GIO'S JOURNAL

Flights of Fancy

For W’s glamorous globe-trotter, Giovanna Battaglia, it’s a fab, fab world.


Max Mara
1

Max Mara sent me the new Borsa Venezia bag as a present, and this fake bird came with it. I was rightfully confused, until it was explained to me that the ads for the bag will have parrots in them. Well, I just love my new feathered friend! I named him Giovanni (the male version of Giovanna), and he served as my personal Fashion Week adviser while I was in Milan. Unfortunately, I had to leave him there when I went on to Paris. If only Chanel would send me one, too. I’d name him Jean.”

2

“I was on a job with Jenna Lyons, J. Crew’s creative director, and there were these great jumpsuits on set. At the end of the day, I said, ‘I want to try one on and do a Jenna look!’ So I slicked back my hair and put on a pair of glasses. Jenna was like, ‘Oh, my God, I want to put one on, too!’ We are the ultimate working girls.”

3

“I always love seeing the model lineups backstage. This one is from Alexander Wang fall 2015. It looks like a beautiful mosaic—or maybe like a glamorous collage of mug shots, as if a bunch of fashionable rebels were thrown in jail together.”

4

“For fall 2015, Marco de Vincenzo did beautiful heels with thick silk velvet braids in a rainbow of colors. The plaits look like cushions on your feet—and the shoes are so comfortable, it’s like walking on pillows.”

5

“During Milan Fashion Week, our Editor in Chief, Stefano Tonchi, insisted the W team have an hour of culture at the Museo del Novecento, where works by Lucio Fontana and Yves Klein were on view. Fontana’s Concetto spaziale perfectly matched my Dolce & Gabbana jacket!”

6

“Francesca Ruffini—whose husband, Remo, is the head of the luxury fashion brand Moncler—debuted her eponymous sleepwear line at their home in Milan. Don’t the models look chic? They even had matching bras. I wish I could have worn pajamas to the shows; it would have made my life a lot easier.”

7

“The Prada fall 2015 show was so delicious from start to finish. This jacket is very futuristic Milanese.”

8

“I love the embroidery on this dress—the double gazar flowers look like neoprene.”