I spent two weeks in Italy this past September – lucky me, I know! I was in the company of a couple guys (my dad and older brother, specifically) with negative interest in shopping, but I made it my mission to steal a bit of time to myself and hunt down some vintage shops where I could.
Milan was the first stop, in time to catch the Formula One race in neighboring Monza. I had done a small amount of research on where to go vintage shopping, and it looked like there were a decent handful of stores within a reasonable distance of the Milan city center. I only made it to one, Humana Vintage on Via Cappellari, ultra-conveniently located about 2 minutes away from the Duomo at the heart of the city.
This store stocks a grab bag of vintage clothing, shoes, and accessories, with reasonable prices and a fantastic charity attached. From their website:
Humana Vintage sources its stock from Humana People to People (HPP) Italia ONLUS: A non-profit organisation formed to collect clothes in Italy for sale or onward distribution in order to provide support to international development projects in Africa.
Through specifically purchasing at Humana Vintage in Milan you will contribute, at this point in time, towards two development projects in Mozambique:
- A pre-school for 60 AIDS children orphaned as a result of the AIDS virus – part of the HOPE project
- The Vocational School of Nacala – funds will support the daily running of the school, which gives practical, vocational training to rural students in areas, such as, agriculture, construction and bookkeeping.
Who can argue with that? Fabulous clothes from the 60s-80s sold for fair prices going toward a worthy cause. If I could only go to one vintage shop in Milan, I’m glad it was this one!
But on to the goods – or, more aptly put, the greats. I got a great deal on a gorgeous vintage Missoni skirt with the high end orange label. Isn’t it pretty?
Instant love. The price was low because the back of the skirt had a big pull in it; unfortunate at first glance but not enough to stop me! The fabric is a very loose plaid knit done with twisted, slubby yarns, and when I got back home it took me all of half an hour to work the pulled yarn back into its place. It started out looking like this:
I used my nail art dotting tool to pull the thread vertically through the direction of the knit. If you’re ever trying this at home, a very small gauge crochet hook would work just as well, or even a tapestry needle with a blunt tip.
I worked the yarn through, being careful to give it enough slack to blend in. You can theoretically do this with any pulled knits, but it’s a heck of a lot more difficult when the knit is tighter and the threads don’t have a twisted texture that blends easily.
I just kept working my way up, one knit at a time, reseating the pulled yarn comfortably beside its twin. Going…
Going…
Gone! Wasn’t that easy? And now, I’m the proud owner of a flawless vintage Missoni skirt, straight from its home country!
Pull? What pull?
Milan would’ve won my heart even if I hadn’t had such epic luck, but as it stands I’m pretty much in love. Desperately. The city was amazing, and its residents were unbelievably stylish. Scott Schuman is forever posting pictures of chic Milanese on The Sartorialist, and logic would dictate that the standards set by his portrait subjects is unattainably high. Not so – young and old, the people of Milan just know how to dress. Especially the men. Oh, the men…
But I digress. Long story short: yay Milan, yay Humana Vintage, yay Missoni!
I’ll show off my other Italian finds soon – Florence and Rome treated me quite well, and I can’t wait to share!
NECROPHASHION 
