Wearstlerworld,

I keep coming back to this idea: getting dressed and putting together a room are the same act. You’re composing something. You’re deciding how you want to feel, what story you want to offer other people. That’s been true since I was a kid pulling vintage pieces, and it’s true every morning I get dressed now. So when H&M HOME and I started talking about furniture, there was always a second conversation happening underneath it, about clothes.

I’ve talked to you already about the 29-piece home collection we debuted in Milan, available September 3. But today I want to talk about the part of this project that felt like the bigger risk: the 8-piece ready-to-wear capsule. For the first time, H&M has let someone build that bridge between decor and fashion.

It’s an honor. I want to bring beauty into people’s lives and homes, to create memories, and this let me do that at a scale that reaches the huge audience H&M has built over nearly 80 years.

I spoke a little about my H&M fashion collab on the BoF podcast, with Imran, which came out the other week, and you can listen to it here, or watch it here.

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Wearstlerworld,

The thing about Crosby I am most proud of is how totally inquisitive he is. He asks me so many questions in a way that makes me more curious, makes me look at the mundane with fresh eyes. (And, I don’t always know the answers… but we like to find them out together.)

He’s always really tuned in, and I think that shows up in a lot of his habits… how he likes to dress, how he plays, what books he reaches for. And, I feel super connected to his creativity and imaginative sides.

Today, as we get Crosby ready for another year of school, I want to share where he's at, and what's getting his precious attention… other than LEGO, which is honestly his everything. (His LEGO-theme birthday is coming up… with a LEGO man styled after Crosby as a huge piñata.)

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THE LOOK

Where I am playing a lot with volume and silhouette in how I dress (and lots of that also in my upcoming capsule collection with H&M), Crosby is into color and pattern… not that I avoid those. But he's fearless, and I prefer it this way: experimental and maybe sometimes a bit unusual, rather than in perfect little outfits.

There are so, so many amazing kids’ brands now, and as much as I keep coming back to some (Boden, Milk Teeth, Maison Pimpim, Bobo Choses, and the online shop Smallable), it’s been amazing to find new ones that are now staples (The Animals Observatory and Fostered Collection are so good). Plus, there are so many great things at Zara and H&M which are, of course, super affordable.

HATS

Crosby is really into baseball caps, and thankfully there’s the Maison Pimpim garden chair hat, which is so cute. Runner up: the MT dad cap by Milk Teeth, in purple.

SHIRTS AND COATS

Right now it's all about stripes and text, or big punchy colors… with a few exceptions. He's more conservative with jackets and coats.

• The Oso & Me Edward tee is an utter staple… but I love their Jeffie tee, too.

• The Animals Observatory does a great diagonal stripe tank (that goes with their ‘ostrich’ shorts), and then I’m also a huge fan of their Toucan cardigan.

• Tinycottons striped denim shirt is a classic.

• Two great printed tees from Maison Pimpim: their Toy Horse tee, and their Chaise tee

• And trust Milk Teeth to make a super cool Formula 1 tee for kids (we’re fans, as a family).

• Jackets-wise, I love the Dôen Little Pascual jacket in Caspian blue and the Flöss Kalle jacket in green that I found on Smallable.

• Little Savage ocean blue sweater I got Crosby on our recent trip to Copenhagen.

PANTS

• Fostered Collection check pants in flax and white

• Boden denim gingham pull on cord pants, and pin stripe jeans

• Milk Teeth gogo pants (such fun volume), and Blythe Banoffee stripe dungaree (super sturdy twill)

• The Animals Observatory stripy ‘ostrich’ shorts

• Guacho Life woven belts, designed and hand-crafted in Buenos Aires

FEET

• Hunter ‘Aqua Flash’ boot, great color combination

• du Loua suede moccasins, and their lace-up-boots

• Lots of great colors and patterns on the Milk Teeth grip socks, and a great non-slip pair also from Zara

ACCESSORIES

• Away does great kids luggage… I love their blue carry-on

• H&M striped hooded bath towel

• The blue check Mini Kyomo watch

• And, the IZIPIZI ‘golden canyon’ sunglasses

OFF TO SCHOOL

Packing up for school is a little ritual, and Crosby always likes to bring along some favorite things… little pouches to keep his trinkets or LEGO, markers that pack up nicely. But the organization extends to snacks and great portable cutlery too.

• The Ekobo stainless steel lunch box and cutlery trio with silicone case

• Storq Cool Kid backpack in navy stripe or even pink grid

• Zara kids’ marker set and these jade-like green scissors

• Away multicolor packing cubes, used for travel as much as just ferrying back and forth to school

• Oso & Me pencil case

AFTER SCHOOL

The pool house has been totally transformed into a play room for Crosby, since Side Hustle has wrapped up its time there… which means big room for big ideas, and the best, and biggest, are Superspace gigantic magnetic tiles.

It’s been amazing to see Crosby execute some complicated projects with these… some architecture, some car designs… it’s been an enormous hit for us. Good to pair with the Kidywolf flashlight…

But there have been a lot of smaller-scale successes as well (again, in addition to the insane number of LEGO sets he has… the latest being the Jaguar E-Type), that are also all great contenders for kids' birthday gifts:

• The gradient dominoes I found at Getty, or the geometric pattern dominoes at MoMA (galleries always a good place to search)

• Clixo rainbow magnetic construction set

• Woom Go 1 Plus balance bike

• The Stickerbox is super cool, and so are the Oso & Me temporary tattoos of undersea creatures… (both make great gifts)

• For block heads: the IKEA FJÄLLVRÅK block set, the Blocks Capsule Tower stacking game (an interpretation of the famous Nakagin Capsule Tower Building in Japan), which I found at MoMA.

• Crosby is in the pool basically every day, and he's obsessed with the Soul Swimmers Marine Life Pool Set… diving down to grab them, over and over

• And, we’re not quite there yet, but I’ve been really eyeing the Orior foosball table… so incredible.

Last, it’s always good to have some simple craft ideas on hand… because Crosby really is a sleeves-up kind of kid: How to Make a Hanging Mobile like Julio Le Parc from Tate Kids.

LIBRARY

Crosby loves books, and we’ve got his top selection set up on a small USM unit, but let’s begin his library additions with the bookends: the Fenestra book ends, also found at MoMA, and the Morici book ends via Abask.

But, his latest books:

1. A bundle from David Zwirner gallery

2. Making Art by Diana Ejaita

3. The Snow Theater by Ryoji Arai

4. Broken by X. Fang

5. Cars! Cars! Cars! by Kimi Weart

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HOME

Spaces at my home are always evolving… just last week you saw some new pieces I picked up for Hillcrest.

… and it’s no different for Crosby’s room and the play room, which have to meet his new interests. And, he’s on the move, so easy storage is super important (canvas storage bags, door hooks, easy shelving), but also portable lamps… including a floor lamp, so light moves with him (and maybe even inside some fort-of-the-moment).

