036: MI’LADY OF THE NIGHT
GUEST EDITOR, SEAN SANTIAGO SERVES SALONE DEL MOBILE
Good Morning World!
I had to miss Salone del Mobile this year, which all the design girls know— happens sometimes! When life gives you lemons, introduce a guest editor. I’m really pleased to announce Y.C.T.A.I.B.O.W.M.’s first ever guest, Sean Santiago.
A beloved industry figure, an it-guy and an actual editor! Sean shows us a Salone I never could. I realize it may even help my friends and family understand what I’ve been doing in Milan that one week of April over the past few years.
Included in his dispatch: travel tips from international it-girls, disco inspired glassware, little sailor hat ambitions, that Chloé tomato chair, multiple marriage proposals, a panini pout, and of course dozens of timeless Milan tips sprinkled in each paragraph like a cracked Italian piñata.
I could not be more honored and I hope you enjoy reading his diary as much as I did. For more Sean, check out his Substack FUSSY, his podcast GAY GENIUS and his Tiktok. Thank you Sean!
036: MI’LADY OF THE NIGHT belongs to a new events vertical: ‘OUT ON A TUESDAY’ where I report on who was where, wearing what with who, and when. Today’s edition is extra special as it is the first one written by a guest, and the first one covering the world outside of New York.
To think it was just last year that Chris Black went to Milan Design Week (MDW) and dubbed it the new Art Basel! I don’t know a single straight man but I do know that last year was indeed a TIPPING POINT for MDW, which is pegged to the 65-year-old furniture fair, Salone del Mobile. “FURNITURE FAIR” is a conceptually unfuckable phrase, so that component has taken a backseat to the decidedly sexier “DESIGN WEEK” which evokes “FASHION WEEK” but not for any real reason.
It’s a week of events and parties and activations that are now spread throughout almost all of Milan’s neighborhoods, which you think is manageable until you need to bike on cobblestone streets across half the city because five Ubers cancel. I’ve been going since 2021, when I was Deputy Editor at ELLE DECOR, so suffice to say THIS IS NOT MY FIRST RODEO. And baby, you know I love to ride!
FRIDAY APRIL 17TH — SOMEWHERE OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN
The party actually starts on the flight. Chris Wolston and his boyfriend, the photographer David Sierra, have been upgraded to first class (problematic) but are kind enough to retreat into the uncouth depths of the plane (24C) to bring me snacks. Chris literally pulls half a sandwich and crudité out of his pocket?!
Fashion legend Angelica Hicks is a few rows ahead of me and comes back to say “HI” and offers this bit of advice: to always keep a pair of wired headphones with your passport so you don’t forget them and have to use the plane ones. We love an audiophile!
SATURDAY APRIL 18TH — MILANO
Salone technically didn’t even begin until the 21st (Tuesday) this year, but Saturday night sees the whole world turn out to Palinurobar for David Michon of For Scale, who had a “PARTY FOR NO REASON,” which is reason enough. (Admittedly he kind of cheated, because the bar was still open to the public. Clever!)
I run into Yabu Pushleberg creative director Bahar Ghaemi, with whom I did a panel earlier this year; French publicist Charlotte Perrier, who had the very buzzed-about L’Artisan Parfumeur installation (that I did miss in the end—I’m sorry, Charlotte! And I’m sorry, me!); and designer Sacha Leong, half of the London-based firm Nice Projects, which just redid the personal shopping suites at Selfridges. Toot toot beep beep, sweetie!
SUNDAY APRIL 19TH — MILANO
Things begin in earnest on Sunday which means I’ve planned my outfit for the day, though I don’t have time to change so end up wearing said outfit into the night, which is how a person shows up at a Jil Sander party in Madewell sale flats. (They’re honestly really cute and I don’t think anyone noticed…until now.) I get to meet Conie Vallese in person for the first time since we did a Zoom interview for Family Style back in January. I forget to ask who she’s wearing or maybe I simply don’t as an act of self-preservation.
