How to live with style wherever you are

I was selected to take over the blog section of CreativeMornings/Miami, our city's chapter of a worldwide community of like-minded creatives who gather one Friday morning a month. 

This is an ambitious one you guys: the topic of my book concentrated in 5 posts and 1 city, Miami.

Now, don't you even think you will not be buying the book when it comes out, but what I wrote is just enough teasing.

Go ahead and scroll down, click, read, choose and pick what peaks your curiosity, but more than anything answer this: got to the comment and write YES or NO to the following statement

"We don't follow trends, we set them" 

How to live with style in Miami: the neighborhood. 

TAKE AWAY: stay away from the limelight, don't follow the sheep. 

The closet swap

TAKE AWAY: it's a thing

A summer in the city, that is, when you don't live in NYC nor you spend the summer on vacation, what us commoners do to keep it Haute. 

TAKE AWAY: pretend.

How to be Italian (wherever you are) 

TAKE AWAY: luxury is a state of mind.

How to keep up with Fashion, when you don't live in a fashion hub.

TAKE AWAY: You can take the girl out of Fashion, not Fashion out of the girl. 

DON'T FORGET TO ANSWER: are you team #wedontfollowtrendswesetthem YES or NO

Marianna Cimini, where common sense, courage and recklessness meet

It all begun when I saw this picture on the Sartorialist while doing a research on how to wear chic black in the summer. 

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READ THE FULL STORY HERE 

That dress was love at first sight and I needed to dsicover whom was it from, besides, that girl looked "so Italian she doesn't even know how much". 

Comes out the designer herself, Marianna Cimini, was wearing the dress, I was able to track her down and the conversation that is unfolding is the result of my  "stalking" her on Instagram.

And then we liked each other. We have yet to meet, though, since she lives in Italy and me in the U.S.

Here'e what we've talked about.

FB - From being an intern at Max Mara to be chosen by Marion Cotillard: what drives you?

MC- Common sense, courage and recklessness in equal proportions.

FB - What happened when you saw yourself in the Sartorialist? [You know that is where I have discovered you frist?]

MC - I have always followed The Sartorialist. So when by coincidence I bumped into Scott Schuman in Milan and then saw myself published, it was indeed fun and exciting. Coincidence wanted that the dress I was wearing when he photographed me, was one of the ones I am the closest to, the “Ballerina Dress”, which then became a basic iin every season.

NOTE TO SELF: Gotta have it on my closet, remember Santa’s list.

FB - What’s the first piece you have ever designed?

MC - I adore outerwear, it's my refuge in the winter, my passepartout when I travel, so the first piece I have ever designed and fully hand-made  was a coat made of 21 inlays of tweed and a navy woolen double crepe. Matching everything to perfection was what I can call now that little big dare!

FB - How much of your personal style is in your collections?

MC - I never design anything that I wouldn’t wear. I am always trying to create pieces that can be recognized, but without a cumbersome and overburdening personality. I structure the collection with different layers of interpretation, so that each client has freedom to personalize it  according to their style and physique.

FB - What’s the mood board of the Fall ’14 range?

MC - A longing for separation, a newfound femininity, and the acute awareness of a new beginning are the key ideas for the F | W 2014-2015 Collection. The focus is on the heart, both figuratively and visually: an intersection of graphic lines that becomes allegory but also protection and shield. The lines are soft and rounded, becoming especially generous in outerwear pieces. Skinny tailored trousers and skirts add an element of sharpness as a contrast. Iconic piece of this collection is the “Goodbye Coat”. The print, a symbol of lost and fragmented memories, was inspired by incomplete mosaics by renown Ital­ian architect Giò Ponti. The embroidery is a metaphoric, feeble link to the past: a series of small drops to retrace old steps. The color palette is bright and luminous, an injection of energy balanced by softer hues.The collection plays with traditional pieces trying to re-create them in a new light, and giving them a second life.This is reflected also in the small accessories offering: a seagull flying into the horizon is the ultimate message of freedom and carefree elegance.