STORAGE

• H&M canvas craft bag, canvas storage basket, and foldable paper organizer (for Crosby’s drawings)

• The Alex Mill teeny tiny tote key chain is actually great for crayons, and the more roomy canvas pouch, which you can monogram

• The IKEA BÄRFIS door hooks

• Zara kids foldable striped basket and the metal mesh shelving unit

AT THE TABLE

• The Alessi Giro kids cutlery designed by Ben van Berkel / UNStudio

• David Mellor kids cutlery set (iconic!), which you can buy via Heath and also get this dinnerware set

• Zara striped flatware set or ceramic handle set, and the kids cutlery set

TO SIT

• The IKEA SMASKRAKE chair-that’s-also-a-table, and the GREJSIMOJS floor cushion set

• The Staplestein rainbow set, which brings play into seating… half game, half place to perch

AT THE DESK

• The OLOTU table clock

• Zara kids desk lamp with clip and desk sharpener, in the same palette, and their very much more mature manual table calendar

PORTABLE LIGHTING

So valuable for changing play.

• The Fortuna portable floor lamp (you hear right)

• Alice mushroom lamp, both from MoMA

FIELD TRIPS

Crosby is, by far, my favorite companion for galleries and exhibitions. He’s got opinions, but he’s also just so incredibly happy to be there, see these things, be surrounded by big, beautiful pieces of art (or design, or cars, or fashion…) and that’s completely contagious. I feel super lucky that he’s this way.

So, then, I always like to map out a few field trips, so that if it aligns with some of my travel I can bring him along and it can be something we share.

I’ll start with a couple we’ve already done, and were hits:

The LACMA Metropolis II, on permanent display, it’s a miniature city of tiny, whizzing cars racing through a multi-level grid. And, the new Dataland, the world’s first AI arts museum from Refik Anadol Studio, which opened in June, and the exhibition Machine Dreams: Rainforest is on through January 31 of next year.

What else I want to see…

New York

An hour north of the city, whenever I am there with some days to spare: the Storm King Art Center… hundreds of acres of monumental sculpture you can run between, with a handful of works made to climb into or walk through

And, in town, Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now: giant soft sculptures, a Kusama Infinity Mirror Room ( we’ve been in one before, at The Broad here in L.A.), and a spiral rotunda full of bold, everyday-object Pop art from Warhol to Cattelan. On through January 10.

London

The summertime program of UNIQLO Tate Play… a free program of participatory activities for creativity and imagination, until August 31.

San Francisco

Miró: Proof Against All at the Legion of Honor, Logan Gallery, until July next year. Crosby loves Joan Miró… simple colors and lots to relate to in terms of his gestures and the sense of play in his work.

Family Art Making at the de Young, on until September 19. And, the setting of the gallery is so beautiful, if you catch it on a sunny day.

Paris

The Jardin d’Acclimatation, which is the only amusement park within Paris city limits, next door to Frank Gehry’s Fondation Louis Vuitton (making it a great duo of activities). Their calendar is punctuated with seasonal festivals.

And the Palais de la découvert, Paris's science museum inside the Grand Palais, which reopened after a long renovation with a new dedicated kids' zone.

Sydney

Museum of Contemporary Art at Circular Quay has on Worra Munga! Ernie and Bert Dreamtime voice by John Prince Siddon, which is a 15-metre, multi-panel painted mural at the museum’s entrance, on until Spring 2028.

Nantes

The Art of the Brick is Nathan Sawaya’s colorful world made from over a million LEGO brick sculptures (… so, we know Crosby will go nuts) , reimagined masterpieces, and a 6-metre T-Rex.

Singapore

The permanent installation at teamLab Future World, which is another digital-forward experience, but super interactive: where you can, like, draw a sea creature and watch it swim to life in a digital aquarium, or slide down a hill and grow a field of fruit.

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That’s the season as it’s shaping up here… equal parts LEGO, layers, and long lists for travel, and books-to-read. If any of this sparks something for you, I’d love to hear what’s working. And if you catch us at one of these spots, say hi.

XO

Wearstlerworld,

Finding new, great things is sort of never a problem for me… I am constantly, constantly hunting, so much that it’s totally second nature. But, not everything comes home with me.

Not everything I find makes it home. But this week, a lot of it did… chairs, shirts, a board game, boots, power cords. All of it at Hillcrest now, and all of it earned its place.

And then there’s a whole host of things I’ve acquired (or am about to!) for other projects, including some pieces headed for storage, to emerge again when our home in Malibu is complete.

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MINE NOW

What goes into my home is very neutral color theory and sculptural in form, since the Georgian architecture is very detailed and soft and I need a balance to that. There's a recurring pull toward restraint that still carries real drama… and this does, somehow, seem to trickle down into what I wear too.

(1) Another co-founder of Memphis, this fountain is incredibly simple and architectural but offers so much. It reminds me a lot of the buildings of Mario Botta… for a seemingly sophisticated way that Matteo Thun uses column and round shapes.

(2) I love this piece by the artist Ren Light Pan, which I saw at Frieze here in Los Angeles. An amazing sense of moodiness and story.

(3) An expressive French Art Deco ceiling light, where the connection to the ceiling is where you find all the drama.

(4) I’ve been very into gold lately, and these hoops have the right amount of detail for to still feel like they carry some punch.

(5) A simple product that has easily become a staple in my skin care routine, and to say it’s “at home” is partially a lie… it lives in my bag.

(6) Phoebe Philo for me is one of those designers whose work always feels so thought-through, so resolved, but never without losing an edge. Even in a simple striped top, there seems to be a play with the pattern and proportion that makes it feel new.

(7) There seem to be endless forms when it comes to lighting, and this 1970s Italian opaline and metal lamp has a great vibe of both experimentation and balance.

(8) Cast iron comes with so much character and texture built in, but it’s also all too rare to find something like this, that straddles traditional and something more timelessly modern. The detail is pared back, definitely 20th century… but it has no interest in being a period piece.

(9) Bringing even more of a sense of movement into the board game that already has the most table presence, I would say.

(10) Surgeon-formulated, and great for after a work-out when your skin needs rehydrating.

(11) Scent is so crucial to the feeling of a space, and so often ignored. I love the clarity of this particular incense, that describes itself quite spot on: “weightless”.

(12) Two-tone Chanel boots that I know will last many, many decades, through many changes in my style.

(13) Two Teckel lounge chairs by Michel Mortier from the 1950s, that are pieces I feel have just the right amount of attitude to handle themselves next to incredibly expressive and sculptural pieces and not get lost.

(14) A 1980s side table by Thonet, where I think you can really see how they evolved the curved forms of their more classic early pieces… and I love when you can feel such a DNA link like this.

(15) A super digital studio inevitably needs power sources… and when need to recharge. It has to work a little harder than that to earn its place here… and I like the colors of these Detroit 5-ports.

(16) Vintage nesting tables for Cassina by Gianfranco Frattini, who is actually way more known for his work in wood, which makes these feel a little special as an expression of vision.

NOT MINE TO KEEP

For clients… which range from residential, to complex hospitality, to corporate headquarters… I always look for things that add a lot of visual or real texture to a space. Especially when it's an office, and people are probably spending a lot of time on screens, it's important for the things around them to be grounding, tactile, and carry a story. It's a pull toward form that plays tricks… volume, weight, geometry.

