Beach Chic, Tuscan Style

Can I tell you...about Forte dei Marmi? It's Tuscany's version of The Hamptons. I figure we're still in the thick of Summer and I might as well wax poetic about foreign resorts, especially after last week's Hamptons entry.

Forte dei marmi is about a couple of hours drive from Florence, and this beachside community is packed with young, fashion-conscious, jetset Florentines. It's the only seaside town in Tuscany that has it's own Dolce, Prada, Cavalli and Gucci stores all within a stone’s throw away from each other. And everything's open late! So you know I wanted to go and check it out.

It was May and we were in Florence to look at my Spring shoe proto types and make my corrections. I went with Steffanie, one of my designers. We had a Saturday to spare and instead of window shopping in Florence like we usually do, we decided to drive out to the beach and do some 'market research'. It wasn't summer yet so the air was cool and it wasn't humid. A perfect day for people watching.

The beach is gorgeous and quite idyllic. I couldn't help but take a typical vacation shot in front of it (hey, I live in a concrete jungle - I need to remind myself sometimes that beaches exist!). Steffanie and I also had fun doing my usual surreptitious picture-taking of beachside guys. Okay, I'm cheesy that way... but it's fun! The catch of the day was a lifeguard who, while not necessarily gorgeous, had a red speedo that stopped you right in your tracks...! I just had to get a shot.

We ate at an outdoor restaurant and watched people go by. And boy, did we see a lot of fashion. It's always interesting to me to observe what other stylish citizens around the world consider 'fashionable'. There were lots of Spring boots, platform wedges, stiletto high heels in broad daylight, print mixing, etc. The Italians certainly have a flair for putting colors together and they like to be as 'sexy' as possible. There were no flip flops to be found at all unless you were at the beach. Their idea of casual is very pulled together and quite dressed up.

Sometimes as a designer, you fantasize about a certain type of woman who really makes an effort in putting herself together, no matter what time of the day it is, no matter where she is. And here she was, multiplied into an entire community! Take a look at a few examples...