Emma Chozick gets into trouble for interrupting a man’s conversation, but honestly I don’t know if two men should be allowed to talk to each other without adult supervision. Thank you for your service, Emma! We discuss party etiquette and the most delicate ways to insert oneself into someone else’s sustained dialogue. I myself had mere minutes previously thrown myself in between photographer Matthew Kappas and Ash Creative Director Xavier Donnelly in a manner that could be described as “UNFUCKINGGRACEFUL”. We net out somewhere around “PARTIES ARE HARD, BEING HUMAN IS HARD, LIVE LAUGH LOVE.”
After Jil Sander I walk over to the beautiful Bocci townhouse (lighting company that makes a VERY good portable lamp if you’re in the market) and graze on an installation by Andy Baraghani. (But is there any greater snack than Andy himself?? Bada bum.)
Oigall gallery founders and gay guys Andy Kelly and Mitch Zurek are outside in all Thom Browne. As I hop in a car to head to J.J. Martin’s LaDoubleJ townhouse I catch a glimpse of Andy from the back and realize he’s wearing 4” Thom Browne heels—BIIIITCH.
I share the car with Backdrop founder Natalie Ebel, who is based in LA so obviously whips out a “HOMEMADE PROTEIN BAR BY GWYNETH PALTROW” that I don’t think has “HIT THE MARKET”—and, sorry, I’m Googling this in France and that translates to “BAREE PROTÉINÉE??” Femme queen! This is eventually followed by a big friend dinner and mea culpa but this is where I have to tell you that I keep going to the same places in Milan and can never remember which is which. It was like Trattoria/Osteria di/da Something.
We run over to Bar Nico to celebrate the new Knoll collection by Dozie Kanu, who I interviewed a few years back about a Salone installation he did with Byredo. Rich Aybar, Gabriella Khalil and Raul Lopez huddle outside together as it starts to rain so I whip out my phone to show Rich the vintage Moschino top I got the day before at Vintage Delirium. He tells me I need a “LITTLE SAILOR HAT” and I’m like, “GAH HE JUST DOESN’T GET IT,” but the idea sticks with me…
MONDAY APRIL 20TH — MILANO
I start the morning with an impromptu coffee party at the Marni x Cucchi pop-up, where I run into the boys from Beni Rugs (stylist Colin King and founders Robert and Tibberio), whom I’ll see later in the day at Casa Milana, the beautiful home of architect Mario Milana and his wife and co-founder Gabriella Campagna. I take a seat outside with some of the lovely team from Stockholm’s Svenskt Tenn, who are also there serendipitously. We love a small world!
The day is loooong so I don’t get to rush back to my Airbnb until after 3. I hurriedly iron my silk Michael Kors Collection top (don’t be jealous) but it turns out the iron is broken and it leaks all over my shirt. I spiral and apply my eyebrows unevenly with two different brow pencils, neither of which is really the right shade. Eventually the shirt dries.
I run to Tabaccheria Giacomo (maybe?) to fete the new issue of Neptune with founder Daytona Williams. I party hop to WSJ with Quarters owner Nick Ozemba (someone who knows his way around a social calendar) where we run into Athena Calderone actively mothering us down in Fforme. Boop boop teet teet!
I scoot over to the Gucci party with photographer Sean Davidson and Jolie founder Arjan Singh. The Karla Otto Italy team says they don’t have me on the list so I have to yell like a sexy baby (squeak squeak let me in!) for the PS team, who do have me on THEIR list although honestly, I think I just forgot to RSVP. Whoops!
The evening ends at—wait I did take a picture of this one—Trattoria Del Ciumbia for the Camron dinner. I’m seated next to the artist and graphic designer Simon Renggli, whom I had the pleasure of meeting the night before with his husband Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear. They just literally MOVED to Milan, it turns out. La vida STAYS bella, baby.