(1) Incredible wrought-iron display case from France in the 1930s, with these amazing curved feet. It's headed for a hospitality project… repurposed as a retail cabinet, which feels exactly right for it.

(2) An anthropomorphic stoneware lamp that we’re placing in a residence… you can absolutely imagine slugging along. By multi-disciplinary artist Darcy Miro.

(3) I also think that the basic things in your life can easily be interesting, special… like this jug by Dinosaur Designs, in a wide range of colors. It would also make a really excellent gift.

(4) A water pitcher that’s design can be traced to early, midcentury… serving silver that caught my eye for an upcoming residential project.

(5) Blue Roma Quartzite… a metamorphic marble with incredible depth. We're working it into a private residence in Bangkok.

(6) Side tables by Nerone Ceccarelli from the 1970s, with sculpted stone tops that layer geometries and dimension. Heading for a tech company headquarters in New York.

(7) This Martine Bedin vase plays a nice trick on you… it's wide, it has this sense of volume and density as you reach its lip… but really, the opening there is narrow. It’s a great play.

(8) More from the 1970s, these Porada Arredi stackable side tables that don’t “stack” like you’d expect. In fact, it’s the sort of idea of modularity and transformation and multiplication that I played with for my H&M Home collection (that is out next month…. I can’t wait).

(9) The insanely expressive D600 by De Sede, which somehow still flies under the radar while pieces from the same era… Pierre Paulin especially… are really blowing up. It's going into a tech headquarters in New York. And honestly, I hope it stays undiscovered a little longer.

(10) Ingrid Donat is one of the most influential talents in the decorative arts… so known for imbuing warmth and life into her work… these pieces are absolutely no exception.

(11) A lip balm from Officine Universelle Buly, based in Paris, that you can customize with initials. It’s a small thing, but the right small thing… and the kind of detail a client discovers on the bedside table when they walk into a completed home for the first time.

FIND A WAY

When something clicks with me, I buy it. It doesn’t always have an immediate place, but it eventually finds one… at home, in a project. And, not everyone has the luxury of a warehouse to store these things, but I also totally encourage you to take the plunge with something that doesn’t at-first make total sense. Sometimes these things spark the amazing evolution of a room, or your style.

I would love to know some of the things you’ve found recently that had that sort of impact on a space… leave a comment for me!

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XO

Wearstlerworld,

A Tuscan will tell you straight up, without a shred of irony, that this region is the most beautiful on Earth. The competition is stiff, but there is something to it… blending the eternal and the traditional, with enough of the famously relaxed Mediterranean pace. And, of course, some of the most exceptional hotels and restaurants.

The art, music, and architecture are just completely seductive, and the landscape contains so much… cliffs and sandy beaches, rolling hills covered in vineyards, jagged mountains of marble speckled with olive groves, and jewels of villages and cities full of life.

I’ve been to Italy so many times, but I often head straight to Milan (and in fact, I passed through on this trip as we were en route to Como)… it was such a pleasure to explore Tuscany for a change.

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Wearstlerworld,

Hello from southern Tuscany, where I’m on holiday with my family… which has been so amazing and inspiring. But, nevertheless, my work and the studio don’t stop. We’re at a crucial stage in some huge projects and I want to stay engaged.

It doesn’t mean micromanaging.

It doesn’t mean it intrudes on time with my family… this I would never sacrifice.

But it did take me a while to master… how to be a creative leader always. I want to share what I think it takes.

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This guide is a partnership with Chase Sapphire Reserve, who care about travel the way I do. Not as a transaction, but as a way to see more clearly. We share the belief that the best trips are the ones that change the way you look at everything when you come home. Copenhagen was new to me, but it made a huge impression.

Wearstlerworld,

It was my first time in Copenhagen, but I was packing a ton of specific, super enticing recommendations from my good friend Nicholas… and even then, my expectations for the city were completely exceeded. Copenhagen is an incredibly worthy destination, one that reveals itself to have many talents, on all levels: architecture, design, hospitality, wellness, and just an amazing ease to daily life that I found so easy to slip into immediately. (Actually, it was more like “almost immediately.”)

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Brad and Crosby came with. It’s always so nice and special (I was there to launch Perch, and for 3daysofdesign) to have family join. And especially having Crosby gives …

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Wearstlerworld,

At seven this morning, I'm walking around Cal Neva… the famed lakeside hotel Frank Sinatra once owned, and that we're now deep into transforming into Lake Tahoe Proper, which opens in two years. (We're already five years in… so you can maybe tell the scale of the ambition here…). And it's a true collaboration: something like 1,200 people are involved on a project of this scale… from our studio to the architects, the contractors, and the makers building things off-site. Nothing here happens alone.

If you want an insight into a project, this is the one and this is the time… a building with recent and layered history that needs to be kept alive (really, it is a crazy honor to work on this property; it has been and will be something special) but also needs to meet a new moment, where hospitality has changed, and is changing, so insanely rapidly.

Now is also a perfect time to check in. Here's where we're at: there's a lot of exposed framing and mechanical work. It's a time of a thousand decisions every day, of things moving from vision into firm reality. Some of those decisions redirect entire rooms, and even those are made decisively, instinctively, in a matter of seconds.

Here's a day-in-the-life, an example of how I take action in any project, on site (so important!) and in the studio… but also a first behind-the-scenes look at this storied, amazing property.

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Wearstlerworld,

I’ve just wrapped 72 hours in Paris… a city that, even it sort of always has been, is certainly now an absolute heart of creativity. But, more than that, it’s a city where so many different nodes of creativity are hyper connected and harmonious. Especially when you start with something as mind-blowing as Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel Couture collection…

I wanted to share with you some of my latest observations from Paris… what ideas I’ve pulled from Chanel, a bookstore by Henri Levy (founder and creative director of Enfants Riches Deprimes… I love this little slip dress), and new gallery of 20th century design in 6th.

When I’m walking around, the relationship and tension between things feels so present, and that makes for even a short trip here becoming one that’s immensely inspirational. You can tell from my camera roll. You can tell from the number of texts I send my assistant and my team. You can tell from how often I’ll return to the same places just to notice a different detail. And, you can tell from how many things I’ll try and squeeze into my schedule.

I stopped by Sceners Gallery, the preview of the auction of Martin Margiela’s personal archive at Maurice, Pulp Gallery, and of course, I would never miss the market at Paul Bert Serpette.

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Wearstlerworld,

I can’t always predict what will totally stop me in my tracks… a shop, an object, a lamp post, a patched wall, an extravagant window, the latch on a gate. But, I know it when I see it… a physical reaction. It’s the art of noticing, which I’ve already preached.

But, it has a super practical application, too: in sourcing. Good sourcing is crucial for projects. The right art, furniture, lighting, sculpture, objects, materials are needed to give a room its tension, soul, and a point of view.

And, I am never not sourcing… I do it everywhere: global auctions, dealer appointments, galleries, artist studios, lighting dealers, sculpture gardens, flea markets from Paris to the Rose Bowl, estate sales, thrift stores, tiny shops, strange corners, places I didn’t plan to enter. The grand and the humble both matter.