“A long for separation, a newfound femininity, and the acute awareness of a new beginning”

— Marianna Cimini on the inspiration for F|W 2014-2015

FB - What was the catalyst that started it all?

MC - A profound devotion for this profession and a good dose of determination – without those two elements surviving and growing from one season to the other becomes impossible, since difficulties and obstacles that an emerging brand encounters are never-ending.

FB - The quest for the little black dress is boring or a challenge?

MC - A marvelous challenge! The black dress is timeless, every woman should own at least one LBD in her wardrobe perfectly tailored and of impeccable fit. I haven’t chosen the path of confrontation with the classics of fashion history; let’s just think for a second of the magnificent dress designed by Givenchy that Audrey Hepburn wore in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. I have tried to draw a new route, all mine, in which I have tried to combine practicality with elegance defying the element of time. That’s how the “Ballerina” dress was born.

FB - There’s rigor and powerful femininity in your collections: what do you attribute that to?

MC - Cleanness and minimalism is how I reach the essence of femininity, with no make-up or tricks!

FB - You have been a finalist at “Who's on next” sponsored by Vogue Italia and Alta Roma and crowned among the 2014 Vogue Talents, so, first, congratulations. What is next for the Marianna Cimini brand? 

MC - The one goal we are working towards my brother Andrea and I is to reinforce and grow our distribution net.

Now Marianna, some quirky question for the Marianna Cimini herself.

FB - You sit on a bench in the park and …

MC -  Reading a book, drinking a cold beer and smoking a cigarette

FB - Is sexy in the heel or a pair of brogues will do, if played well?

MC -  Brogues all my life, maybe to pair with a pristine white man shirt. It's is not like me being sexy in an expected way.

FB - Marianna goes to the museum or loves street graffiti? .

MC -  I am curious by nature and adore exploring, especially during my trips. I’d say first  museum, then street graffiti followed by  a good dinner.

FB - You know that fall has begun when … 

MC - When I start craving for the traditional Christmas sweets. 

Thank you Marianna for your time and such a positive disposition. I can't wait to finally meet you in Italy and put my hands of that Ballerina dress. Meanwhile, you guys, head over her website www.MariannaCimini.it and get the scoop. 

Borsalino, the quintessence of the "Made in Italy", needs your vote

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The return of the hat has been predicted, praised and anxiously awaited for a couple of seasons. The spring shows were its royal throne induction, this fall season we have assisted at the hats peeking at the runways and trickling down to every luxe and fast fashion store.

The felt wide brimmed fedora is officially trending, cool and hipster again. It is an element of the look that defines who you are and means business. Let's say it loud, the fedora, or like we call it in Italian, il Borsalino speaks loud and chic, actually, no, understated loud and subliminally gives you posture, elegance, stance.  

Borsalino, the brand, became synonym of tradition and Made in Italy, that is the quintessence of both iconic and heritage. Beside, the oldest house producing hats in the world still resides in the same Alessandria where the funder was from, located in the region of Piedmont where the Italian royal family used to reside. a piece of italian heritage founded at the end of the 19th century when Italy evolved from kingdom to a Republic, when its capital wasn't Rome yet, but rigorous Turin was. It is where the worlds of fashion, couture, politics, movies collided. Borsalino stands for Italy like Savile Row stand for Great Britain: it doesn't get any better. 

VOTE for the Museo del cappello Borsalino

Because Borsalino is so ingrained in Italian history like la Monalisa is, we don't want to loose its museum like we lost the da Vinci's masterpiece to the Louvre. The #iluoghidelcuore  (that translates to "the places that reside in your heart") campaign has been launched by FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) to preserve a piece of Italian history.

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Isn't ironic how a couple of CLICKS, virtual and elecronic, will help save tradition, craftmanships, exquisite heritage and espertise to be transmitted from several generations past to the new to come?