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When looking at "my fashion capital", London, I can't help but consider "my other fashion capital", that is, Milan.

With London, I absolutely admire its fashion system for one thing: the way it is open to the young, up-and-coming names.

British fashion is known worldwide for a few names: on one side, Burberry, Aquascutum, Paul Smith, emblems of classic and timeless elegance, and, on the other side, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, enfants terribles of Britain, with their unlimited creativity and at times outrageous styles. Yet, (some of) these names moved to other capitals to show their collections, leaving London in the hands of the youths: Christopher Kane, Gareth Pugh, Giles Deacon, just to mention the most famous of the London designers, have the city all to themselves, for a whole week in which they are the main attraction.

To me, this opening to the new names is what makes London really unique.

On the other hand, Milan is quite the opposite. New names never get the space they deserve, and the fashion council organizes the schedule to accommodate the foreign editors who don't want to spend a long time in the city, and therefore cram the first few days with the big names, leaving the younger designers at the end of the week, when nobody is really interested in going to their shows anymore. This is the main reason why Italian fashion has got to a point where there are no new names surfacing: that and the fact that the whole system is based on money and productivity (it was, after all, a fashion system born with the industrialization), so the big guns are obviously favoured.

Style.com's Nancy MacDonell once said to me:

"Editors and buyers go to Milan to see beautiful, wearable
clothes; they go to London to look for trends and fresh talent"

And I think that sums the two cities up perfectly.

The Business of Fashion takes this analysis a step further, entering a third term of comparison - New York - and thus giving a very clear yet simplified idea of where the fashion weeks stand:

"While London is often the spark of new ideas and New York is confidently commercial, the Milan shows usually sit somewhere in between. They may not be the pushing the limits of fashion in terms of new ideas, but they specialise in striking the right balance between commerce and creativity."

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However, I can't talk about fashion and not mention streetstyle. I think people in London are either losing the sense of what's appropriate, or they are losing their minds. Everybody keeps on going on about how people in London are unique and incredibly well dressed. I think that lately everybody is trying so hard to be unique that they are not well dressed anymore. Londoners are so busy trying to be unique that they forgot what it means to be stylish. And as an ex-London-style-lover, I am very sorry for this. When Facehunter lived in Paris, I loved his blog and payed it many a visit every day. Now that he moved to London, its pictures hold no appeal to me anymore, as in every shot I recognize the typical Londoner: layers over layers of poor quality vintage mixed with Primark and scruffy hair. Another favourite of mine, The Sartorialist, never pays London a visit, and I do understand him. He spends his time shooting fabulous New Yorkers and has a penchant for Milan- and Florence-based bourgeoisie, with their fuss-free style, polished appearance and natural elegance: what could he see in the Londoner who tries too hard?

I certainly don't regret moving to London to study, as its embracing attitude towards young talent allowed me to experience the fashion industry first hand. This wouldn't have been possible in a city such as Milan, where students are not taken seriously at all in the industry.