July recap #chicFBapproved

July is a lethargic month in Miami, it took me years to get to terms with it. Back home July is the best of the summer months. It's hot and burning, yet it offers the best of both worlds: beach vibes, the smell of the belle di notte with cicadas, breezy al fresco dinners and chicness. Hence my hashtag for the month #bringmyMediterraneansummerback

It happened in Miami

Swim Week

July also rhymes with swimwear in Miami, the only fashion (trade) show only dedicated to beach wear and a lot of flesh. Check it out here in Italian and here in English.

Meanwhile in Rome

The second week of July is #coutureweek. Called couture, it used to happen in Paris, because of la Chambre, the history we know it. Alas Valentino chartered all buyers, editors and what-nots to admire Mirabilia Romae , the marvels of Rome. It was mesmerizing and it generated the only standing ovation of Couture Week.  Need I say more? When you have a villa Medici o la libreria Casanatense can you expect less than impeccable workmanship and magic?

Wedding of the year – ROYAL ALERT

Pierre Casiraghi and Beatrice Borromeo, nuff said. Patrician meets royal and you have a fairy tale guaranteed for us suckers of the princess life. A link from Vogue Italia showcases the love story, how to dress as a guest, how to be you if you are a gorgeous photogenic blue-blooded off-spring . Warning: gorgeousness displayed.

Into the wild

2 episodes touched ME and several millions around the globe.

·   #CeciltheLion was killed

·   Jane Birkin found out some naughty wrongdoings Hermes is accused of with the very same crocodiles they kill to make her eponymous bag. She doesn’t want her name associated with the company anymore.

It’s a mess.

To infinity and beyond

Pluto Fly By

I have never been so drawn to scientific matters until I met Pluto, the dwarf and youngest of planets. Numbers never sparked my imagination, they bore me. But now looking at humble and magnificent Pluto sending us a picture of his best side, a heart-shaped birth-mark, I am in love. The guy is young, 9 years far away from Earth, made of mountains of ice that doesn’t melt because there is no climate change, GMOs, fracking, Donald Trump. He shows off un-godly below human survival temperature. Peace and tranquility in the hottest July I ever experienced in the Southern Riviera.

Let me move there, alone.

Is there anything I forgot?  * Head over to the COMMENTS and ditch away 

the summer wedding edition

Every summer there’s a wedding that fills our imagination with some more blue-white-new-borrowed and fuels that hidden Pinterest board.

Last year Margherita Missoni and her bohemian colorful chic countryside wedding kept us rehearsing with our Prince dressed in navy blue. And it was love at first sight.

This summer minimalism was of essence when Keira Knightley wed her beau James Righton. With the help of bridal & etiquette extraordinaire Il Galateo Chic di Madame Eleonora we went through the few pictures that trickled down through the media and we played dress up. 

The article 'The Minimalist Bride' written by Eleonora Miucci (the mastermind behind the Il Galateo Chic di Madame Eleonora) seems cutout around the actress’ wedding.

WARNING: everything was left to our imagination, since we have no deets, only a couple of pictures. It caught the media by total surprise for its lack of mundane and reality show preparations. And we are head of heels for that touch of minimalism.  

So we can only dream what the wedding ceremony might have been and the celebration ‘filled with love’ as we have read the actress describing the reception at her mother’s residence up the hill. Everything happened in the South of France in pure Madame Coco Chanel style, a few days before Le Festival de Cannes begun.

Ok the dress is no less than a strapless Chanel Couture, simple yet couture. Karl Lagerfeld approved it with ‘perfect’. Vanity Fair listed her in the Best Dressed Brides. 

We can’t overjoy enough for Knightley wearing (Chanel) flats: elegant, chic, understated, modern and minimal. We see a trend which we adore shamelessly. 

The thinest tiara almost imperceptible but we want to think it’s pairing with the short rosy pink necklace and the tone of the dress.

Rayban Wayfarer: hello!

Only note to the groom: we would have loved a small wildflower on the lapel, although it’s not musician-like. So we forgive. Slim tie: a big yes, and since it’s pastel color, everything is forgiven.

The church small and unpretentious: no pomp allowed, just love and family.

The couple leaving in a small beaten car: honestly limo or an old fashioned 500, love spills out anyways.

Kira, the hop & skip bride, because she’s in love and because she’s wearing flats.

how to get hitched (Anne Hathaway's style)

What else to expect from whimsical Anne “musing” [read acting as muse] for Valentino other than getting married in an ethereal ivory silk point d’esprit tulle  designed, created, ideated by the Emperor himself with the bride actively involved.

The wholesome prettiness was conceived in the Atelier in Rome by the same seamstresses that have been working for la Maison forever. 

Now, since everything was all-a-bride-dreams-of inspired, the setting of the ceremony, the ideal husband, the casual chic romantic countryside and a flawless wedding gown designed by a master in command in the world of fashion (not found through the racks in Miracle Mile, Coral Gables, for God sake), detractors couldn’t shut up and had to find a nun in a stripper club: what’s with the headpiece? 

Girl, 

'1920's inspired lace flower beaded with crystals', is it enough or you've gotta be bitter just because you are not engaged?

And then, excusez moi, but what can you get out of a grainy picture shot at a distance by a desperate paparazzo, to begin with?

You must be insane to insinuate some wardrobe malfunction made by Valentino. 

And here she was stunning (and glowing, since she was getting married in a week).

 

the art of making sugar ants disappear and some more

It is true, real true: every morning I would wake up with that long meticulous train of sugar ants from the balcony to the kitchen sink via the ceiling. ants walking like little loyal soldiers walking upside down before my morning coffee had become unbearable. and Daniel at Monster Pest Control is the guy, who comes with the round tin barrel to explain me a thing or two about ants.

with “ants are sociable insects” he thought he would put me at ease and rest assured that it wasn’t my fault. was I maybe somehow too insisting in trying to demonstrate with the most impossible ruminations that ants were really everywhere? like my pasta, beans, cookies blah blah blah?

I guess, but how more appropriate of them to come and take on my house, those little sociable beasts! that fine red line that makes everybody believe I am a sociable animal by default reached insects too.

this summer has been the season of ” we are at home bored, what are you doing? we are going out with you” which, as a domino effect, has provoked a stay home series of events. first this blog became my refuge. then examiner.com reminded me I was going to loose my position as Miami Fashion Examiner if I weren’t producing. then, CBSlocal.com hired me for writing The Best of … whatever bar combination God lays on earth.

PS I saved the turtle from the fumigation vapors, she’s safe, sound and starving as usual. 

Also: there’s never one too many times I can repeat how much I loved the Missoni’s wedding of the year.