Lapo Elkann serves up a selection of sizzling of sunglasses.     The sunglasses are black and cool. Turn up the heat and an animal print seeps into the frame, first hazy, then bold, as the temperature rises. Rock them on the sizzling beach or at a club rave!     The new Italia Independent store […]

Miu Miu Resort show digitalises the decades. Miu Miu Look 13 © InDigital   Short coats with pert buttons, iron-flat hair with dolly girl eye makeup and a whiff of London’s Carnaby Street in the 1960s – the Miu Miu resort look was familiar – yet tailor-made for the 21st century.   Miu Miu Look 17 © InDigital […]

Van Cleef & Arpels creates an evening of Renaissance enchantment   To celebrate the launch of its high-jewellery collection, Van Cleef & Arpels brought a fairy tale to life and created an enchanting evening. It was based on the French tale “Peau d’Ane”. Here, an elephant leads a procession through the grounds of the Château de […]

Suzy Menkes discusses the pressure on today’s European princesses as they are judged through the camera lens Left to right: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, at a Buckingham Palace garden party this month; Princess Diana in 1997, the year she died; Letizia of Spain attends her first solo engagement as Queen by visiting Madrid’s Prado Museum © getty images   Europe’s royal […]

 Ermenegildo Zegna’s contemporary line chooses Pitti Uomo to unveil a new chapter.   Traceur free jumping specialists performed in a giant cage wearing the contemporary line, Z Zegna, by design duo Murray Scallon and Paul Surridge. Leaping like manic monkeys across a metallic framework, the sporty energy of the athletic team was breathtaking. There could not […]

Ermanno Scervino pays tribute to the Sala Bianca with ‘white Renaissance’ show. (Left to right) Designer Ermanno Scervino, Franca Sozzani- Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia, and performer Kanye West. I stood looking up at the dizzying number of crystal chandeliers hanging from the carved ceiling in the Sala Bianca, inside Florence’s Palazzo Pitti. The memories came flooding back: […]

Pucci dresses up Florence’s Baptistery. Pucci’s  monumental installation: Emilio Pucci “dresses” the Baptistery of San Giovanni with the colours and graphics of the Battistero  scarf Like a colourful chocolate box trussed up for presentation, the vivid colours and patterns of a Pucci scarf stand out against the towering dome and marble façade of Florence’s ‘Duomo’. […]

Matteo Renzi and I were last in Florence together when he awarded me the gold florin of Florence. Suzy Menkes receiving her  “Fiorino d’Oro” from the then Mayor and now current Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.  Florence, January 2013  The first time I met Matteo Renzi, he was mayor of Florence and giving me an award for which I am […]

Suzy Menkes reports from the Pitti Immagine exhibition Performance artist Marina Abramović pasted on to an oil painting at the exhibition by Francesco Vezzoli.  © Proj3ct Studio ”ART AND FASHION” Melding art and fashion is one of the specialities of Florence. The first example of what became a trend for an entire generation was the […]

Andrea Bocelli and an aquatic show are spectacles amongst the celebrations. ‘Firenze Hometown of Fashion’  impressive opening ceremony With gondolas carrying devils and angels, a crinoline lady a-top a long boat and water cyclists skimming the rippling waters of the River Arno, Florence kicked off four days of fashion celebration. Somewhere between a water pageant […]