking with their bed hair and dark lips. If they weren't wearing killer heels they were laced up in designer sport shoes - mostly Prada - with opaque tights, mini skirts and cropped puffer jackets. Prada is like Starbucks in Milan...one on every block. There is the bag store and the shoe store and the sport store and the accessory store and then there is the queen of all Pradas on the via Montenapoleone. Who wants practical when you can browse Prada....
A little aside about jackets. Puffers were 'the look' and by puffers I am referring to padded coats, style derived from ski-wear jackets, not smokers puffing away in the outdoor cafes, although there was much puffing in puffers...I normally don't like puffer jackets as they remind me of extremely cold and damp English days. When I first moved to Europe I wore a full length black puffer jacket every winter. Eventually I could take no more and moved away from the nylon into wool and cashmere - I vowed no more puffers. After my trip to Milan, forget the luxury of pure fabrics, I can think of no other coat I want more. These puffers were short, long, belted or straight and the majority had luxurious fur collars (I know...not pc, but they were very fetching). That brings me to fur; fur is big in Milan. Mink, chinchilla and fox, worn short with jeans or long with trainers, all busy promenading with the puffers.
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