Ciao bella — how to dress for a Roman holiday

Times

3 days ago

I know it's the French that we Brits are supposed to get excited about, style-wise, and indeed I did summon up some enthusiasm on these very pages last week. But for me it's all about the Italians. It's always about the Italians.
The so-called tomato girl summer that took over social media a couple of years ago — a telling conflation of food and fashion — is still alive and kicking. Although, what with the temperatures and my limited skill set when it comes to dealing with them, mine is thus far proving more of a passata girl summer.
Food. Fashion. It's encapsulated by one Miuccia Prada, who, unlike her austerely clad French counterparts, will present herself at the end of a catwalk show in head-to-toe red satin, and who — just in case that isn't enough for you — also owns a cake shop.
I am in Rome as I write, for Dolce & Gabbana's Alta Moda show, which I review here. The city is as ridiculously ravishing as ever, but then so are the Romans. Sure, it can be tricky to see them, obscured as they tend to be in the summer months by several dozen burnt and be-bumbagged foreigners. But when you do …
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What they channel in their wardrobes might be called joie de vivre if it weren't for the fact that this is the wrong language, so I will refer to it instead as sprezzatura. The Italians love colour and pattern, embracing it in such a way as to look classy rather than as if they are angling for an Instagram showing.
JJ Martin, a Milan-based American who runs a kaleidoscopic label called La DoubleJ, goes as far as to call them 'geniuses. They just inherently understand tasteful arrangements of pattern and colour. It's as if they have a special DNA strand that embeds style in the bloodstream.'
Here's what makes up the Italian summer uniform.
This is a different species to the floral numbers that we tend to turn to. Forget Mapp and Lucia. Think Monica and Sophia. (Bellucci and Loren, on the off-chance that this needs further clarification.) It's not about the village fête. It's about drinks on a terrace somewhere on the Amalfi coast.
Eschew ditzy prints. What you want is a ritzy print, one that's bold and very possibly geometric. You might also factor in the idea of an unwaisted style, the better to come over suitably operatic. And also, handily, to enjoy that second helping of pasta.
La DoubleJ's signature swing maxi — in a hefty silk twill, with T-shirt sleeves — is the best around in terms of ever-after quality and print options (£770, ladoublej.com). At a less hair-raising price point there's Boden's Maya maxi (£120, boden.com) and New Look's fruit-print wide-strap midi (£37.99, newlook.com).
No, not to sleep in. The Italians don't wear PJs in bed. (See Bellucci, Monica, above.) They wear them to add a boudoir-adjacent frisson to the state of being fully conscious. Dolce & Gabbana has turned the day-pyjama genre into an art form, although suffice to say that if you have to ask the price you can't afford them. My more real-world favourites are a jazzy print linen pair from Karen Millen, with the option to go for shorts as well as trousers (£111.20 for the shirt, £119.20 for the trousers, £103.20 for the shorts, karenmillen.com). Bellissima.
• The new must-have summer trousers (you probably already own a pair)
It's got to the point in Rome this week where I am almost wondering whether there is some kind of municipal diktat prohibiting any sunglasses that couldn't also serve as welding goggles. & Other Stories' cool-girl tortoiseshell aviators would fit right in here (£32, asos.com). AllSaints' giant squared-off cat's eyes, in black or a paler take on tortoiseshell that it calls (ahem) snow leopard, are more straightforwardly chic (£125, allsaints.com).
It might be a top, it might be a dress, but it's any self-respecting Italiana's favourite way to sizzle come summer. House of CB's Adabella, in a shade it calls Italian tomato, is a particular cracker (£179, houseofcb.com). The bandeau style from Nobody's Child — I like the giant polka dot — would also do the job (£99, nobodyschild.com). To quote Loren in Houseboat, 'Bing! Bang! Bong!'
The originals are so minimally be-strapped and soled as barely to class as footwear, and would ideally be purchased from the famous Canfora on Capri itself (from £159, canfora.com). However, there are some great iterations on the high street. Free People's are almost as pared-back, in a range of colours (£88, freepeople.com), while Nobody's Child has a brown version with a more pavement-ready sole (£115, nobodyschild.com).
Italians got on to these for their youth-bestowing magic long before we did. Me+Em's white turn-ups would do nicely (£136.50, reduced from £195, meandem.com), as would Sézane's black and cream check (£125, sezane.com) and — if you are up for more volume — Albaray's leopard culottes (£79, albaray.co.uk). Wait and See Milano — a veritable jewel box of a boutique — has some red and white floral beauts too (€283, reduced from €403, waitandsee.it).
One of the ways in which Italian women signal the arrival of summer — not that here, in my experience, it normally needs much signalling — is by putting away their usual leather handbag, which will be an expensive investment piece, for a more fun wicker or raffia style.
I always look for a lined interior, so that it works in the city as well as by the sea. For a neat tote, try Bloom & Bay's Kiara (£44.95, johnlewis.com), but for one that really thinks like a handbag, complete with leather flap and crossbody strap, try Wicker Wings (£250, wickerwings.com).
I am going to finish on what is perhaps my favourite aspect of Italian style: how they dress up even the simplest ensemble with a knockout piece (or two) of costume jewellery.
My favourite hunting grounds at home include the vintage offerings at Felt, Eclectica and Susan Caplan. Mango also knows how to make a dolce vita-appropriate statement, to wit its chunky resin bead necklace in shades of amber and brown (£45.99, mango.com).