There is no doubt about it — people of all ages in the urban centre of Milan dress well. Their style is trendy, bold and alluring. I would not describe Milan street style as edgy or arty, but it’s totally fashion forward in a more classic, but spunky way. And quite glitzy. There is a unique sense of confidence in the way that Milanese people dress.

Clothing is form fitting to say the least, for both men and women. No voluminous trends in Milan! Skinnies, cigarette pants and straight leg jeans worn with short leather jackets, sunglasses and designer handbag are the uniform. And I mean UNIFORM.

Trenches were also popular, as were scarves, belts and leggings. Surprisingly, because we didn’t see it anywhere else, many women sport low rise jeans with flashy belts. Lots of shiny belts, handbag hardware and eyewear. It’s not my look but I can certainly appreciate it on others.

Not everyone is Milan is wearing designer fashions. People around the quadrilatero della moda (the fashion district) are especially branded, from head to toe, but the rest of Milan is less so (apart from the handbag — it must be part of the culture to sport a designer handbag). Some of my favourite ensembles were stylish casual, a practical look that ladies in Milan have down to a T.

The footwear on the streets was diverse. From all sorts of boots, booties, flat and heeled fashion sneakers, and oxfords on chilly days, to ballet flats, pumps and loafers on milder days. Lots of all star Converse too. For the most part, people wore flats and low heels because it’s a society that commutes on foot. But high heels and mega platforms were definitely visible – more so than in any other Euro city on this trip, especially down the Via Montenapoleone (the Rodeo Drive of Milan).

Street style is virtually 90% neutrally toned: lots of black, huge amounts of earthy shades and mushroom tones, quite a lot of white, light grey, dark blue and the odd dose of pastel pink, yellow and green. Saturated colours are few and far between. Basically it was just me sporting my bright scarves, turtlenecks and handbags like a traffic beacon in the middle of the city. Oh well. I’m not giving up the bright pops of colour that are characteristic of my ensembles. Not even in Milan.

It makes sense that The Sartorialist captures a large proportion of his blog photography here. For an effective and entertaining fashion fix, sit yourself down at an outside trattoria for the day and watch the fashion and style world go past. You won’t be disappointed because the adorable blokes and kids are just as well dressed as the pretty ladies. We saw more cool dudes in Milan than any of the other cities on our trip.

That wraps up our fashion and style reporting for this Euro trip. We hope you enjoyed reading our posts as much as we enjoyed prepping them. A big thank you to Greg for literally taking thousands of pictures so that we could bring back killer images for you. Over the last few days I was determined to get some photos of him too, so I started keeping my camera close to hand and taking many spontaneous shots, like he does. I think I got a few nice ones of my sweetie.

Milan is home to some of the most famous fashion brands in the world. Top Italian fashion designers from houses like Prada, Valentino, Armani, Versace, Missoni, Moschino, Etro, Trussardi, Mui Mui, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana live in Milan and their companies are headquartered in the city. Because of this, you’ll find flagship stores stocking the very best of their collections all over the city. For example, in the space of two blocks, there were five Dolce & Gabbana stores. And one of the Armani stores took up an entire city block and was four floors high.

Luxury Brands

The concentration of Italian designer stores around an area known as the quadrilatero della moda (the fashion district) is incredible, and they all seem to do good business. I went into a few of my favourites on home ground just for fun. The service was exceptionally good and I enjoyed soaking up all the luxury at such close range.

Valentino: Valentino is my favorite Italian designer. His bags, shoes and clothing are romantic and elegant in a very modern way. The technical expertise of their pattern makers blows my mind. It’s extremely hard to immaculately sew intricate designs in slippery fabrics, but Valentino’s results are flawless.

Versace: This house is polar opposite to Prada because the merchandise is glitzy, over the top and very bright. I’m not generally into Versace style but their window happened to be my best in Milan. I’d wear that sheath dress in a heartbeat but leave off the shoes. Seriously, those are the highest heels I’ve ever seen. Crazy.

Prada: I’m not overly fond of the minimalist clothing style that is characteristic of Prada for women, but their handbags, footwear and menswear collections hold my attention. I enjoy the sleek lines, neutral colours and practical designs. I find Prada boots especially appealing because they are usually utilitarian in style, flat heeled, beautifully made and very comfortable.

Armani: The Armani Empire is massive. With a firm foothold in both mens and womens fashion, you’ll find the Armani label on home wear, hotels, cafes and restaurants. You’ll even find Armani book stores. Their clothing is an interesting mix: the ladieswear is often androgynous while the menswear is effeminate. Ironically creative.

I’m not brand conscious, but I do enjoy superb quality and unique design, which is often what sets apart designer merchandise from mainstream merchandise. Designer items are like works of art. And I am a great appreciator of art, so I appreciate luxury brands in the same way. I can absolutely respect the creativity and impeccable craftsmanship that goes into designer items, even though the prices are exorbitant.

With exorbitant prices comes exclusivity, making designer goods a status symbol. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with that if you have the money and it’s your style, especially if you mix up designer items with mainstream and vintage goods in one outfit. Some people shop designer whereas others shop budget, and it’s all good in my book. What is often the case, and we saw a lot of this throughout Europe, is that people save up to buy designer items, pay cash, and wear them for years until they fall apart. Shabby looking Chanel and Prada bags, and Gucci shoes are not uncommon. So instead of purchasing ten handbags or pairs of shoes, people will purchase one item and whittle down the cost per wear to nothing.

