In June, we were invited by the Luisaviaroma boutique/eshop in Florence as part of their bi-annual Firenze4ever event. This involves inviting well-known blogs from around the world (27 this year) to do “stylelabs”. Basically, it's pure styling work, since as a blogger, you have 3 outfits to put together with the clothes present in the store. It was a very pleasant exercise, with many strong pieces. But before tackling the photos, we had a long and interesting conversation with Andrea, CEO of Luisaviaroma... 
The store in Florence.
Interview with Andrea, founder of Luisaviaroma.com
Basically, Luisaviaroma is a family-owned ready-to-wear boutique, three generations old, in Florence (located on... Via Roma ). Today, and as Geoffrey mentioned in one of his last tests , Luisaviaroma has distinguished itself by its high-end and avant-garde selection . Concretely, this means that a boutique selects only the most cutting-edge pieces from the most well-known luxury houses. There are points in common with L'Eclaireur, but with a less dark and more colorful selection (but we remain in the same price ranges). We could also compare the store to Colette, but I find the Luisaviaroma selection more qualitative, more coherent. You should know that Luisaviaroma is one of the very first high-end eshops on the Internet , since it was born in 1999. It is one of the rare clothing eshops to have existed for more than 15 years, while remaining family-owned. And believe me, in this complicated industry that is high-end fashion, that's an achievement . 
Andrea, CEO of Luisaviaroma, lover of cycling and Lanvin sneakers (left)
However, Luisaviaroma's presence on the web hides a nice anecdote. Andrea was a little tired of shopping for his store all over the world, he didn't have enough time to see his daughter Luisa . He didn't want to travel anymore, but he didn't want to retire. He therefore thought about an activity with high added value that he could develop in Florence, without needing to travel, and that's where he had the idea of creating the eshop . When we ask him the reasons for the success of the eshop, he answers that before the web, his business was already well established in Florence: the store was recognized and visited, he never saw the web as an opportunity, but rather as a continuity of his physical activity . In addition, given that it is one of the very first high-end eshops, it recognizes having had the advantage of the “first mover” (=the first to arrive!). And finally, more pragmatically, Andrea has never skimped on investments in web marketing. But the age of its eshop is also its weak point, because it is a website that was completely developed internally, at a time when the first e-commerce modules barely existed. If Andrea adds that updates can be done very quickly, he recognizes that 15 years later, it is time to change its technical platform, and it is in fact the biggest project at the moment . Then, the conversation drifts onto more surprising subjects. Andrea points out to us that Florence is the cradle of the Renaissance, that its cultural influence has been historically very strong. Furthermore, a fun and interesting detail, he describes Florence as the "city of eternity" because stone is almost the only material used for the ground, unlike our cities where we mainly walk on asphalt. 
Florence's famous speckled cobblestones in the city center. It's stone, not bitumen!
He therefore thinks that Florence must reconnect with its cultural and avant-garde past and place it in a very long-term logic. When we ask him where he's going with this, Andrea tells us that he considers the web to be one of the greatest changes that humanity has known (we're not going to contradict him) but that paradoxically, it struggle to find good, well-trained profiles. He would therefore like to make Florence a top place for training in web professions, a very ambitious project according to him. To be continued... Finally, when we ask him why he is so attached to bloggers ( even those who don't have an affiliation like us 😉) he replies that he likes the relaxing side of a blog and he does rightly point out that clothes are not made to be exhibited in museums, but to be worn by everyone, which gives them a very interesting uniqueness depending on the wearer. So much for our extremely interesting interview with Andrea, who was also very curious about our way of doing things, particularly in terms of Atelier BonneGueule and our very long product pages (example here with the BGBJ-02 sweatshirt) .
Three outfits to compose: Rick Owens, Dior, Zegna, and Zanotti
We then had to put together three outfits with the clothes available in the huge Luisaviaroma store. Simple you might say? In fact, Nicolas and I said to ourselves that since we have access to sophisticated pieces, and we don't keep the clothes, we might as well have fun. The fact that the clothes are loaned is a very good thing, because you are not afraid of making a mistake and not knowing what to wear with the rest of your wardrobe. It's really styling (= putting together outfits) pure and simple, and frankly funny . Imagine, you are in one of the most cutting-edge boutiques in the world, with three outfits to wear for a day, without the risk of the chosen pieces making a stain on your wardrobe, you can completely let go! Making an outfit with basics would make no sense, and would be a shame. Wearing a sober, fitted jacket with basic jeans and a white shirt is fine, but it has no interest at Luisaviaroma. Nicolas and I said to ourselves that it was a good opportunity to challenge ourselves and wear pieces that we would never normally wear. And that's when Nicolas, with his usual mischief, approaches a pair of Rick Owens sneakers and suggests I make an outfit out of them...
