After three days at the MICAM Shoe Show in Milan this past week, I was able to (literally) sneak away to city center and visit a few shops. It's been almost 9 years since my last visit, and suffice to say, everything is still pretty malltastic these days (H&M? Check. Zara? Check.) However, two stores were a must on this trip...10 Corso Como just oozes insider cool, with its tight edit of everything from books to housewares, and, of course, fashion. Overall, though, I was kind of underwhelmed. Perhaps I'm jaded as a New Yorker, but seeing Commes des Garcons and Alexander McQueen on the racks doesn't quite have the same allure as it once did. After all, it doesn't take an 8 hour plane ride to get to Jeffrey and see the same stuff (No worries, the staff-inflicted passive-aggressive bitchiness is still free). The one unexpected takeaway from the shop is that all clothing has a "10 Corso Como" tag sewn below the designer label (even on the 25Euro t-shirts!), which makes for a lovely, brag-worthy Milanese souvenir.
The highlight of my runaway journey was certainly my visit to the Viktor&Rolf boutique in the quad. The Dutch duo's flagship embodies the quirky house to a "T" -- and that "T" is short for Topsy Turvy. I know I'm about 3 years late on this one, but seeing is believing, as everything is turned on it head -- the ceiling is the floor, the floor is the ceiling, and even the signage is upside down. Absolutely brilliant. Now only if the exchange rate between the Euro and US Dollar were inverted, then I'd really have something to blog about!
[10 Corso Como, Milan. (www.10corsocomo.com)]
[Viktor & Rolf, 14 Via Sant'Andrea, Milan. (www.viktor-rolf.com)]
