The Sartorialist

The mens and women’s Dries Van Noten stores along the Seine in Paris are two of the most inspiring stores anywhere in the world.

Not just for the collection, which you know I’m crazy about, but for the environment the collection is housed in. Every corner holds another incredible fabric, antique, or painting. There’s not many stores that I say “Oh i’d love to live here” – but this is one of them.

Don’t you think there’s gotta be a “Night At The Museum” type of movie that I could star in being stuck in the Dries Store overnight??

I could swear those mannequins were giving me the stink eye as I left.

I knew I would find her every morning at the Armani Cafe. Last time I was in Milan (a few weeks ago), I brought her a large print of a photograph I had taken of her a few months before.

I found her sitting in this perfect light, as usual, having her morning espresso.

I said hello in my limited Italian and opened the envelope that contained the print and asked if I could take another photograph of her. She took a moment to look at the print, put it down and took what has become her familiar pose – a far off stare. Just as I finished shooting this frame, I stepped towards her to say thank you and a tear fell from her eye.

I don’t know if it was the emotion of the moment, or the morning sun in her eye, but it was a particularly touching moment for me. It reminds me how much a truthful, gentle image can move a person and how much it can mean to their sense of self and their feeling of being noticed in the world.