Blogging
From Abroad

So the past couple days have been exhausting! After our Paris adventure, we were wiped out, but we still have had so much to do!

Tuesday my friend Carly and I worked on the magazine we are making for our project here at NABA at the school until a little after 7 then rode the metro to the Duomo and were going to shop and eat dinner there, but of course… everything in Italy closes at 8! We found a bookstore that was open and luckily I found some last minute gifts there and we had a great dinner. I ordered pasta (if it is my choice to eat pasta then I am more willing to enjoy it). I had a baby lobster on it. I was unphased, however, because I also had an interesting pasta dish in Spain that involved baby lobsters.

Strange Spanish Seafood Dish

Baby Lobster Italian Seafood Dish

Yesterday we did three different interviews. The first was with Silvia Negri>, the CEO of a fashion PR firm. We then walked to the studio of Stephan Janson. He was really great because he was so down to earth and realized how to keep his head in the crazy world of fashion. He stopped doing big shows and runway because he thought it was too commercial and he wasn’t able to do what he wanted to do.
Stephan doesn’t really sew or construct his clothes but rather drapes them to make their shape. Most of the pieces are made from rectangles of fabric and it the style is dependent on the type of fabric and the places the fabric is stitched together. Most of the pieces have more than one way to be worn.

Stephan Janson in his studio, working on a dress

Our teacher, Benaetta Barzini, modeling a Stephan Janson dress

Afterwards we traveled across Milan to the offices of Pharmacy Industry, a recent clothing company that specializes in indie-hipster street wear. It is the first of its kind in Italy, as underground indie music and style aren’t a big thing in Italy. It is very comparable to American Apparel. They actually started another brand, http://2357.it/dev/index.php>2357, which is their answer to American Apparel. The clothes from 2357 are all made in Italy and are basics in basic colors, like American Apparel, except they won’t shrink or fade from washing.

Pharmacy was interesting to go to because they put a lot of research in their marketing and branding. They do a lot of research in trends and incorporate that into their business plans. They also have a partnership with PIG Magazine, which we visited on Thursday. Both companies do a lot of branding with music and have parties and special events with underground bands. Pharmacy has a close relationship to Ed Banger Records in Paris that has signed Justice and DIM MAK Records in LA that has bands such as The Kills and The Gossip (who had a spread in the June/July issue of Nylon, if anyone saw).

PIG magazine is an underground music and fashion magazine. They were the first band to feature Justice on the cover. They are basically the Italian version of Nylon and they admit to being such when asked. They have no real competition in Italy yet. PIG strives to be Anglo-American where Nylon strives to be European. It’s funny how no one seems to be really content to be from the country they originate from.

PIG started a sunglasses brand, Super. They were nice enough to give us all a pair of sunglasses, which retail for 84-150 Euros in Europe! So it was a very sucessful field trip. Super are basically Ray-Ban Wayfarers in great colors and prints.

These are the style of Sunglasses I got. This is some girl who was on the cover of PIG

Everyone in the Fashion Journalism class in our new Super sunglasses!

Our magazine is being finished as I type this. I would be helping the layout but lack Photoshop knowledge to help out. Kind of stressful, so I’m going to go do what I can!