After seeing a €22,000 jacket that I didn’t like and a €3,200 shirt that I liked, I had to know the price of a pair of denim shorts.
They cost 790 euros, which is about $858, and there’s no way the inseam is as short as two inches.
This is the world of high fashion.
Or, in my case, that’s the world of the Milan Fashion Walking Tour.
Last year, I invited my niece Nicole Gooch to travel to Europe. Milan was on her wish list; I asked why. Because it is a fashion capital, she said. Besides, her interests go beyond shopping.
A cursory look online will reveal visits to ateliers to see how high-end clothing or designer perfumes are made. Another option allows clients to become “today’s models.”
But I’m not ready to jump yet. Instead, I turned to the Italian experts I know best, travel agency owners and Travel Weekly columnists Richard Toulonhe recommended me to go to Philadelphia situational travelwhich offers walking tours of cities around the world led by academics and other experts.
While there, I booked a private three-hour walking tour of Milan’s haute couture district, known as the “Quadrilatero D’Oro” (Golden Quadrilateral), or also known as the “Quadrilatero della moda.” This roughly rectangular area is bounded by four streets: Manzoni, Montenapoleone, Spiga and Corso Venezia.
Tour guide Federica Roncari (left) and the author’s niece Nicole Gooch experience fabrics at the Loro Piana store on Via Montenapoleone in Milan. Photo credit: Nadine Godwin
fashion forward
We met our tour guide Federica Roncari in front of an Emporio Armani Caffe store named after Armani. The first time we entered the store was at the Emporio Armani store in Via Manzoni.
Federica has 20 years of experience in the fashion industry and is certainly knowledgeable but also personable and passionate about her profession.
Rome was once Italy’s top fashion center, but by the 1970s Milan took the crown because, she said, there was more money in the northern city. Golden Quad became the “Golden Fashion District” because the neighborhood was already filled with wealthy people.
As we walked from store to store, she showed us how their interiors reflect each designer’s style of clothing and accessories, from the pastel colors and tones of the Loro Piana store to the lively and punchy look of the Fendi store . Or the combination of baroque and modern elements in the Dolce & Gabbana store.
She gave us a background on each designer we visited in the store. She said Armani launched women’s pantsuits (bless him). In 1975, he created gray (a mix of gray and beige), which became the core color of his more modern designs. Nowadays, we can paint our houses with it—well, not specifically Armani gray, but a color of the same name.
Versace gave us the bondage dress (no comment).
Maybe many people already know these things. Not me.
The Dolce & Gabbana store in Montenapoleone combines baroque style with modern elements. Photo credit: Nadine Godwin
After visiting the Armani store, we walked down Via Montenapoleone, which Federica considers to be one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world. The cars hugging the curb – Ferraris, Lamborghinis – visually confirm this.
We made a few stops here, including the Valentino boutique, home to the denim shorts.
But Loro Piana is a place to feel and love fabrics because it showcases so much cashmere. Loro Piana produces cashmere and clothing, Federica said. She points out that one coat requires the hair of 58 kid goats, and the hair is 14 microns thick (compared to the thickness of human hair, which is about 80 microns).
In a store with very few customers, or at least very few customers that we could see, we were mostly free to touch fabrics and inspect clothes.
After spending the better part of three hours browsing the Golden Quad, we walked to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, famous for its barrel-vaulted glass roof. The Galleria stores include the site of Prada’s first store, which opened in 1913.
Finally, La Rinascente, the 135-year-old Milanese department store, is just a few steps away from the Galleria. Based on Federica’s recommendation, its terrace restaurant overlooking the cathedral became the perfect lunch spot for us after our visit.
During their time together, Federica and my niece delved into topics beyond my scope of knowledge—like, who represents Dior fragrances now. As it turns out, Rihanna recently took over from Charlize Theron as the face of Dior’s True Me fragrance. The kind of thing I wouldn’t notice.
Afterward, I asked Nicole to reflect on our trip. She loves visiting store interiors, touching the finest fabrics and hearing stories from big-name designers. She really felt like our tour was private, but our tour guide Federica was the best, her comments were personal and off the cuff.
High-end sports cars on Via Montenapoleone in Milan’s Golden Quad, home to the flagship stores of world-renowned designers. Photo credit: Nicole Gooch
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