Fashion passion

Home to an incredible number of fashion stores and top end boutiques, Milan is a well-established hunting ground for collectors of couture clothing and Italian interior design. The latest addition to this glamorous retail reserve, the city's concept stores are the perfect place in which to indulge in a full blown designer shopping spree.

Luxury megastore: the new Excelsior

Inaugurated in September 2011, Milan's brand new concept store, Excelsior, is located in the central Galleria del Corso 4, in what was once a cinema. Seven storeys of unadulterated luxury, the Excelsior is the work of celebrity architect, Jean Nouvel.
Jewellery by Tiffany, bags by Valextra, and a corner of colourful macaroons by Ladurée, greet customers as they enter the megastore. The top four floors are devoted to men's and women's wear and accessories selected by the Italian fashion guru, Antonia Giancinti. Gourmands should head downstairs, where the food halls and "Eats" take away, bistro and restaurant are situated.

Slow shopping and art c/o Carla Sozzani

10 Corso Como: an address which, for more than 20 years, has been synonymous with the latest in luxury shopping and lifestyle in Milan. The lady behind the store, the name of which you'll find jotted down in the diaries of fashion-followers the whole world over, is Carla Sozzani: journalist, gallery owner, fashion expert and sister of the editor of Vogue Italia.

10 Corso Como represents a winning combination of fashion, design, art, literature and food and the perfect place in which to indulge in the pleasures of slow-shopping whilst taking in some of Milan's most interesting art exhibitions

The bookshop is one of the city's best sources for fashion and design related literature.

The Aladdin's Cave at Porta Garibaldi

From 10 Corso Como, it's well worth walking the few steps to High Tech: a modern day Aladdin's Cave specialized in innovative home furnishings.

In what was once an ink factory, and with a large courtyard facing Porta Garibaldi, High Tech is a multi-space emporium filled with a colorful kaleidoscope of styles from every corner of the globe

Art and design, to purchase or just desire

Part designer showroom, part art gallery, the Spazio Rossana Orlandi in via Matteo Bandello 14 is a place in which ideas are transformed into trends and the search for style is always rewarded, generously. Like other cult consumer corners in Milan, the "spazio", in the vicinity of Corso Magenta, has been created in an old factory. Today the building features two floors laden with vintage and contemporary objects of desire collected by the owner, Rossana Orlandi.

Milan is a well-established hunting ground for collectors of couture clothing and Italian interior design. The latest addition to this glamorous retail reserve, the city's concept stores are the perfect place in which to indulge in a full blown designer shopping spree.