Italian style

[tartiflette]

Having loved the French women thread (and knowing a little about that having lived there for a couple of years) I'm really intrigued by references to stylish Italian women. What is typical? Despite having honeymooned in Sicily and visited Rome twice, I know very little about what typifies Italian style (though I did notice liberal use of sunglasses). Enlighten me!

[MarshaBrady]

I haven't been for a while, but have noticed a few good pics on The Satorialist. White is good with scarf maybe round the wrist, bangles and sunnies. Well that's one pic I remember.

[thisismyYuleTimenickname]

Haha, I was thinking of starting a thread like this but you already did!

[tartiflette]

Totally fascinated by it all.

[Dilidali]

are we talking Milano or just everyday?

[Dilidali]

italian fashion exhibition in the spring. A world into it's own, tehee

[tartiflette]

Must see that, Dilidali, thanks. Is Milan more fashiony all year round or just during fashion weeks?
Guess I am most interested in what the average well to do, well dressed Italian woman wears (and how this differs from the archetypical stylish French or other European woman).

[claudeekishi]

Good boots. Sunnies. Swishy hair. Geox jacket.
Less cool than the french ime, more classic and polished and conservative.

[santamarianovella]

Omg! I didn't see this,I just posted a long thread about Italian style on the French thread!

[tartiflette]

I just read that Santa! Is it more bling in Italy d'you think?

[Dilidali]

I read that :) santamaria
I agree about cashmere.
Also silk, lots of silk. And cotton.
The main thing is fitted, tailored clothes. And nice shoes you can walk in.
I started wearing dresses because the trousers here don't fit me. They are cut differently and they're either fitting my bum or my waist. Can't wear tailored shirts, because I look like I am borrowing someone else's shirt.

[LaFataTurchina]

Ooh a thread for me! I'm Italian and was even born in Milan. I'm not particularly stylish at all but have have some very stylish cousins!

I think stylish Italian women tend to look very well put together but not as original as stylish English women. The basics are good boots, skinny jeans, nice hair and a little bit of traditional jewellery - silver bracelet, pearl studs etc. Nothing too low cut.

Vast generalisation alert - when Italian women get clothes wrong it's because when we try and stand out we tend to go for too tight and too blingy.

[santamarianovella]

tart there is bling,and it comes in different variations,some look really great,more like glamazons ,like they just stepped out from Versace catwalk.and some look really awful, like that looney ana dello Russo.

I would say Italian women embrace trends and color more liberally than their French neighbours,but with limits , like giovanna battaglia ,she personifies glam/ classic Italian style.

[JennySense]

Hmmm - Italian done wrong just screams Nancy Del'Olio to me.
I love the colour of Italian style though - I think Italian style may be more diverse than French style and less easy to generalise.

[r2d2pink]

I love Italian style when reasonably sober. What are good labels to look out for? I am thinking high street/ mid level, not Gucci/Prada.

[Chottie]

I think it is more put together, groomed. I went to Bologna one summer and around 5-6 pm used to love people watching all the office workers. One woman really stood out, tan shift dress with tan heeled court shoes, dark sunnies, black clutch bag and chunky bracelet, perfect make up and swishy hair.

[bettykt]

Interesting thread, a while back someone asked about style icons and I mentioned some favourites but I also mentioned the Italians tourists you see in London. Not as conservative as the French but equally as stylish ime. In winter they seem to look stylish with a black puffa coat. I think it's the good quality footwear and bags that helps them pull it off.

[Bonsoir]

Italians are better than anyone for matching their clothes to the occasion, IMO. There are loads of Italian tourists in Paris right now and they are all appropriately dressed for being tourists (eg outdoors a lot) in a Norther European city: smart down coats, woolly hats, decent boots, across the body bag. They bring enough clothes that they aren't wandering around in dirty/crumpled stuff after a few days.

Likewise when I go on holiday in Italy in the summer, they have perfect wardrobes of several swimsuits, strappy flat sandals, evening shift dresses. In Milan or Turin, business women are perfectly groomed for the office (and don't think they have to disappear into shapeless black, London-style). Etc.

Italians are brilliant at accessories, colour and also comfort. Italian clothes have a wildly higher comfort:glamour ratio than French clothes, which is one of the main reasons I prefer them (they also fit me much better, since I don't have a teensy-tiny Parisian frame).

[wordfactory]

Bonsoir yes, yes, yes.

My most flattering puffa coat was purchased in Italy. It's not actually made there, but is exactly what women there want.

A lovely mushroom-cum bronze colour, nipped in waist, fur trimmed hood, attention to detail (leather toggle loops etc). Lush.

I've also bpught there lots of lovely dresses and shoes which look glamorous yet I can walk in (built for cobbles of course).

I think one of the best things Italian eomen do, is dress well for their body shape. They're not slaves to what's in fashion.

[Jaffacakesallround]

I've a good friend who moved to Italy many years ago. I think her style is great and the difference is accessories some of the time.
Maybe it's just 'her' but she is happy to wear pearls with jeans etc whereas in UK it might look 'fuddy duddy' for instance. She just seems to have more confidence to add a scarf, beads, hair up, hair down, and not stick to the same old, same old, day after day.

I suppose what I'm getting at is there is less of a uniform look and more individuality.

[pinkhousesarebest]

That puffa sounds great Wordfactory. Finding a nice one is so elusive. Moncler too shiny, Aigle too much, NF too utilitarian...

[Eve]

At this time of year in Italy the shops have racks upon racks of black puffa coats! So many to choose from.

[bunnymother]

I love the style of some of the Mediterranean women (am inc Greek and Maltese women, too). Those who care about how they look can be very glamorous. There are lots of them in Australia where I grew up: for the older women, little or no denim, good quality clothes, often in neutral colours, hair always always styled, make up always worn and often wearing expensive jewellery (eg diamonds and expensive watches). Sometimes designer bag. The overall look is quite glamorous, whether it's on the drab or overt, it's still glamorous.

[bettykt]

Yy bmother I spent some time working in Lisbon and was extremely surprised how chic and well groomed the ladies were. Probably dressed with far more flair than the French. Again it was all to do with looking very groomed and accessories more than what they actually wore. I also think that up until recently a lot of these countries didn't have access to cheap clothes like we have had for decades. Whilst I was there H&M had just opened their 1st shop there. I'm taking around just over 10 years ago.

[Bluebell79]

So which shop in the uk would I find one of these down puffa coats? Anyone any links to what style you mean? Are they bum covering?

[bunnymother]

I'm a lover of the Zara down jackets - have you looked there?