Mother & bambino trip: Pitti Bimbo, Florence

When you have two or more children you very rarely get to spend quality time with one of them by yourself. Life gets in the way, between juggling the eldest’s after school activities, the youngest’s social life, family life and work – it all gets very busy and I never seem to end up hanging out with one without the other. So I decided that I would leave the youngest with Dad and I’d take Lulu (my eldest) with me to Florence for Pitti Bimbo on our first ever Mother & bambino trip…

Pitti Bimbo takes place in the beautiful yet surprisingly chilly (at this time of year) city of Firenze, Florence. I could have gone alone but I decided it would be a great experience to take Lulu as a travelling companion/assistant. It was a magical and fun time travelling just us two together. I hope she will remember this in years to come maybe she will invite me to accompany her on her gap year (not cool Mum!). I really enjoyed seeing the show through Lu’s eyes, she took her polaroid camera to document her experience and favourites.

The travelling all went really well, Lu likes to build a Lego box on short flights, so we purchased a Star Wars fighter kit at the airport to keep her busy, somehow we managed not to lose any of the small pieces between the arm rest and by the time we landed Lulu had a fully assembled Darth Vader TIE fighter. The bus link and train from Pisa to Florence is very well organised and simple but we did giggle when the Italian conductor reprimanded us for not validating our tickets at the station prior to the train departing the station. Lulu’s tip to other travelling parents – “it’s the green box on the platform, pop it in before getting on the train”. We took an Air B&B apartment 5 mins walk from the show. Simple and easy – happy days.

Pitti is a giant of a show with the largest of high end/luxury brands in children’s fashion in attendance, with Kidz Fizz and Apartment shows it is a labyrinth of kids fashion and design. At this edition there were buyers from over 60 different countries with the numbers of Russian buyers hitting the top of the charts. In more recent times the event organisers have attempted to reach out to independent labels by creating The Apartment and Kids Fizz areas, with the further introduction of lifestyle incubators The Nest and Fancy Room.

It’s probably worth mentioning here that Pitti has a policy of no children under 12 years. There was a slight mix up letting Lulu in but they sorted everything for us in the end. Lulu’s face was a mixture of awe and excitement as she sat down taking in the runway presentation, press and cameras. She had only just narrowly avoided being ushered into the back by a lady who mistakenly took her for a model in the Apartment fashion show. Lulu gestured with her hands and said ‘no no’ in her best Italian accent whilst breaking into a fit of nervous giggles.

The vibrant energy of the Kidz Fizz and Apartment Fashion shows made for energetic and entertaining viewing. Some firm favourites from the shows Pero, Small Gatsby, Velveteen, Andorine, CAPE and Paade Mode. The #PittiDanceOff theme for this edition looked fun for the kids taking part with the children dancing in synchronicity at the end of the Kidz Fizz show. If I’m honest we took the show at our own pace and didn’t even scratch the surface of what the show had to offer, but what was apparent was the effort Pitti puts into their production and presentation. We really enjoyed the time we had talking with different designers at The Nest space (see previous post) – a really fantastic selection of young labels.

In the evening, I managed to get us completely lost trying to find the food court recommended to us by a friend and located on the 1st floor of the San Lorenzo Central Market (see visit florence). Fortunately as with all good travel stories a lovely couple came to our rescue and their son walked us unknowingly back to our apartment which was just beside the market! Our meal turned out to be great so I’d recommend it for dinner if you are visiting Pitti, especially after a longer than expected walk.

 

Here are some images from the show and a few of Lulu’s favourites:

 

CAPE – Pompoms hoods looked very sweet at the Apartment show.

 

Pero  A friend described the below coat as “eye joy”, a perfect description. Beautiful  AW17 collection, by Pero !

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Andorine This fringing dress by Portuguese label Andorine glistened and swishing it’s way down the runway. I was able to spend more time looking through their collection in NY, it’s really special !

This editions theme #PITTIDANCEOFF

 

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Polaroid Gallery

Photography by my travel companion.

Lulu aged 8

Saying good bye to little sis, Lego to Pisa

ABC123me, Tree House

Polar bear, Kidz Fizz , Mara Mea 

Joshua Sanders KIDZ, Kid’s wear magazine, Velveteen, Raspberry Plum

Carlota Barnabe, The Apartment Fashion Show,  MOTORETA, Kartell.

Krisko Design, Garbo & Friends, Velveteen, #PITTITDANCEOFF

Fashion Show’s, Outside Pitti Bimbo

Mini Chef, Mini Assistant selfie, The Apartment Fashion show.

Leaning Tower of Pisa, Bell,  from the inside.

Photographer’s note:

I loved the show because  it was interesting there where lots of different brands like The Small Gatsby and Raspberryplum, the lady from RaspberryPlum we met on the plane. There is one more brand that I like because they gave me mints and their name is ABC123me.

We went to the Kids Fizz and Apartment fashion shows there was lots of music and lights. I  got mistaken as one of the kid models by a lady who wanted me to go back stage, funny. I loved CAPE, Velveteen and Pero’s bright head things.

Then we went to The Nest where we looked at some cool clothes.

I had 4 ice creams, 2 pizzas and met a man called HAGGIS!!!

Hope you like my pictures,

Lulu x

Us at the show.