After our classroom discussions, and team groups were assigned, our day began when we finally got to meet Maria Chiara Arona, after hearing such great things about her. Maria is the owner of Pink and Chic, which was named Pink and Chic because Pink is “Maria’s favorite color, and chic because she like to be chic”. Marias warm welcome and open personality calmed my nerves of the fact that I was in her showroom, which held designers exclusive pieces of their collection for Fall 2011. I thought Elise Lefort was the most adorable Italian and exuded so much excitement and happiness. Elise and Fulvio took the time to interview each person, instead of random students, which I thought was very nice. It was nice to be able to relate to Elise after she told us she is soon traveling to New York for a few months and was kind of nervous, much how we all were when we first came to Milan. The decorum of the room along with the atrium/ courtyard of beautiful flowers outside, made me forget it was even raining outside. I can image what it is like to be sitting in an office like that on a beautiful day, everyday . . . . as a job! ! To me that is a dream. I especially loved the H Williams shoes, which I was impressed to see that the designer is a RISD graduate. Its funny how you can be so far away and still run into something from home. On our visit to see Maria, we were able to learn about her such as how she started, what made her want to open her own business, who her favorite designers were, her favorite parts of her job etc. Maria worked at Chanel before she had her degree in communications from IULM. Maria worked for many Italian companies, but after she was inspired and influenced by one of her managers, who she thought was great in public relations and knew how to organize so well, she made the decision to be a risk taker and become an entrepreneur. She finally decided to open up her own business in 2007 at the age of 29. Marias job/ business entails working with clients (new and old) and servicing them in the field of communication and their brand image; from public relations, to press office, marketing plans, and advertising, planning fashion shows (which is Marias favorite part), promotional invitations to contact with celebrities, and product placement. Marias says her favorite part of her job is organizing a fashion show, which takes 2 months to organize and is typically a 51 minute production. One of her biggest shows she has done, and that she was so proud of was the event she organized for the smart car. Marias first client was Vladimiro Gioia and has been a client of hers for 4 years. Her clients are typically luxury brand designers. Maria likes to be friends with her clients, which I thought was something that was a great quality to have, and is truly how the Italian culture is, everyone is interested and friendly. They do not try to intimidate, as many people in the industry in locations such as New York City do sometimes. Maria and her employees all work together as a team, which you can definitely tell because they seemed like a fashion family; they each share their ideas, there is no assigned position. Maria is such a role model who exemplifies confidence and dedication in what she does. Her next goal is to write a book, which after meeting her, would 100% be a great read that I as well as many young girls entering this industry or even just girls who love fashion would take a lot from, considering Marias experience and achieved goals.
Our next visit was to Marias very close friends boutique, Laura Mancini. Laura was also very welcoming. I was impressed before I even walked into her boutique, from seeing her window display of a beautifully fabricated dress on one side, and a visual creation of Italian colors, that was displayed as a dress, which the lighting hit both so perfectly. Entering her boutique, there was peacock feather wallpaper as well as actual peacock feathers on her desk, which we soon learned was her stores logo. She has her own fabric which she showed us on the cover of her portfolio which I thought was so great and an accomplishment for a boutique designer, since it is rare to see a boutique owner have her own fabric in the U.S. Like Maria, Flavio and Elise, Laura was extremely welcoming and excited for us to be there. She explained what she sells in her boutique, which is a garment with beautiful fabric that is created to fit the body and make women feel comfortable, sexy and beautiful. She demonstrates her overall idea so well in her look book which consisted of real women that she was friends with from all over the world, wearing a black dress of hers that was designed to fit their body. She focused on real beauty and I thought that her love for fashion and inspiration to be confident was represented perfectly in her look book. Her designs were featured in many magazines and worn to special events, she even designed a wedding gown. It was great to hear that her success has taken her all over the world, and soon to New York to meet with SAK’S FIFTH AVENUE. I think we all had confidence in her for a successful showing.
Our day was ended with an invitation from Maria to a cocktail party on Via Alessandria street. I was not sure what to expect before going there. When we all finally arrived my first thought was “wow this is like how it was for Anne Hathaways character in The Devils Wears Prada, when she goes to a party to meet a designer. I never imagined to be at a cocktail party such as that with so many high up people in this industry, IN MILAN especially! The cocktail party was held at a library which had every single issue of Vogue as well as other fashion magazines like ELLE. At Liberia della Moda anyone can go in to read the magazines for 10 Euros, there is also a copy machine there for the articles and covers that we love the most. It was amazing to be in the same place where designers come to read books for their own inspirations. The people at the party were very sophisticated and each had their own individual style. We met the great-granddaughter of the founder of Nordstrom Kristen Smith (who is from Seattle) and is the editorial assistant of Fashion Illustrated, the magazine that hosted this cocktail party. She is a very humble woman and exudes an individual style of funky and artistic flair. She was wearing a yellow dress with a character necklace made of crystals, her two tone short hair also exemplified her daring style. She told us that she was also going to be in Florence the same time as we would be invited us to a PITTI party that she is attending, and gave a group of us her business card. It was nice to meet new people from the industry in another Milan, and see their perspective, lifestyle and personal style. They were wonderful people to be around and it was a rare opportunity to attend a cocktail party at a famous Milanese library with some of the most well know and fashionable people in Milan.
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