Italian Fashion

By Kayla Allen Milan is synonymous with fashion and thought by many to be the fashion capital of the world. Just name all the famous designers you know off the top of your head and you might as well be speaking Italian; Dolce & Gabanna, Donatella Versace, Giorgio Armani, Missoni, Franco Moschino, Prada, Fendi, Gucci and the list goes on. You also might as well be walking the Via Montenapoleone in Milan. The Via Montenapoleone is the most important street of Milan's fashion district, Quadrilatero Della Moda and home to some of the world's top designers. One visit to Milan and it lives up to its reputation. Everywhere you turn there is yet another opportunity to purchase something gorgeous and to pay a pretty penny for it, or...euros. There is another side to shopping in Italy however. With all those designers there's bound to be some surplus; enter, designer outlets. First developed so design house and store employees could actually afford to wear their designers' labels and later opened up to the masses, designer outlets are a fashionista on a budgets's dream come true. The best of the outlets tend to be centralized around, Milan, Florence and Rome allowing shoppers to pick-up last season's goods at more affordable prices. Though most who come to Italy specifically for the fashion would not be caught dead in last seasons garb, for those of us who still live in the real world the outlet stores provide a peak into a more glamorous lifestyle. And if Italy is too far away to indulge your dream of being absolutely fashion fabulous Italy also turns out some of the most stylish and eye pleasing magazines and photos around. So you can lose yourself in those luscious images while sitting on your couch painting your toenails. Something that I'm totally addicted to that has nothing to do with Italy but maybe something to do with Italian fashion and a lot to do with hilarious and entertaining is Project Runway. This is my entry point to the fashion world. I watch every week as fewer and fewer designers try to impress model Heidi Klum and her designer judges. At this point I'm as opinionated and critical of the designer's work as judge and designer Michael Kors or guest judge Diane Von Furstenberg. I even bought a sewing machine. Lookout!