Milano Vintage Guide
A vintage afternoon in Milano
There is a particular feeling that comes with finding something old that was made well. A clasp that still closes with a soft click. A tailored jacket that fits you like a glove, even if it was made to someone else’s measures. It is the same feeling we chase when I design for Libelula: pieces meant to be kept, eventually passed on.
Milano has always understood the value of things made well. This is the city of the finest tailoring, where suits are still cut by hand in quiet ateliers, and home to fashion houses like Prada, Loro Piana, Gucci, Armani, and Dolce & Gabbana. For more than a century, the Milanese have dressed with a kind of effortless precision, and their wardrobes don't disappear. They find their way, piece by piece, into the city's vintage shops.
The vintage shops in Milano hold decades of Milanese style, from couture gowns and impeccably tailored jackets to costume jewellery that once went to La Scala. And some of the best of them are tucked into Brera, all within a few minutes' walk of each other. There are four I love so much that I visit them all in a single day everytime I`m vintage hunting. I wander from one door to the next with no plan beyond seeing what we find. Now I want to share them with you, here's where to go next time you visit Milano.
Cavalli e Nastri, Brera
Via Brera 2
This is usually where I begin the vintage hunt. Cavalli e Nastri started out about twenty years ago with a single shop near Navigli, and the Brera store is now its main address. Inside, it feels less like a shop and more like an archive you´re allowed to touch. Alongside Chanel and Hermès bags and scarves, they carry gowns by designers from the 1930s through the 1970s, and are particularly known for their costume jewellery pieces.
Mici Vintage
Foro Buonaparte 63
This is my all time favorite vintage shop. I almost walked straight past Mici. It sits just a couple of minutes from Madame Pauline, and on my way there one afternoon, my daughter stopped and told me we should go in. I hesitated. The shop looked small, and nothing in the window caught my eye. But the moment we stepped inside, I knew I had been wrong.
Mici is fairly new, and it focuses almost entirely on clothing and shoes from the 90s, one of my favourite eras in fashion. Browsing through the rails, I could not stop thinking about a piece I recently wrote on my Substack “Nothing to Date”, about 90s jewellery, inspired by what and how the women of the Sex and the City cast wore it. The 90s is the only era that feels that timeless to me. Mici is like walking into a smaller version of Carrie Bradshaw's closet. Then the man working there told me that several pieces in the shop are the very same designs worn on the show.
Everything at Mici feels carefully chosen, and is in remarkable condition. That afternoon I left with a black Prada jacket that doubles as a dress, a pair of black and white Chanel slingbacks with a slim heel rather than the more common block heel, worn just once by their previous owner, and a rare Gucci Tom Ford era zebra print coat. I also saw a few very rare porcelain pieces by Herend, that are now on the top of my wishlist.
Madame Pauline Vintage
Foro Buonaparte 74
Just a few steps from Mici, Madame Pauline offers a completely different mood. Founded in 2013, it mixes styles from different eras and is also one of the most reliable places in the city for Italian fashion houses in beautiful condition. On my latest visit, I came home with a red YSL bomber jacket that looked as if it had barely been worn, and a dark brown velvet Gucci blazer, the kind of tailoring that only gets better with time. Madame Pauline is playful and polished at once, and a reminder that the best vintage is often the pieces you´d never have thought to look for.
Urzí Vintage
Via Ciovasso 6
Last but not least, Urzí vintage. In my opinion, Urzí is one of the most curated vintage stores in Milano. The selection is smaller, and that's exactly what I love about it. Vintage shopping can often feel overwhelming to me, but here, instead of digging through rack after rack, you actually see each piece and appreciate it for what it is. And every piece earns its place: beautiful clothes, sharp tailoring, and some of the best jackets in the city for fall. A few of my all-time favourite pieces like a vintage Ralph Lauren wool blazer and some beige trouse
