Some suggestions for a January “made in Tuscany”


The Devil wears PradaItaly celebrates the Epifhany on January 6th as “the day of the presents”, meaning not only those the Magi, or Wise Men, brought to Jesus in Betlem, but also what all Italians, children and adults, wait for. On Epifhany night children wait for an old, nice woman wearing poor cloths and broken shoes, that, according to the italian tradition, flies riding a broom and bringing with her a bag full of presents and sweets for good kids (as an italian “rhyme” says) and coal for the bad ones. Meanwhile, adults wait for winter sales usually beginning in early January. At this end, we recommend you to keep your eye on huge discounts, they will certainly be tricks for selling “demodé clothing” which have been left in stores. Actually what is going on is like an Odyssey, a never ending travel across the Tuscan archipelago of stores, where we women, Ulisse in skirt, lunge at clothes, accessories and stuff in general leaving our bored partners waiting for hours.

And the first date with the international fashion fair taking place in Florence, Pitti Immagine, is dedicated just to them, our pacient men, and Fortezza da Basso thus becomes the stage for “Pitti Uomo” fashion shows. This magnificent Renaissance building, located a few steps from Santa Maria Novella Railway Station, later in January will be hosting “Pitti Bimbo”, the fashion week in miniature, and “Pitti Filati” the textile industry kermesse. In addition to these three traditional events, this year will also go on stage the first edition of “Pitti W Woman Precollection”, the new fair event that Pitti Immagine is dedicating to women’s autumn/winter pre-collections. Thanks to an accurate selection of the exhibitors taking part in the Florentine event, the fair guarantees visitors and buyers elegance, luxury and a touch of innovation which can turn a cloth into an artistic creation, that being the case of Adam Kimmel, a New Yorker dress designer. His garments have been inspired by the works of painters like Willem de Kooning e Jasper John, and have been presented with an event-installation, a performance where fashion, art and photograph blend together.

And we can not forget to mention the italian brand names that have exported the Made in Italy clothing on the most important international stages, and that could not certainly miss the event: Armani, Prada, Valentino, Versace, just to mention a few. (Further information on this topic can be found on the site http://www.pittimmagine.com/it).

Besides Pitti Immagine and its annual dates, the high fashion is the norm in Florence: it is not only the renowned home of famous artists and literary men, but also the birthplace of Gucci Family, whose “boutiques” are located in some elegant buildings in the old town centre, such those overlooking Via de’ Tornabuoni, an old, renowned street hosting some of the most important and internationally acclaimed brand names “boutiques”.

If you are looking for something that will leave you open-mouthed, go to see the Roberto Capucci exhibition “Returning to Origins. Homage to Florence, set up in Villa Bardini, where the Roberto Capucci Foundation is. His clothes, exhibited in this beautiful setting, seem to belong to fairy tales characters, showing rainbow colours and imaginative shapes inspired by nature: wheels and wings turn his woman into a peacock now, then into a butterfly and finally into a flowers dressed Flora.

To find out opening times, address, further information and beautiful pictures as well, visit the site
http://www.fondazionerobertocapucci.com.

To those who do not only want to visit fashion exhibitions, but also want to be in touch with fashion closely, paying attention if they do not want their wallets being squeezed, we highly recommend to plunge into the several outlet shopping centres in Tuscany, most of which are situated in the province of Florence. The most important one is The Hall, a real luxury shopping town near Reggello, where you may find brand name cloths at cut prices, which are even more convenient on sales periods. After visiting Yves Saint Laurent or Armani stores, how can you get away without buying anything?. To learn more about this topic, visit the site http://www.themall.it
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If you are keen on high fashion companies such as Dolce and Gabbana or Prada, you can not miss visiting their outlet shopping centres near the Tuscan provincial capital. To this end how can we forget to mention the devilish Meryl Streep playing Miranda Priestly in the movie “The Devil wears Prada? Should you have not yet seen the movie or want to have further information about it, we suggest to cunsult the site http://microsites2.foxinternational.com/it/il_diavolo_veste_prada.

Before ending this virtual trip throughout fashion, we would like to remind those who do not feel comfortable with Armani’s clothes or Gucci’s shoes (as Bryan Adams sings) of what Oscar Wilde said: Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear.

Commenti (0) | January 17, 2008

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