Coming up with a list of super stylish Italian women to photograph for the most recent issue of Marie Claire Italia was a piece of cake. Narrowing the number down to just 26 wasn’t nearly as facile. As any foreigner who drops down into town well knows, Milan is chock-a-block with females who flutter by on their bicycles not in yoga pants but with kitten heels and a seductive personal style. As guest curator’s of Marie Claire’s #MCLikes issue, we hemmed and hawed and then carefully plucked a group of women all of whom inspire us in terms of poise and presence. Some are alums of LaDoubleJ, others are new to our world, but all match our discerning criteria: women who ooze style, are not (currently) overexposed on instagram, and, most importantly, work hard in an interesting creative field.
New to the DoubleJ roster is the never-aging, former model and forever Dolce & Gabbana muse Marpessa, the smart as a whip fashion historian Maria Luisa Frisa (name any major book or exhibit done on a designer in Italy and chances are, she wrote or curated it), il Pellicano hotel’s beguiling impresario and scion Marie Louise Scio, the youngest and coolest member of the colorful Missoni family, Teresa, the fiercely chic jewelry designer Delfina Delettrez, our motherly muse and favorite fashion journalist Renata Molho, the Danish/Italian PR maven Noona Smith Petersen, Jamaican-in-Milan photographer Tamu McPherson and the crushingly cool handbag designer Sara Battaglia, among others.
Names you might already know from our own stories are footwear designer Cecilia Bringhelli, Ca & Lou jewelry designers Carolina Neri and Berengere Luxe, handbag designer Paula Cademartori, mega design gallery owners Rossana Orlandi and Nina Yashar, fashion designer Gentucca Bini, couture designer Marta Ferri, renowned fashion journalist Donata Sartori, and shop owner Uberta Zambeletti.
We could talk to all of these women all night long. But here we celebrate their style and inimitable look shot by photographer Laura Sciacovelli and styled by our fashion director Viviana Volpicella — just a little teaspoon of Italian-based eye candy as we all jump in headfirst to Milan fashion week.
Are you in Milan for Fashion Week? The 26 women featured in #MCLikes will also be part of the exhibition “Women We Love” in Via della Spiga until September 28.
– J.J. Martin