Same with what you find: I want the important painting, the DIY sculptural chair, the strange lamp, the object with no obvious category but incredible soul.

But sourcing is a muscle. You train yourself to scan, assess, value, decide, and trust the right instincts over the wrong ones. It has taken a lot to get to a place where I can totally trust myself. And here’s how I did it…

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Wearstlerworld,

There's an intimacy to hardware that nothing else in a room has. We talk endlessly about how a room looks. We almost never talk about how it feels in the hand. But the doorknob, the pull, the faucet, the switch are the most intimate objects in a house… the things you put your whole hand on every single day, often without even looking. Call it the erotics of a doorknob: the things we touch constantly deserve far more obsession.

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At our place on Hillcrest, the hardware is original to 1926 (when the place was built). Which means: large flanges, deep back plates, rim locks with the key still in them (the kind of thing nobody specifies anymore because it is easier not to), levers worn by a hundred years of hands. And the crémone bolts: that vertical rod-and-handle mechanism that locks a tall casement or a pair of French doors top and bottom in one turn. Completely functional but also a flamboyant gesture.

There is a whole vocabulary of these accessories, and each one adds nuan…

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Wearstlerworld,

Brad calls me Eagle Eye for maybe my most annoying habit, but it’s one that I would never give up.

I will stop the car, I’ll circle the block, I’ll detour… all because I’ve seen some signage I like, or a door frame, or whatever. I’ll need to get closer to it and grab a picture. If I’m ever late in meeting you, honestly it might be because A to B is always punctuated for me with the constant mission of collecting these little references.

It’s emotional for me, it’s instinctual, and maybe I don’t know why it’s relevant but training your eye is also knowing that something will be relevant to you… you know that what you’ve just seen is an anomaly and interesting and you’ll want to look back on it.

And that is taste: simply a collection of things you’ve paid attention to. And it’s creativity. The most creative people I know aren’t always the most talented, but they are definitely the most observant.

So today, my strategies for how to work the muscle of “Noticing”.

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Wearstlerworld,

Preparing for a nine-day European trip. Campaign shoots, partnerships, meetings with artists and artisans for current commissions, project meetings, family time, a new hospitality project and design festival.

I started collecting vintage at thirteen, before I had anywhere to put it… fashion was an early way of understanding objects, proportion, material, identity, and transformation.

Here’s my approach now: I treat my wardrobe like a materials library.

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Wearstlerworld,

If you could rebuild your home from scratch, what would make the cut?… It’s a question my family and I are really grappling with, deep into construction of home in Malibu after losing the last one in January.

My answer? ”Not the obvious things.”

It is the space we made for simple rituals, it’s in the quick sensory moments, it’s in how the sound of one of the boys practicing guitar carried through the open plan. And that is why I think it’s so important, even as we are still finalizing the big architectural moments (along with Ken, our architect), that small details are not an “afterthought” (they never should be!).

Architecture and interiors interplay, and ideally they can come together all at once so that you can build in a certain tension… in our case, plays of geometry, linearity, scale, volume in tension with natural materials, organic forms, unrefined textures.

But “rebuilding” is different than “building”… this is a site that holds incredible memories, a ton of attachment, so a lot will stay the same. (Actually, if Brad and the boys had their way, it would be a carbon copy!) That said, as we rebuild our Malibu home, we’re examining every detail through a new lens.

We’re asking how emerging technology can make life easier, healthier, and more connected while remaining deeply rooted in craftsmanship, materiality, and the human experience (and the lessons from our experience in that house that was).

This week, I want to explore with you how architecture and detail are intimately connected, because at the end of the day, it’s rarely the grand gestures that really make the house, it’s teeny tiny moments… one’s that connect to you super intimately. The perfect place for a morning coffee, hardware that feels beautiful in the hand, a bathroom that suits your own rituals.

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Wearstlerworld,

I shared some of my beauty essentials back in January, but at the turn of the season, a lot has to change… different conditions beg for a different look, different priorities, a different scent. And if you are paying attention, there are also always new brands and new ingredients to play with.

The height of summer, like the depth of winter, is a harsh season… a lot of sun and UV, air conditioning, it can be either super humid or incredibly dry (depending, of course, on where you are), and… if you’re lucky… you’re also dipping into the salty water of ocean or sea (very restorative, spiritually… but it can really suck the moisture out of skin).

My ambition with a beauty regime is first and foremost connected to a more holistic sense of wellness and betterment.

Body brushing that removes dead skin, or lymphatic drainage massage to reduce inflammation, always SPF (no matter the season!… I’ve long been loyal to SkinCeuticals SPF50, but I’m trying out something new… see below!)… these are core maintenance. Plus, something like the Kate McLeod foot stone to nourish your heels after (at least in my case) what will be a lot of barefoot time on beaches.

But, there is also aesthetics… I really embrace summer for it’s soft tints and glowing looks. And, that’s not for nothing.

Both core care and the finishing touches for me are about a routine that gives attention to the self… it’s a very simple, calming, tactile experience, and to go through this routine daily is about checking in as much as it is about discipline. And, it’s often time I spend with Crosby… he’s a big fan of the packaging (who isn’t, I guess?), and we have matching robes from OAS (for me and for him).

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Here is what has found a place in my (very big) beauty cabinet:

BODY

• Victoria Beckham Beauty – Portofino ‘97 Golden Shimmer Body Oil… an absolutely perfect glow of an almost amber-golden sun

• Forah – Everyday Mineral Face Sunscreen SPF 30… feels incredible, with collagen-boosting botanicals

• Bondi Sands – Light/Medium Self Tanning Foam… my EA Bella came into the studio the other day looking so glowy with this on… I immediately ordered a bottle for myself

FACE

• Eighth Day – The Rejuvenating Moisturizing Primer Broad Spectrum SPF 30… a new SPF in my regime, which goes on so well silky-smooth

• Rhode Skin – The Spotwear Trio… Hailey Bieber’s brand stands up, and I use these overnight whenever I have a small blemish to attend to

• Sofie Pavitt Face – Micellar Jar… really great make-up removing pads that are very easy to travel with, so they are definitely always with me on the road

• Monastery Made – Gold Oil Cleanser… I love cleansing oils, because they are so beautiful to use and they don’t strip your skin back

• Prada Beauty – Prada Refine Primer… a great primer for reducing pores with a matte finish so you can layer on a ‘glow' after

• Allies of Skin – Multi Peptides & GF (Growth Factor) Lifting Serum…. a great plumping serum recommended by Maria my go-to makeup artist and friend

• Dior – Capture Le Sérum… and another that is great for face and neck and helps to keep my skin firm, this one by a technology that helps bring more oxygen into the skin

• Chanel – Les Beiges Healthy Glow Highlighter… the color is ‘summer gleam’ and that is exactly what it delivers

• Sarah Creal – Long-Wear Cream Highlighter… a highlighter (which I use very light tough) that also hydrates, and is infused with peptides

• Iris&Romeo – The Reset 3-in-1 Face Mist… I just started using this hydrating mist, and I’ve been loving it so far

• Biologique Recherche – Sérum Spectral and Crème M.E.C… Biologique Recherche is one of my go-to brands, and I was very excited when they released these two new products

• Beautyblender® – Nude Makeup Sponge… I love applying my SkinCeuticals SPF50 with this beauty blender. It gives a perfect coverage.

