Greta Arienti

“I don’t need to make the seasonal change of my closet. I love to wear the opposite things like a summer dress with naked legs under my Vivienne Westwood wool jumper.” Greta Arienti

occupation: public relations

Of the many currents that I can see emerging after interviewing about four hundred people for SLU is the lack of the importance of the “trend of the moment” and the blur between seasons that is starting to emerge in terms of how we dress and consume clothes. Not only does wearing the opposite thing in the opposite temperature look fresh, but in the world of SLU muses, having to own something that is most au courant is pretty much nonexistant. For example, one of Greta’s favorite pieces was bought at a flea market two years ago and she uses it as a skirt, dress, scarf, or t-shirt. It’s not about…

Sara Cavalletto

occupation: jewelry designer

“[My clothes] are my babies. They are to me what the little blanket is to Linus.” Sara Cavelletto

Clothes are such a significant part of Sara’s life that her car is filled with a menage of shoes, tights, and garments, all potential outfits, in case the moment arises when she needs to throw on something amazing at a moment’s notice. Her style is a storybook of her life, literally. Sara is so attached to the motorcycle boots that she has had since she was sixteen, that it took twenty heel and fifteen sole replacements to finally put them to rest, though she still walks the dog in them for old times sake. And I must say, I felt her sadness when she shows the new ones, not quite the same, after all that life was molded into the orignals. One of her “winner”…

Cristina Cucca

occupation: designer

Angela, our Milan correspondant, said that Cristina’s love of the clean and linear comes from her experience of living in Berlin, which has been the capital of “rational aesthetics” since Walter Gropius of the Bauhaus. In fact, her love of shapes can be seen in her designs, where she creates conceptually conceived geometric pieces that allow a person’s personality to form the garment, rather than the garment forming them. For Cristina, it’s all about discovery, whether it’s finding fifteen different ways to drape a rectangle or digging through a pile of clothes at a psychiatric hospital, one of her favorite places to hunt (at one point in her video, Cristina points out how this institution uses the exercise of uncovering old clothes as a way of escaping their reality). I love how Cristina rolls up a pencil skirt and belts it,…

Giulia Brunello

occupation: stylist and PR

“Many people say that I look like Lady Gaga, but I don’t think so. I had my hair like this before her. I wear what I want to wear, I don’t have stylists that dress me up as they want me to look. I think I am much more real than she is.” Giulia Brunello

This is our first in a series of features from Milan done by SLU’s own Angela Grossi. Giulia has the kind of attitude I love. Cool and confident without being blocked by pride, she is so totally accessible, enthusiastic, and genuine. Her friends call her Giulia Smith because of her love of British culture, everything from punk to Vivienne Westwood are fetishes and her favorite fashion moment is Elizabethan for its crinolines and bustiers. She isn’t big on vintage, but wears her grandmother’s riding…

Morena Russo

“Everything that has elegance and strength to it [inspires me], like the Italian women of the ’40s and ’50s, Greek mythology, a beautiful painting, the sea, the smell of Sicily, people with culture.” Morena Russo

occupation: manager of Amarcord Vintage and creator of Morena Russo accessories line

Morena says that one of her favorite things about fashion are the people who don’t let fashion rule
their world. Despite living in the heart of fashion, both in New York and Milan, she is known among her friends as “the clean one” and is unphased by trends. She can easily party all night and LOVES to dance, but always dressed in one of her signature “less is more” uniforms. Morena emanates classic with a distinct worldly sensuality, and is always refined in one of her ’40s or ’50′s dresses and girlish pumps. Few…