Quite simply, they have a knack at what is, or will soon be, hot. By the very nature of their jobs, fashion designers are experts at sniffing out trends and blowing them out into something sellable. Usually it’s a dress. But the city of Milan presents a social conundrum that forward-thinking designers are stepping up to solve.
Despite its label as an international fashion capital, the city is notoriously provincial and is both adored and deplored for clinging onto its traditions and conventions. On the one hand, it makes for fabulous, just-like-mama-used-to-make-’em meals at trattorias that have been oblivious to trendy food fashions.
Vinson, like many of the chicest men in town, flock to D&G for a hot shave in one of the vintage style Silcian barber chairs and then stay on to enjoy a drink in the bar or courtyard – one of the few centrally located bars open past 7 p.m.
“With the bar, we just wanted to create an easy, chic place for a coffee or a drink,” says Gabbana, who is frequently at the bar with Dolce and friends, relaxing on the leather couches and sipping Martinis. Like Dolce and Gabbana, Armani is a common fixture at his own haunt. “I’m a creature of habit,” says the 69-year-old designer, who rarely goes anywhere but Nobu.
Armani brought the internationally renowned Nobu restaurant to Milan four years ago, which, not surprisingly, coincided with Milan’s discovery of the culinary delight called sushi. Nobu restaurant is still the best place in town for grade-A sashimi, and its bar is the only place to find edamame – the trendy boiled soybean found on every table from London to Los Angeles.
read the full article in the International Herald Tribune
https://www.iht.com/ihtsearch.php?id=130842&owner=(IHT)&date=20040224105317