EYES

• Rhode Skin – Peptide Eye Prep (Banana Peel)… a great de-puffing eye patch, which Crosby also likes to use… not because he needs them, obviously, but it’s a fun sort thing he can do with me

• Dr. Diamond – Peptide Eyelift… a bit of a splurge product, but the results are incredible

• Sarah Creal Beauty – Firm Offer… a combo of peptides, hyaluronic acid, and caffeine, it’s a super-packed eye cream that I find really delivers

• Cellcosmet – CellCollagen Eye Contour Masks… another recommendation from Maria, it’s another real splurge but few things really compare when you want to intensely hydrate and revitalize under-eye

• Byredo – Self Illusion Eyeshadow 5 Colors… warm, dimensional shadows that I add on if I’m heading out to dinner

• Augustinus Bader – Eyebrow & Lash Enhancing Serum… I’m a huge fan of Augustinus Bader, and this plumps up brows and keeps them in perfect order

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LIPS

• B.I.G Mouth Polite Society – Lip plumper… I rarely wear strong color on my lips, so I just want something like this… a soft tint and a great effect

• Prada Beauty – Moisturizing Lip Balm… a great lip balm in a very beautiful package, which makes it very nice to have around

• Rhode – Peptide Lip Boost… more Rhode, a brand I am really liking right now, a great gloss that I keep in my bag and gets a few applications every day

• YSL Beauty – Loveshine Plumping Lip Oil Gloss… a final recommendation from Maria, a great gloss in a lot of shades I love and the right amount of shine

• Byredo – Tinted Lip Care… maybe only in terms of this balm am I “Chromophobic”…

BRONZING

• Westman Atelier – Suntone Bronzing Drops… I’m almost always, always out of the sun (and heavily SPF-ed), so I rely on a little bit of color through makeup. I’m only ever after the tiniest touch of bronze, and with this I have so much control

• YSL Beauty – All Hours Hyper Bronzer… a powered bronzer to add a little extra, usually just before I head out to dinner

• Westman Atelier – Sun Tone Bronzing Creme… a great cream-to-powder bronzer that has a lot of control

SCENT

• Crown Affair – The Signature Scent Hair Fragrance… a scent for hair is a really beautiful thing, and just like fragrance for your body, it’s just a nice and ceremonial finale to a haircare routine

• Bottega Veneta – Come With Me Travel Scents… one thing about travel with fragrance is that bottles often end up in checked luggage because even if they are 100ml or less they are in very inconvenient shapes for getting through TSA. So, I love these Bottega travel-sized scents which are also very good for living in bags on-the-go in general

HAIR

• Crown Affair – The Radiance Hair Oil… my hair is one thing I keep almost totally consistent, and I never want it to be “shiny” really, and so I need a hair oil that keep frizz down but doesn’t turn it into a Pantene commercial

• Crown Affair – The Texture Air Drying Mousse… great for my waves and a brand I have really fallen in love with

• RŌZ – Evergreen Styling Cream… Rōz is also great for shampoos and conditioners, and their styling cream is just the same: super high quality, great ingredients (including shea butter and pea protein)

HANDS AND NAILS

• Habelo – Activating Hand Serum and Celisse Nails – The Trick, Nourishing Nail & Cuticle Serum… are both amazing serums for hand and nails, and I use them daily

• Dior – Vernis Nail Polish Shade 513 J’Adore… I’m just really into gold right now (as you can see), and this is the perfect shade for me

• Chanel – Le Vernis Nail Polish… it’s so important for me to have a polish that can hold through the summer days, and this one always delivers… plus they have two new shades that I’m loving

• Manucurist – Blue Glazed Powder… chrome and shimmer is always fun to play with during the summer months

• Hermès – Les Mains Hermès Enamel Base Coast… bare nails with a little shine is a chic look as well

FEET

• Goop Beauty – Kate McLeod Foot Stone… really great product that keeps my feet in great condition, especially looking forward to having this week during our holiday (wherever it is… we haven’t landed on destination yet!), when surely they’ll be wreaked by sand and stone by the sea

• Susanne Kaufman – Foot Cream… this moisturizing foot cream keeps skin supple and ready for whatever the day brings

• Ten Over Ten – The Sole Scrub and The Foot File… a shower staple after long days on my feet

Summer is when I want to feel especially fresh and rested, and these products go a long way in helping me feel, and look, exactly that way.

One vanity tip: A dedicated beauty fridge is a must-have for me, especially in summer (… I love this one!). Heat quietly destroys active ingredients, serums, vitamin C, retinol, eye creams. And a cool serum on warm skin in the morning is one of those small things that just sets the tone.

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Xo,

Wearstlerworld,

I take a lot of pictures for inspiration, but for that to really mean something I have to also scroll back through it… looking for things that jump out at me. Or, in this case, looking for something that seems to pop up again and again… the things I sort of subconsciously seem to be drawn to.

And for me, right now, it seems to be gold.

I never shy away from metallics, and within them there is so much to explore: how they pair together, how they gain patina, how they interact with light with such dynamism, and how really incredibly versatile they are.

Gold has never meant just one thing.

It has been revered, it has been divinity, beauty, and power, literally since ancient human histories and of course in so many great palaces, even through to something like the Art Deco Eltham Palace… yet, there is a version of gold that is both more humble and more radical.

To me, it’s got so much tension built into it… often sleek but warm-hued, strength in story but delicate in practice, it can totally envelope by only existing in details.

Let’s get into it.

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Wearstlerworld,

It’s really a season for design… because off the back of Milan Design Week, we’re almost straight into New York’s version, NYCxDesign, which also coincides pretty much with Frieze (and a few other art fairs… TEFAF, NADA…).

It’s Frieze that brings me to NY this time, actually… I’m sourcing pieces for a project here in the city. I’m sharing some snapshots of what I saw.

Back across in Italy, of course, the Venice Biennale (its art edition) has just opened, and with it also the Fondazione Dries Van Noten… something that is definitely number one on my priority list whenever I’m next there.

And… some new hotels and restaurants I think are worth your attention, and also my media diet of new print and podcasts.

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This guide is a partnership with Chase Sapphire Reserve, who care about travel the way I do. Not as a transaction, but as a way to see more clearly. We share the belief that the best trips are the ones that change the way you look at everything when you come home. Milan does that for me, every single time.

Wearstlerworld,

Milan is a totally beguiling city… and I was just back again for its design week, launching my collection with H&M Home (which was such an incredible experience, and last week I shared a lot of the BTS of how we brought it together).

From Milan’s architecture (imposing, detailed, impressive), to its restaurants, galleries, and just the way design histories and futures find their way into every corner of the city… it makes this one of my favorite places to be. And I wanted to share the spaces in this city that make it, for me, an endless source of inspiration.

