Cock Of The Week = Ferrari

Not the Italian car maker, but the reckless and foolish Italian rider for Androni Giocatolli-Venezuela who caused a crash in the final few metres of stage 3 of the Giro D'Italia this week.

As the front of the peloton began the sprint for the finishing line, Ferrari inexplicably decided to suddenly switch his racing line and veered to the right, straight into the front wheel of Mark Cavendish which sent the British rider sprawling across the road and brought down at least half a dozen other riders including the pink jersey Taylor Phinney.  Although Cavendish managed to get up and carry his bike over the line, Phinney remained on the road for some time receiving medical attention, but has since said that he will not be withdrawing.

Cock of the Week - Roberto Ferrari

Both of the long stage finishing stages in Denmark have been marred by crashes in the closing stages with fairly tight turns in to the finishing sprint, but whereas the crash on stage 2 involving Theo Bos and Alexander Kristoff was purely an accident, the crash on stage 3 was caused entirely by Ferrari's stupidity.

Giro D'Italia Stage 2 finish - In Italian.

The Paninari

I had this idea of sharing bits and pieces of info from different decades in time, from a style point of view. My first idea came to me by way of the bf, who often wants me to polish up my Italian pop culture knowledge. I wanted to share this with you guys. 

Milan, 1980's. There a food - and therefore social - revolution going on in the Italian Republic. The first fast-food chains have appeared (first McDonald's opened in Rome in the famous Piazza di Spagna. You know, the big steps from Roman Holiday.) Cool kids want to be more American than the Americans. And so, they meet at the fast-food joints and scoff down hamburgers. Much to the horror of the older generations ("Ma questa roba la chiami cibo? La cucina italica è la migliore al mondo. Vergognatevi!" You call this food? Italian cuisine is the best cuisine in the world. You should be ashamed of yourselves!) This shift in eating habits created a whole subculture in Milan: i paninari (which roughly translates to the Sandwich Eaters).

The paninari are the coolest kids on the block. They want to be dressed like Americans. Talk like Americans. Their lifestyle is mostly based on consumption, without a worry in the world for the future. Radical change after the hyper-political 1970's, no?

On their feet, Frye motorcycle boots. Timberland. And later on, New Balance or Nike. They wear bomber jackets from Moncler or Avirex, Wayfarer sunglasses (just like Tom Cruise) and Texan-style leather belts from El Charro. It has to be authentic, branded, expensive and preferably American. Oh, and the bf wants to make sure I include the Invicta backpack. Oh yeah, remember those?

They listen to the Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, Wham!, Boy George. They admire Tom Cruise in Top Gun and Sylvester Stallone in Rambo. Ah, the 80's... 

After a visit to Milan in those years, the Pet Shop Boys took high interest in such a colorful subculture and released their single "Paninaro", bringing fame to the movement internationally.

It seems I can't embed the video, so please go watch it on YouTube. It'll make your morning. :)

Would you bring any of these style elements back? Or is it better for this style to simply remain history?

Photos via ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR. Edited by Dee & Duke. 

Pitti Uomo

Pitti Uomo just took place two weeks ago in Florence, and I'm a little late in showing you the most inspiring pictures I've seen from the event. It's a biannual menswear fair which mainly takes place in Firenze, with a chapter in Milan and describes itself as "the most important platform for men's clothing and accessory collections". 

I had saved these images from some of my favorite street style blogs:

What do you think? Don't they look sharp?


Photos via ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE.

Streetcar Beauty

I miss travelling around a city by tram, like I did in Milan. The old-school feeling of it, imagining that, back in the 1930's, the Milanese used the same tram I am currently riding. It gives a certain cachet to the city to see them zooming down the main arteries, under the complicated network of electrical wire. The original wooden interiors, the narrow-yet-surprisingly-comfortable seats, the glass light fixtures on the ceiling. *sigh* (I'm not going to talk about this year's 50% ticket price increase though, and instead will choose to keep this post dreamy and on a positive note. Ha.)

Photos via ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR. Edited by Dee & Duke.

When in Rome

The Fontana di Trevi in Rome. The first thing I stubbornly wanted to see in the Eternal City. Isn't this just absolute perfection?

Photo by Dee & Duke.

Giallo Milano

“Milan yellow”. This is an actual shade of yellow that has become Milan’s official colour. It is widely used for buildings around the city: commercial, housing projects, and even the finest residences. It sets Milan’s architecture apart from other Italian and European cities and adds an always-welcome pop of color to the urban surroundings. I think it’s absolutely genius!

They say that if you walk into any colorificio, paint shop, and ask for giallo Milano, they will direct you towards a standard color, which makes it easy for property owners to freshen up their building.

I wonder if other cities in the world are associated with a color... 

All photos from: info2015expo.it

Tour De France

Image by Petit Brun via Flickr

I like football, I love cricket, and I love the TdF as well, I am really excited for this year's race.  My stage by stage poster is up on the wall at work, I have done a cash sweep for the staff in which I've got Ivan Basso's Liquigas-Cannondale team and my wife is looking good with Leopard-Trek and their awesome line up of the Schleck brothers and Fabian Cancellara.

Running from Saturday July 2rd to Sunday July 24th 2011, the 98th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,430.5 kilometres.  It is the most demanding, the most grueling event in sport, up and down mountains and through the beautiful countryside of France.  I'm all set for 21 days of pelotons and breakaways.

Pictured - Ivan Basso

The Expulsion From Eden

c. 1424-28, Fresco, Brancacci Chapel, Florence, by Massacio.  The painting is shown here in its restored form, three centuries after the fresco was painted, Cosimo III de' Medici - the Grand Duke of Tuscany, ordered that fig leaves be painted over the genitals of the figures, these were removed in the 1980's.

Le Dejeuner Sur l'Herbe

The painting Le dejeuner sur l'erbe by Edouard Manet

Detail from The Judgement Of Paris by Marcantonio Raimondi

Full engraving of The Judgement of Paris