A Way Out From the Schedule: Milan’s New Places
Fashion week is here, and the fashion pack just landed in Milan primed and ready to attend a total of 161 physical and digital fashion shows, presentations and events. For those able to take a break given the tight schedule, here are some spots to discover while in the city.
Carthusia — Casa Carthusia
Carthusia, the historic Capri fragrance brand, has opened its first flagship in the heart of the Brera neighborhood. The store, which spans over two floors, welcomes guests with a ceramic installation by Swedish designer Magnus Gustaffson, reminiscent of a mermaid, which is Carthusia’s signature symbol.
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The ground floor is dedicated to home and body fragrances, perfumes and the SkinLab line, which was introduced last year. A photo gallery is on the first floor, with iconic images of the international personalities who have made Capri famous worldwide. There is also a space intended to host experiences. “The opening in Milan marks a new step on the path started years ago by the company and brings the essence of Capri, of its colors, of the fragrances, of a generous and unique territory that we have distilled over time, literally, and widespread into the world,” said Virginia Ruocco, brand and marketing manager.
The brand last year celebrated its 75th anniversary with a store in Capri, which carries the Eau de Parfum and the limited-edition collections, and two units in Tokyo and Hong Kong. Also, in 2022 it obtained recognition as a historic brand of national interest.
Carthusia – Casa Carthusia
Via Brera, 23 – 20121
carthusia.it
Uma Wang
Uma Wang, the Shanghai-based brand founded in 2009 by the namesake designer, has opened its first store outside of China, in Milan. After opening eight units in China, in cities ranging from Shanghai and Beijing to Shenzhen, the brand has found a new home in Milan’s Brera district with a store that spans 1,080 square feet. The store reflects the designer’s style of mixing and matching different types of fabrics, creating clean silhouettes enriched with unique details.
While her design studio is in Shanghai, the collections have been entirely made in Italy since 2017 when production moved to the country thanks to a license with Olmar and Mirta, a fashion apparel production company based in the Lombardy region. The licensee is also a partner on the retail side, and is evaluating a European expansion strategy for the brand.
Uma Wang
Via Palermo, 1 – 20121
umawang.com
Rumore
The Beefbar Group has opened a new bar destination, Rumore, inside the Portrait Milano Hotel.
The architect studio Humbert & Poyet was in charge of the design project, which drew inspiration from the architectural tradition of the 1920s and the eccentricity of the ’60s.
The idea was to create not just a cocktail bar but also a venue to enjoy food, live music and performances. The creative direction was entrusted to fashion and accessories designer Sara Battaglia, Francesco Cione, director of the locale, and Sossio Del Prete, bar manager.
Rumore offers a wide selection of wines, Champagnes, spirits and cocktails, including classics such as mojitos or specials like the Hula Hoop, with cocoa nibs, Amaro Lucano Anniversario, Mancino Rosso (a red vermouth), poblano chili, Verjus, and Fever Tree soda water. “I have always dreamed of finding a place that reminded me of those Parisian evenings, where we were all crowded together, where everyone knew each other and only those who were one of us had the right to get in,” said Riccardo Giraudi, founder of Beefbar. “There is also a trend in the hospitality world where people no longer move between the aperitif, dinner and after dinner; the experience must be grouped together in one place, with different identities and moods.”
Rumore
Corso Venezia, 11 – 20121
02-86-88-2332
rumore-bar.com
Coraje Restaurant
The storied Brera district has welcomed a new restaurant that brings Argentina’s culinary culture to the heart of Milan. On the ground floor, the cafeteria area offers breakfast, special brunches and light lunches, while a large room with a fireplace was designed to host lunch and dinner.
Bright petrol-colored velvet seats contrast with the antique rose hue of the walls and the doors, creating a simple and elegant atmosphere. Wooden beams on the ceiling are typical of the historic structure of the building.
Augustina Gandolfo, founder and chief executive officer, said Coraje was born with the idea of being a “special place, capable, like a masterful recipe, of electrifying and making you feel completely at ease at the same time. A challenge, but also a secret dream.”
Coraje Restaurant
Via Marco Formentini, 9 – 20121
02-84-54-2968
corajerestaurant.com
10 Corso Como new gallery and project room
10 Corso Como this week unveiled its remodeled first floor with two new spaces: the gallery and the project room, both designed by the interdisciplinary agency 2050+, based on owner Tiziana Fausti’s vision. The whole project was conceived as a flexible theater, a platform to facilitate the connection between fashion, design, art, photography, food and urban nature. The gallery is currently hosting “Happy Birthday Louise Parker,” the first solo exhibition by American photographer Roe Ethridge, curated by Alessandro Rabottini. The show displays a selection of famous Ethridge photographs from the past 15 years alongside previously unreleased works — elaborate still lives, accurately staged fashion shots, melancholic landscapes and intimate portraits.
The exhibition draws its title from Louise Parker, a model who Ethridge collaborated with on several fashion editorials starting from 2010. Throughout the years the two became friends and Ethridge photographed Parker both inside and outside the framework of the fashion industry. Within this narrative, in which she is shown at different stages of her life, Ethridge inserts fragments of his own biography, such as a portrait of the artist together with his son at the age of five, and the city in Florida where his mother grew up and where his parents met in high school.
The project room is a public space that offers a wide range of vintage books (on photography, fashion criticism, illustration, visual art and design) and magazines. For the opening, the room will present the jewelry series of artist Pietro Consagra with the exhibition “Pietro Consagra. Ornaments” curated by Alessio de’ Navasques.
“I am proud to start the cultural program of 10 Corso Como with a compelling and innovative reflection on the links between fashion and photography, art and design,” Fausti said. “The first solo exhibition in Italy of an international artist as Roe Ethridge, the rare excursus on the jewelry of the master of Abstractionism who was the Italian Pietro Consagra, and the curated selection of pieces of signature design, are in tune with my vision of the new 10 Corso Como.”
10 Corso Como
Corso Como, 10 – 20154
10corsocomo.com
“Panty Show” exhibition by Michaela Stark
Fondazione Sozzani is hosting the “Panty Show” by Australian “body-morphing” artist and couturier Michaela Stark in collaboration with director and photographer Charlotte Rutherford. The exhibition will showcase the three-part artistic expression of Stark’s personal experience, in a hyper feminine and playful way, including a performance on Thursday and the presentation of her Panty collection, the designer’s new ready-to-wear line in collaboration with partner Raga Munecas, running until Sunday.
Panty aims to redefine the inclusive lingerie market by providing unapologetically feminine and inclusive pieces. “The mission is to show what it means to be truly inclusive as this is the brand ethos throughout the entire design process, by sampling a wide range of sizes and creating diverse styles that are made to flatter different body types, including trans and plus sizes,” Stark said. “Over time Panty will aim to become a line that is trusted by women, where they know that no matter who they are, they can feel confident in coming to us for garments that fit beautifully and also reflect their femininity aesthetically.”
The “Panty Show” combines several aspects of her body of work. The show narrates the path she has taken from her early years experimenting with draping on her own body alone in her Paris apartment to how she gained liberation through fashion. The set for the performance recreates her atelier, a dusty pink chaotic tableau vivant of ribbons and dried flowers. The audience and viewers are invited to join and share her experience.
On the set, Stark will dress her model, Yasmin El Yassini, who will act as her human doll, in her body morphing corsetry, and will stage her almost lifeless body for photographs.
Fondazione Sozzani
Via Enrico Tazzoli, 3 – 20154
fondazionesozzani.org
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