Tour of Tuscany – Fashion

It will take me a while to sort through all of my vacation photos, so here’s a quickie in the meantime.

What was in fashion in Italy?

Metallic fabrics – especially for shoes and bags. Mostly silver, but a lot of gold, and some bronze/copper. Even the guys were wearing silver sneakers.

Suede boots (usually moccasin-style, and often with fringe) were also spotted frequently.

(Click thumbnails for larger view)

 

 

Gold sneakers	Gold flats
Guys with silver sneakers – and note the stiletto heels on the right of the photo.	Moccasin boots and metallic shoes

Then there were scarves, scarves, scarves! Sorry, I didn’t see a single knitted scarf. They were all woven fabrics, mostly cashmere or a cashmere/silk blend pashmina stole, and mostly plain. There were a few pashminas with prints, and a good number of silk scarves – usually striped. The scarves were large (stole-sized), and usually wrapped around the neck once and then tied in a half-hitch. (Sheesh – I can’t believe I don’t have a photo of one of these. And neither Google nor Ravelry helped me find a photo of a scarf tied this way.) The pashminas were sold EVERYWHERE. I picked up a gradient-style pashmina that’s beige-to-tan. I was greatly tempted by a pretty pink one, but I figured the neutral one would go with more things.

Also frequently seen – white cotton blazers for both men and women (sorry for the bad photo):

I came across one for a great price in the straw market in Montecatini, so that’s another thing that came back with me. Larry came home with a vest, which we saw a lot in stores, but only a few on people in the streets.

Also amazing was the number of women wearing stiletto heels on the cobblestone streets – even the extremely steep ones. That’s an amazing feat! I have some vague memory of a Sophia Loren movie (maybe it was her biopic?) where she says something about her mother telling her she wouldn’t be a woman until she could run across the street wearing Balenciagas, which of course, she does at the end of the movie.