MY MILAN

I’m up before the city. (Usually the case, wherever I am… but definitely here.)

By 5 a.m. I’m out running, camera in hand, taking pictures of absolutely everything… in the half light of the morning, you sort of see the proportions before the people, and so details and aspects change and reveal themselves as you approach: a doorway, a stone threshold, a bronze handle, a courtyard. By the time the cafés open and the first espresso hits the counter, I’ve already sent about 1000 images back to the studio.

Half my best ideas live in the photos I take before breakfast… no better lesson in shape, scale, and atmosphere than an empty Italian church at 7 a.m.

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The museums here, from the Pinacoteca to the Fondazione Prada to Villa Necchi, are total masterclasses in how art and architecture can live in conversation. And furniture galleries here treat 20th century Italian design the way other cities treat Old Masters: with total reverence, scholarship, and also little drama. Gio Ponti, Carlo Scarpa, Gae Aulenti, Osvaldo Borsani, Cini Boeri. They were the best; they really shook up the design world… and in lots of ways, they still do.

The pleasure of Milan is coexistence: of past and future, of discipline and rebellion.

Plus, I always come home with one vintage wallpaper roll, one piece of vintage I’ll wear forever. The sign, for me, of a successful trip.

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STAY

The hotel scene in Milan is strong, and getting stronger… like so many storied European cities, there’s an unbelievable mix of tradition and modernity, and also always many more "coming soon." I stay at The Portrait Milano, but I think even the city’s newer hotels, like the latest Rocco Forte collection property, The Carlton, manage to pull from the city’s super elegant design history. Fresher openings often have more of a wellness and fitness offering, which is important to me, so I often lean towards these…

The Portrait surrounds a spacious courtyard just off the end of Via della Spiga, and is home to Milan’s Beefbar and the 10_11 restaurant that spills out into a beautiful garden. Both have incredible service. Baha, who is their Hospitality Ambassador Concierge, and Gabriele, a guest assistant, were out of this world, honestly. Always a step ahead of me.

A big reason I stayed was that it’s part of The Edit by Chase Travel, which… as a Sapphire Reserve cardmember… gives you perks. And, I don’t refuse perks. Complimentary breakfast every morning, which for me is a green juice… a $100 property credit I can put toward a dinner or treatment (The Portrait has an amazing spa, the Longevity Spa)… and room upgrades (when available).

You can see all of that here. Since being a member, I can tell you I’ve never looked back.

STAY

• The Portrait Milano: This was maybe my fourth time staying at the Portrait Milano… and the former-16th-century-seminary setting is so peaceful (though during Design Week here, there’s a special buzz). Plus, Michele Bönan suites bridge the gap from the Renaissance to the 20th-century. The spa and the gym are incredible, with everything you need… pool, sauna, cryotherapy. Plus, I love how you can step out and have the best access to the shops and the entire Quadrilatero della Moda.

• STRAF : Vincenzo De Cotiis designed this one… concrete, black slate, scratched mirrors, burnished brass. It has a real Arte Povera spirit that feels very raw and intentional.

• The Carlton: Interior design by Olga Polizzi and Paolo Moschino. It’s where Art Deco meets warm burnished tones… it has a very private-residence feel.

OPENINGS ON MY MIND

Lots of amazing new properties on the horizon in Milan, that are worth noting if your trip isn’t imminent… the new JK Place Milano, again a Michele Bönan design, the Six Senses Milan, across from the Pinacoteca, by Tara Bernerd & Partners, and the METT Milan Torre Velasca… a huge moment for the city… the post-war modernist icon by BBPR is being meticulously restored and this will be a chance to experience it from the inside.

EAT & DRINK

A big part of how I travel is experiencing the hospitality and design of the restaurants I love. As a Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmember, I earn 3x points on dining worldwide.

Italy is one of the best countries for food, and even within that context, Milan stands out. Its restaurants, patisseries, cafés have two moods… really amazing, sleek, edgy new players are sometimes just across the street from magnetic, humming institutions that have defined the city for decades. Giacomo has the vibe of a private club; at Bice, the best branzino in the city is deboned at the table as a bit of drama and theatre; and then at Trattoria del Ciumbia, you feel Milan step into a new version of itself, blending iconic designs with very fresh new ones.

- MODERN

PASTICCERIA

• LA BRUMA: a contemporary pastry counter with a clean-lined fit-out and stripped-back finishes. No nostalgia here, just great form.

• Via Stampa: Located on Via Stampa 8 in Carrobbio, it’s bright, and spacious, and spare, but with so much texture from the wood bar, the parquet floors, and the Lombard seasonal menu.

LUNCH

• LúBar: Right next to the Gallery of Modern Art (GAM), with a beautiful terrace and neoclassical architecture, perfect for a midday rest and refuel especially when the weather is good. The Indro Montanelli Garden in front is stunning.

• Nebbia: Hushed and neutral. Raw plaster and pale wood ensure there is zero distraction from the artistry on the plate.

• Sandì: Pared-back, super clean and has nods to an industrial aesthetic, and has really taken Milan by storm. I feel like everyone during Design Week had just been or was about to go.

COFFEE

• Atelier Prato: A flower shop and café hybrid. I love how the blooms bring a seasonality into the space, and an incredible scent.

• Eris: A cool, young vibe, and always something going on… pop-ups and collabs that mean Eris is a place for more than just a caffeine hit.

APPERITIVO

• Bar Luce: Wes Anderson designed space at the Fondazione Prada, with a pink terrazzo and a pastel palette, referencing 1950s Milanese cafés.

• Enoteca Cotti: A historic wine shop with wood-paneled walls, bottles floor to ceiling.

DINNER

• Langosteria: This is an amazing seafood restaurant on Via Savona. It’s a glamorous, intimate, highly decorated dining room. The Sea Bream arrived on a silver platter, before the fish was cooked. The spaghetti alle vongole is some of the best, if not the best, I’ve ever had.

• Trattoria del Ciumbia Dimorestudio: Designed by Dimorestudio, opaline ceiling lights in liver-red panels, custom mosaic tile floors, and Castiglioni lamps… such fantastic design, and the food lives up to it.

DRINKS

• Bar Nico: Sagoma Studio created this altar-like concrete-and-steel counter in a former tire shop. It feels very much like an Edward Hopper painting, in good ways.

• Mogo: In a former brewery, converted by Giorgia Longoni Studio with a 360-degree central bar anchoring the room.

• Balay: Studiomille kept the original patterned tile floors and distressed plaster here. They layered dark wood and metal on top, and the counter doubles as a DJ booth.

- TRADITIONAL

PASTICCERIA

• Marchesi 1824: I went here with my team, plus Richard and Harvey from Flamingo Estate. Richard is obsessed with this patisserie, which is one of the oldest in Milan. Miuccia Prada ended up buying a majority stake, as part of how she wants to give back to her hometown, and preserve its culture… since, they’ve expanded it, bringing us new outposts.

• Pasticceria Cucchi: This 1936 café-concert still has furnishings that were last updated in 1954… Marni took it over during Design Week this year, if that sort of tells you a bit about its cachet.