TUESDAY APRIL 21ST— MILANO
Gabriella Khalil has a little breakfast for her new rug collection with Ege Carpets at Convey, where I once again run into Matthew Kappas which is not unpleasurable because have you seen Matthew Kappas? Marry me!
Lunch is at Portrait Milano with a Friend In The Industry. We order vitello tonnato, asparagus, a bacon-less Caesar, and ravioli. We get glasses of white wine. We talk about panels and event planning (she threw a party that was Fun) and how it all aligns with expectations from the higher-ups. I couldn’t help but wonder…does the C-Suite GET a good party?
While walking home I come across the Patrizia Fabri boutique and am struck as if by lightning—could Rich have been right? Is this…my little hat moment? I figure it’s now or never and try on like a hundred hats (five) before seeing, at the bottom of a shelf, a style that folds flat but pops out into what resembles a sailor cap but in a not stupid way. Ladies—it is almost $200. I buy it.
I change into the Moschino and a pair of low-slung Toteme pants in a very drapey felt wool. My mules are BROWN. It is not perfect but I let it go. I don’t even bother with a smoky eye, assuring myself that this much of a statement look with no makeup is even MORE of a statement. (It’s not.)
I pop by a cocktail for my good Judy, the French architect Sophie Dries, then make my way to the Chloé store to toast their new chair. I run into the publicist Rafael Azzi, who’d had lunch earlier that day with Brazilian jewelry designer Fernando Jorge, which I know because I ran into Fernando while in between appointments. Marry me! Then it’s onto the Kelly Wearstler party for her new collection with H&M Home followed by dinner at another Trattoria (or maybe an Osteria?) to celebrate the second print issue of The Grand Tourist, in which I have a piece on my friend Sophia Thaillet. I’m seated across from the Italian architect Massimiliano Locatelli, who is telling us about the new bar he opened with his boyfriend, SI MA.
Of course the temperature has dropped and it’s raining. Nick and I are back on the same circuit after dinner and run to the Cabana disco and see Kate Berry setting things straight at the door. We shout “HI” and try to call an Uber to the Future Perfect x Volker Haug party where Honey Dijon is DJ-ing. Nothing comes. We take the tram.
The party is at Detune, probably the most intimate setting where one could hope to see Honey fucking Dijon, and it is CROWDED. The Future Perfect founder David Alhadeff is feeling himself at the front of the room the entire night, which we love. My outfit is distinctly out of place here—all of the gays are in black tank tops lol—but it’s what Mr. Moschino would have wanted! Trying to think of a really brills “seamen” joke here but I’m spent. Sorry to the culture!
WEDNESDAY APRIL 22ND — MILANO
I start my day by missing the Miu Miu Literary Club talk at noon. J’arrive at 12:15 only to realize one cannot simply park a Lime bike willy-nilly, so I have to spend ten minutes hunting down a parking spot. At this point I am firmly rejected at the door, so I make my way to Sant Ambroeus to get a sandwich and pout. I randomly stop into Zara Home for no real reason other than like, I have a problem, and end up finding these really cute mesh mules for thirty-someting Euros.
I head back to Miu Miu for a later DJ set and run into Olivia Lopez and Conway Liao; Olivia made it to the talk in time and says it was good. I ask if it was better than [REDACTED]. She says [REDACTED].
In the evening I host a cocktail with Comme Si founder Jenni Lee and designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen, to celebrate Sophie’s new line, Disco Aperitivo, and close out the week.
We ended up picking coordinating outfits for the evening, which was very sweet and says a lot about how tasteful we all are. Love that for us! I paired the new deep-V shirt with a piped silk twill pant in butter with the aforementioned Zara Home slides. Actually VERY CHIC. Everyone arrives late and leaves late so I think we did a good job? Beep beep toot toot!
How do you say “NO SLEEP, BUS, CLUB, ANOTHER CLUB, PLANE, NEXT PLACE” in Italian?
Ciao, babes!! xx Sean Santiago
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