Lovely Schiap postcard from Ariko

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During the recent Pitti Uomo event in Florence I met Italian journalist and photographer Arianna "Ariko" Mereu, a collaborator of fashion site Design Catwalk and of fashion trend forecasting service Mpdclick.

While chatting, we discovered we had more in common than just the pain in our feet after walking all over the place for 48 hours carrying extremely heavy bags on our shoulders.

We discovered for example we have a sort of undivided and endless admiration for the International Herald Tribune's Suzy Menkes.

This meant we sort of behaved like 13- year-old groupies in front of their favourite band whenever we were around her, but we justified ourselves thinking that, after all, showing your admiration for a highly educated and respected journalist, editor and writer, is probably a rather healthy behaviour.

Ari Up, as I started calling Arianna (after The Slits' lead singer - since this is definitely one of my favourite bands of all times...), remembered I love Elsa Schiaparelli and took this picture for me at the recent Vintage Selection fair.

I love the shocking pink rose-shaped hat. In a way it confirms that Schiap was truly ahead of its time, especially if you consider how the rose fabric motif was often reused throughout the decades both in ready-to-wear and haute couture collections, for garments and accessories (see for example also Chanel's Spring/Summer 2010 haute couture collection).