First outfit: Dior jeans, customized Brazuca ball, sneakers, tank top, and Rick Owens leather jacket
You know, I don't like black, and so I turned to the rust-colored Géobasket (yes, that's the name of Rick Owens' sneaker model). On the other hand, I really wanted to try a leather jacket from the brand , and they only had black. But as I have always said about black , when the material is worked and high-end, you can let yourself be tempted by this color. So I turned to the Mollino model in lambskin. It's also one of David Guetta's favorite models, who has several copies of it (I think he even has the python edition). 
Yes, he is wearing a Rick Owens leather jacket, Mollino model. Certainly a man of taste, as I keep telling Geoffrey.
I couldn't miss Rick Owens' famous t-shirts and tank tops, with very interesting mixes of materials, like silk and viscose. These pieces, deliberately very long, are intended to be "turned" around the bust to play with draping effects. I still had a pair of pants to find. Problem: I found that the rust color of the sneakers went very poorly with black pants, so I had to turn to jeans. I admit, I took the easy way out, because I opted for a good old pair of impeccably faded and cut jeans from Dior (I told myself that it would at least be an opportunity to show you a nice wash) . What's surprising is that the wash of the jeans I wore looked much better than the photo on the product page . There were also very beautiful reflections on the canvas, it was really magnificent. So it was accompanied by a photographer that we went to a rather surprising place, since it was a completely abandoned former tobacco factory. 
Rick Owens sleeveless t-shirt , Rick Owens jacket, and Dior jeans (Jake model). The jeans are much less dark in real life. Note the t-shirt's draping effects, which allow you to have the desired length. To give you an idea, if I unfold it completely and drop it completely, it comes to my mid-thighs.
We have a very interesting material contrast between the softness of the t-shirt and the almost grainy side of the lamb.
The famous Geobaskets with a cartoon design! The design is very strong, they go up quite high at the ankle, in short, these are not beginner's sneakers. For my part, in hindsight, I think that a pair of ankle boots from a brand like Augusta or MA+ would have been more suited to my style. However, with practice, we find a little charm in these Geobaskets (photo taken from the Internet):
The wash of the jeans is more visible in this photo. The shades are really subtle, which makes it quite expensive. In fact, what I liked about this piece is that it goes further than just imitating a natural wash, there is a lot of work on the shades of colors. When we tell you that beautiful faded jeans are expensive!
As for the football, it is the Brazuca (official ball of the World Cup) which was customized by... Rick Owens himself (the marker strokes are clearly visible)! It is a unique piece that was auctioned by Luisaviaroma for charity. It’s really an opportunity to have been able to do a shoot with it! I also believe that this is the only shoot (in the world!) where he was able to be photographed with an outfit...
No need to go to the Rick Owens boutique at Palais Royal, it's a unique piece at Luisaviaroma. It is not intended for making small bridges or casters. If this interests you, here is the page of all the fashion designers who have customized Brazucas for Luisaviaroma , it is very interesting to see how they applied to their world a simple football, for example with the Balmain ball or the balloons Zanotti and Gareth Pugh .
Note: the following photos were taken with another camera, which explains the very different colorimetry. 
As I told you, the very fluid material of the Rick Owens t-shirt (a mixture of silk and viscose) is intended to be "twisted" around the wearer's body. It's very soft... Also note the very particular shoulder of the RO jackets, slightly oval towards the top, which gives an incomparable line. This is really my favorite thing about this designer's jackets.
The grain of the lamb, which has undergone a treatment giving it a unique and very interesting result. The zipper is a Lampo, an Italian brand whose quality is very close to Riri.
So, what's it like to wear Rick Owens? It's very comfortable and really beautiful, but it's still clothing that can't be worn just anywhere. Besides, I was thinking with Gil, in photos, as soon as you have a slightly smiling face, there can be a rather strange gap between your outfit, you and the context. These are clothes with a very particular photogenicity that cannot be worn by everyone (at the same time, this is the characteristic of strong pieces). Leathers and T-shirts are ultimately quite simple to wear, but yet, it is impossible to match them with raw jeans, dressy wool pants or chinos, you need something much more sophisticated. However, do not consider them as restrictive pieces, because once again, on strong pieces, it is futile to seek versatility at all costs. Besides, the day you stop looking for “versatile clothing”, you know you are no longer a beginner. It's a must to go further than the basics. As for the Geobaskets, although I enjoyed being able to play with them on a shoot, it's not my style, I prefer ankle boots. But for someone looking for high-end, dark streetwear with real design work behind it, this is an option to consider on your style journey. In the next article, we will discover two other outfits together.