LUNCH

• A Santa Lucia: These rooms have been maintained exactly as they were in the 1930s. The walls are dense with celebrity photographs and the staff still wears classic white jackets.

• Antica Trattoria della Pesa: Open since 1880, and still a hot spot. Dark wood boiserie, a majolica-tiled corner stove, and all of its original vintage signage… fantastic.

APERITIVO

• Camparino in Galleria: 1915 Liberty interior details an ebony bar and mosaic floors on the square of Milan’s insanely beautiful Duomo, so always a nice first-day stop in the city to remind yourself where you are.

• Four Seasons Garden: A courtyard garden of a converted 15th-century convent. It is cloistered, beautifully planted, and feels discreetly grand.

DINNER

• Da Giacomo: Designed by Renzo Mongiardino, at the entrance you’ll see the catches of the day so beautifully displayed over ice. The pistachio-colored walls are totally signature.

  

  

  And the ‘Giacomo’ universe has really been brought to many other corners of the city: Giacomo Arengario: a restaurant designed by Studio Peregalli inside the Museo del Novecento. Giacomo Caffè: inside the Palazzo Reale. Giacomo Tabaccheria: an all-day bar and deli on Via Sottocorno 5. Pasticceria Giacomo: this is the pastry workshop for the whole group. There is no seating here, so you should take your treat over to the Tabaccheria.

• Bacaro: Hidden off Via Montenapoleone through a passage, into an intimate, cozy courtyard. I went here to have dinner with my team and H&M Home’s team, dining al fresco. Fresh cheese, beef carpaccio, warm bread, and pasta that just melts in your mouth. The artichoke plate was a standout. We sat at a long dinner table, making us feel like one big Italian family.

  

• Sant Ambroeus: The 1936 original was redesigned in 2022 by Fabrizio Casiraghi. It features forest green walls, mosaic floors, and stunning Murano chandeliers. Flamingo Estate hosted a dinner here and made the most insane Principessa Cake I’ve seen.

DRINKS

• Bar Basso: Opened in 1947 and the decor hasn’t changed since the ‘60s. Pink walls, crystal chandeliers… it’s a genuine time capsule.

MY GO-TO ORDER

I always seem to order spaghetti alle vongole… which is so simple and delicate, but also tricky, so it’s a real testament to a restaurant when they do it well. My favorites in the city: Da Giacomo and Langosteria.

GELATO

Three names for the best gelato in Milan. Marghera, Giusto, and Pavé. I love them for different reasons, and I make time for all three.

SHOP

Of course Milan as a major “design city” extends into its identity as a fashion capital, alongside Paris as a leader in the industry. And, that also means there is great vintage here.

Unlike some other cities, a lot of its luxury shopping is along a really intimate, pedestrianized street… or in very special places like 10 Corso Como, founded by Carla Sozzani, that is a total oasis.

VINTAGE FASHION

I always come home with at least one piece I’ll wear for the rest of my life. That’s the real measure of vintage.

• Bivio: This shop consists of several rooms where the clothes are well-ordered in an industrial rail-and-rack format.

• DMAG: A multi-floor designer outlet that has been around since 1990. They carry over 200 brands at a discount and the labels are organized perfectly by brand.

VIA DELLA SPIGA

Via della Spiga is my favorite pedestrian street. Here, 19th-century facades frame boutiques where architecture is as considered as the product, and Nilufar Gallery at no. 32 Via della Spiga is a must-visit. The intimate rooms mix mid-century masterpieces with emerging designers, such amazing curation by Nina Yashar.

On the street:

• Tivioli: If you want to splurge on a world-class Italian leather jacket, you go here. No alternatives.

• Marsèll: This shoe shop was designed by Lotto Studio using travertine and Brenta river cement walls. The minimalist style was a perfect pairing to their simple-but-striking shoes and bags.

DEPARTMENT STORE

• La Rinascente: This department store features ten floors of luxury, across from the Duomo. The food hall on the top floor has a honeycomb acrylic ceiling that glows amber.

• Nano Bleu: This is a historic toy shop near the Duomo that has been around since the 1950s. The atmosphere is unchanged since, and of course I had to stop in to get a gift for Crosby.

CONCEPT STORE

• 10 Corso Como: Founded by Carla Sozzani, this store was recently reworked by 2050+, and is really an absolutely must-see for its warren of shopping and gallery spaces, it’s blending of architecture and graphic design and display and fashion, and for a glass of wine in their garden.

BOOKS

• Bookshop Mondadori Electa at Triennale:Designed by Patricia Urquiola, you should not miss this when you go to the Triennale (which you must do). A great selection of design books.

• Milano Fashion Library: Located at Via Alessandria 8, the 500-square-meter loft is Europe’s largest fashion archive. It contains over 75,000 publications from the 1850s onward to peruse and some to buy.

FASHION

Milan is a true home to fashion… Prada, Bottega Veneta, Marni… the energy is real here, in a way similar to Paris. But there are also a lot of smaller brands and shops that have nestled into the city, challenge it, and give it some amazing diversity and texture.

• Uma Wang: This is the brand’s first store outside of China. It is an apartment-style boutique in Brera with parquet floors and understated, intimate wall tones.

• Antonia: The most incredible curation of emerging and established designers. It’s inspiring. And, the merchandising was noteworthy in and of itself. Plus, having one of the locations in my hotel, The Portrait Milano, was convenient and a little dangerous.

• Lorenzi Milano: A family-owned business located in the Palazzo Bolchini, right next to our H&M Home show at Palazzo Acerbi, so it was something I just stumbled upon. I had known about this brand before but they have everything from wooden hair brushes to amazing, sculptural scissors. I bought some gold-and-metallic scissors melded into the shape of a crane, just perfect as a gift.

DESIGN

• Officina Antiquaria: This 140-square-meter space on Via Scaldasole hosts decorative arts and design from the 16th century to the 20th.

• Raimondo Garau: A large, bright showroom that has been run by Garau since the 1980s, and I think he’s a master at arrangements and even just for that, it’s an inspirational place for me to visit.

• Spazio RT: Founded by Antonio and Jacopo Tabarelli de Fatis, it’s a design firm and showroom that is another impressive dialogue between historical design and contemporary furniture… a real Milanese skill.

GALLERIES, DESIGN, AND ARCHITECTURE

Milan has been producing the most incredible galleries, palazzos, and villas for centuries… and the details are so layered, the staircases, the floor patterns, the gates. (We hosted our H&M launch in the amazing Palazzo Acerbi, which had never been used during Milan Design Week before!)

But it’s really Aldo Rossi who is Milan to me. Born here, trained here, theorized here, built here. His book The Architecture of the City reframed the way a generation looked at the urban fabric, and his drawings, his Alessi pieces, his Gallaratese housing, all carry that same Milanese instinct for memory, archetype, and form.

He also designed Monument to Sandro Pertini in the Piazza Croce Rossa… and you can feel his hand in every inch. The pink and grey Candoglia, the geometry, the way the light falls through the slit in the cube. Architecture as total poetry. I never walk past it without slowing down.

