It is quite obvious that people in Milan treat fashion seriously. Perhaps a little too seriously for my taste – and I am a fashion lover! The city has quite a pretentious aura style-wise where you can and should expect to be judged based on your looks, or rather, based on your style and the brands you wear, rather than your fantastic personality. Consider this too blunt? You aren’t the only one. I know much more people that hate Milan than the ones who would truly like it. I try to have Milan in “small dozes”, going there once in a while and bringing irony with me! I just came back from my last trip there which coincided with Milan fashion week! My first time during such happening in Milan! This inflated the amount of interesting characters as I call it, in Milan, to unimaginable number. The city got crowded beyond belief for the occasion, full of models, designers, buyers, journalists, and above all, many, really many wannabees.

I took a good doze of irony with me, dressed up a little (I swear, only little for Milan standards, but more than for an average shopping day anywhere else) and decided to spend an entire day of shopping in Milan. I left the main stream stores and the famous designer streets such as Montenapoleone for tourists and those countless wannabees (imagine an elderly very tanned man with a much younger very tanned blonde woman in a red Ferrari trying to navigate through the crowd and you get a pretty accurate picture of what it is like). Instead, I did a little research upfront, and decided to visit several Milan stores only known for the locals or those cautious Spenders who do care what-where to buy. There are quite a few of such places in Milan and one does have to prioritise rather than trying to visit them all. I picked 2 outlet stores of the brands I love (Marni, Etro) and 2 stores selling it all (Gucci, Givenchy, Prada,…).For those who want to combine it with visiting the city of Milan itself and not only shopping, I would recommend choosing carefully and visiting maximum 3 of such outlets in a day, especially since some can be located rather off-road. This can then get to be quite a pleasant experience- I had to sweat a little instead trying to squeeze in more. Now I know it for the next time- less is more if you choose carefully.

I started my shopping trip around noon and finished around 18:30h Saturday, with only two short stops for coffee and energy regain. I used public transportation and walked a lot, as the weather was beautiful, but it also meant I lost quite some time in going from one place to another.

I had to finish my shopping trip quite early for my standards, as I somehow got invited to a fashion show of a few beginning designers, located in a beautiful hotel in the city which started at 19h. Well, it was a fashion week after all! I had to experience that too! And yes, cover pics are from that show- no bargains there though!:)

Check out on my blog in the coming days to hear the details of what I have visited and what I found!