We will arrive in Milan at the end of our trip to Italy. My beloved wants to do some shopping before we go home. Where would the smart fashion-istas shop in Milan on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday? This will be the last weekend in June so there will be a flea market. A flea market in the fashion capital of Italy can't be bad. We will, of course, visit the famous Gallery vittoria emanuele shopping complex. That's a no brainer. I'm looking for local advice. Zero points will be awarded for those pointing out that three days in Milan is too much time. They simply don't know my girlfriend. Grazie, Ciao!
Posted by
Austin
974 posts
The Golden Quadrilateral is the area in which to shop, if you are used to Barneys NY, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Ave prices for the inexpensive shops found there. The Armani superstore is there. I hope she has a trust fund. It was interesting to look and enjoy the very particular Italian eye for style , even in the creative window displays. I bought a woolen scarf. We hunted for a leather jacket for #2 son the least expensive good quality jacket we found was 638 euros. Did not buy, as J. Peterman is better and less expensive. Get the RS book. He mentions the city block sized department store (across from the Duomo) - it's much like the Beehive in Amsterdam, a series of individual shops ( Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Prada, etc.) It's the same stuff as here but the exchange rate does not make it less expensive for the most part- well, maybe the Bottega is a little less..... ) There are supposedly some importer/warehouse type shops which let in tourists for individual purchases but hotel said they were not usually worthwhile for the time spent looking. There are outlet malls which operate buses for day trips; maybe you could visit the Ambrosiana and have a couple rounds of gelato while she goes there. I liked Milan and thought 3 days there was well spent and would go back, but we were not shopping.
Watch out for the fake designer purses on the street. There will be shopping brochures in your hotel lobby, so wait till then to fine tune.