And, don’t leave Milan without paying respect to Memphis. What Sottsass and the group did in 1981 is still the most radical thing in any room they touch. Color, laminate, geometry, irreverence. Design with a sense of humor and a sense of self. One of my favorite movements of all time.

GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS

• Triennale Milano: This is the ultimate design and art museum in Milan. There’s never-ending design inspiration… Giovanni Muzio’s 1933 Palazzo dell’Arte in Parco Sempione… rational, monumental, and designed as a flexible modular container. The recently renovated ground floor by Luca Cipelletti restored Muzio’s original restaurant rooms.

• Dimoregallery: My good friend Britt Moran, one of Dimore’s founders, was in the space and showed me around. This used to be an old bank on Via San Vittore al Teatro… down in the original basement vault, the safe opens to the preserved space-turned-atelier shop and is an amazing, cinematic warren of rooms.

• Sforza Castle: BBPR oversaw the postwar museum conversion of this 15th-century fortress… medieval brick volumes house Michelangelo’s last Pietà.

• Massimo De Carlo: This is a Portaluppi gem from 1934. The restoration reveals eight rooms of mixed colored marble and a spiral staircase originally designed for the 1933 Triennale.

• Gió Marconi: Kuehn Malvezzi converted a backyard workshop into these gallery rooms. You reach them through a beautiful sequence of courtyards.

• Nilufar Depot: A former silverware factory, this is where I always go to find new pieces for my upcoming design projects. The curation of artists… I’m always in awe of what they have. I saw the most insane ceiling lamp by Flora Lechner, an Austrian designer out of Vienna. The tapestries caught my attention… incredible jewel-toned drapes by Polish designer Sonia Górecka… influential in every way.

• Pirelli HangarBicocca: This contemporary art museum is located in a former locomotive factory. Three distinct spaces unfold across 15,000 square meters… the Shed (red brick), Cubo (main exhibitions), and Navate, a 30-metre-high hall containing Anselm Kiefer’s incredible Seven Heavenly Palaces.

• Pinacoteca di Brera: In Brera Palace from 1776. Between the monumental courtyard with a Canova statue of Napoleon Bonaparte and interiors gradually renewed while retaining historic room proportions, it remains one of Italy’s great painting collections… Raphael, Caravaggio, and Mantegna.

• MUBA – Museo dei Bambini: Milan’s Children’s museum is inside the Rotonda di Via Besana, an 18th-century deconsecrated baroque church with a soaring dome and stone columns… it is now a minimalist, child-scaled installation space by BDGS Architetti.

• Fumagalli & Dossi: This is an amazing plaster workshop tucked in a historic courtyard. The fine chalk dust and super patinated walls remain entirely unchanged.

DESIGN AND ART FOUNDATIONS

• Fondazione Prada: This OMA/Koolhaas project is set on a former 1910s gin distillery. It consists of seven existing buildings plus three new ones, including a pavilion clad in 24-karat gold leaf and a tower with a pink onyx elevator… really a sight.

• Achille Castiglioni Foundation: Studio museum, guided tours only. Piazza Castello 27; Castiglioni’s working studio preserved exactly as it was… drafting boards, prototypes, his collection of anonymous found objects, the Zanotta Bramante table at the center, guided by his wife and daughter.

• Fondazione Sozzani: Carla Sozzani’s photography and fashion foundation, now headquartered in Bovisa… industrial former factory space hosting archives, a dedicated photography library, and a changing program.

• Fondazione Luigi Rovati: Mario Cucinella carved these subterranean domed galleries from 30,000 individually cut Pietra Serena stone segments. The architecture references Etruscan tombs of Cerveteri beneath a renovated 19th-century palazzo.

• Franco Albini Foundation: Newly relocated to Via Saffi… the archive of Italian Rationalism’s most understated master, 22,000 drawings, visit by appointment.

VILLAS AND HOUSE MUSEUMS

• Osvaldo Borsani Home: The current owner of Osvaldo Borsani’s flat gave us a private tour during our time at design week… we showed up unannounced, I must admit. Walking through the incredible space, the sculptural fireplace with banquette seating is unlike anything I’ve ever seen… the dark wood lacquered hallways, the stairwell painted in red, marble steps, custom metal railings. The Italians just get it right… every time.

• Villa Borsani: Located north of Milan in Varedo, this was Osvaldo Borsani’s 1943 rationalist family home. It showcases a Lucio Fontana fireplace and a Candoglia marble staircase which is incredible.

• Villa Necchi Campiglio: This 1935 rationalist villa by Portaluppi shares an arabescato marble base, a lapis lazuli table, and tartan-pattern marble floors. There is even a star window in the toilet… it famously served as a film set for “I Am Love”.

• Casa Museo Boschi di Stefano: This house museum is a Portaluppi-designed apartment. The entire second floor is still configured as collectors Antonio Boschi and Marieda Di Stefano left it, with walls dense with De Chirico, Fontana, and Boccioni.

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Milan has truly become one of my favorite cities in the world. What didn’t I include in my guide that I should check out next time I’m there?

Ciao, for now, Milano.

See all my other travel guides here.

Wearstlerworld,

When I started talking with H&M HOME about two years ago, I couldn’t have predicted what it would become, or how much it would mean to me.

It is such a privilege to show up on your screens through Wearstlerworld every week. Design is what I love, and I think it is so important to care about and invest yourself in the spaces around you. I want to do everything to communicate just how much that care for design can do for your life… it’s about expression, meaning, and well-being. This collaboration with H&M HOME feels like a way not just to speak to as many of you as possible, but to show up in your homes. To communicate through objects at a new scale, not just words and images.

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Wearstlerworld,

Milan is one of those cities that always delivers for me… I inevitably, always find something so special in fashion, vintage design, some unexpected object… and I leave feeling completely inspired, with a sharper point of view. It’s fuel.

And then there are its rituals. A double macchiato to start the day, taken standing at the bar. And where coffee is fast, lunch is long, turning into afternoons where I let myself indulge in the simplest things done totally perfectly… pasta, bread, olive oil. It’s a kind of restraint and decadence at the same time, and a great lesson across the board. The right ingredients don’t need fuss.

The city has this imposing but balanced masculine architecture, you see up close the work Piero Portaluppi (of which I’m a big fan), and Borsani, and Ponti… and it’s just an unbeatable design scene. A scene that reaches a wild, chaotic zenith every April during Milan De…

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Restraint has been on my mind… as something that is not about limitation, but a way to give a space clarity.

I just realized this today while designing the Polymarket headquarters in New York… it’s all been about how simplification, and one strong element of storytelling.

There’s an approach to design where spaces come together through accumulation: where more pieces, more layers is the achievement. But, what I always come back to is way more simple. For me, achievement is the one thing… the one gesture that holds everything everything else in place.

There is a huge power in that one thing. A power move.

And, that’s what I think designers need to master.

In my own work, it’s rarely about perfecting every corner. But there is a major Do and Don’t. Do make sure you’ve brought the room into focus, and Don’t let the room over-explain itself.

Today I wanna talk about these decisive moves.

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