Outlet Stores

There are also many busy outlet stores in the city center. They sell last season’s designer collections at half price. They are pretty well organized, clean and neat. I traipsed around a few but came out empty handed. If you have the patience to visit these designer outlet stores frequently, you’ll probably score big time. Don’t expect bargain basement deals though — half price is still expensive with these designer items.

Mainstream Chains

You don’t need to shop designer or outlet in Milan because the city is also full of more mainstream Euro stores like Benetton, Diesel, H&M, Zara, Promod and Etam. There’s something for everyone. When I was there last week, the windows were thankfully starting to change as the abundance of mushroom toned merchandise was being swapped out for brighter colours. Harem pants, camouflage, ditsy florals, safari inspired designs, denim on denim, strong shouldered tops, ruched sleeves, drawstring tops, cropped leather jackets, ankle length pants, wedged sneakers, ballet flats and soaring cage heels ruled the store scene. There was absolutely no sign of the low heel footwear trend in Milan.

I kept my shopping to a minimum, bringing back four items in total. I bought ballet flats in Arnhem, a black, strong shouldered blazer in Amsterdam, and a pair of flat, knee-high ivory boots and jodhpur jeans in Milan. My jodhpur style skinny jeans are extra edgy and will be an acquired taste for sure. But I absolutely love them and it’s especially fab that Greg spotted them first. I bought them at a British store called Miss Sixty. No prizes for guessing that I was hopelessly attracted to the colour of the inside walls of this store. That’s me fitting on the jeans in the store (I was too lazy to take my sheath dress off so that’s my top looks bulky). I’m very pleased with my scores and have worn the jacket a few times already. I plan to wear the jeans and boots this week and the ballet flats as soon as the weather warms up.

On our recent Euro trip we were especially looking forward to visiting leading fashion capital, Milan. Milan grew on me with each passing day. As a fashion stylist who appreciates good eats it was easy to be captivated by the fabulous fashion, great style and yummy food no matter where you are in the city.

We stayed in the city’s Historic Centre which is home to the world’s largest Gothic Cathedral, the Duomo. It took 400 years to complete and is spectacular to say the least. Even I made it to the top and I’m scared of heights. The 360 degree views of Milan from the roof were amazing — a great way to get perspective on the layout of the city.

Alongside the Duomo is the Galleria Vittorio Emmauele II which claims to be the oldest shopping arcade in the world. It’s beautiful glass roof and mosaic floors give it such timeless presence. Another breathtaking piece of architecture.

We tried to see Milan’s number one tourist attraction: Leonardo Da Vinci’s fresco of “The Last Supper” in a church called the Santa Maria delle Grazie. Alas, we did not get in. You need to make a reservation to view the painting and the next available slot was two days later — the morning we would leave for home. We did go to the nearby Pinacotea di Brea, an art gallery that houses some of finest works of Italian renaissance masters like Francesco Hayez, Piero della Francesca and Raphael. It was an impressive collection, but I prefer modern art (the periods from Impressionism onwards) so the classic works in this gallery did not really light my fire.

Greg and I love, love, love Italian food. You can have a fantastic meal on almost any budget, and compared to Zurich, the prices felt cheap. Generally a ristorante is a more expensive place and a trattoria is more basic and affordable. We prefer the simplicity of the latter, and our best meal of the trip was at Trattoria Da Pino Sas. They were right at the end of their lunch service, but that didn’t stop them from serving us and once we had our food the whole staff sat down at the next table and had their own meal. The chef spoke the best English, so he served us himself and was very gracious.

We ate lots during the day because you get hungry when you walk the streets flat like we do. For breakfast — pastries, like the nutella doughnut and custard-filled croissant below, cappuccino (for Greg) and a pot of tea (for me). Mid morning was time for some Cioccolata, an extremely thick and dense hot chocolate that you have to eat with a spoon — definitely a hit for chocoholics like me. Lunch time was all about pasta and bruschetta. Late afternoon snacks consisted of drinks on the sidewalk of a trattoria with free eats. Yes, FREE eats. It’s custom to get snacks like crisps, olives, finger sandwiches, savoury pastries, cured meats and other anti pasti along with an evening drink in Milan. So Greg would get his gin & tonic and I’d order another pot of tea. This ritual was very, very relaxing and a much needed break from all the activity! Supper was different every night, but gelato afterwards was a staple. There are no shortage of places to get it, even late at night.

We’re very near the end of our European coverage. Still to come: street style and shopping in Milan.

Tied with the micro fibre Prada backpack, the drawstring bucket bag is about as 90’s inspired as it gets. I had a brown and black suede version in 1995 that made me feel all professional and grown-up as a career orientated 25 year old.

Swarming designer collections in more updated, interesting and hip designs than what we saw 15 years ago, the drawstring bucket bag is the next “it” handbag silhouette. The new incarnations  are hot off the fashion press so most of the prices are still very high. But it won’t be long before H&M and Forever 21 have knocked them off for pittance, so watch out for the trend if it tickles your fancy.

Even as a confirmed Bag Lady, this handbag silhouette does not appeal to me anymore, so I vote nay. I guess I’m off the whole drawstring thing both from a practical and aesthetic point of view. How about you?