From Milan to Manhattan: This Italian individualist ditched slacks & found her personal style in NYC

In a country that produces the vibrant geometric prints of Versace, the colorful avant-garde leather goods of Gucci, and the intricate lattice lines of Bottega Veneta, India Sambuy strikingly finds salvation in New York City from the antiquated and muted minimalist style of the Italian workforce. Before traveling to Manhattan in August to receive her Associates degree in fashion marketing, India worked in a corporate consulting firm near Milan, Italy, where she sported “pants not jeans, nice shirts, nothing too showing, nice suit jackets, long skirts, and always very polished shoes,” every day. Her approach to style, however, strays far from the mundane repetition of the dress code traditions that have been upheld for generations in Europe. India’s style is unique to herself and “varies a lot,” often related to and dictated by her own experiences, or people and things that she admires. She has since been able to channel her free and spontaneous spirit into the melting pot of style that is welcomed and celebrated in New York City. India sits with her hair pulled back to reveal her geometric gold jewelry, in her crisp ensemble of sage green Italian custom tailored corduroy trousers, a simple black turtleneck, and trainers. While her outfit pays homage to her geographical origins, she upholds her personal admiration for a carefully crafted outfit that illuminates her character. India explains that “when I moved here to NYC specifically, I felt way more free to wear whatever I want, even my PJ’s on some days...New York made me way more free to visually listen to my mood and then decide what to wear, and also to play more with colors.” India then sank lower in her seat when mentioned how she would return to stiff blacks and blues upon returning to Italy because, “people would like, be, not scared... but very surprised.” I give her six more months of freely expressing herself in Manhattan’s hub of multiculturalism before she pirouettes through the streets of Milan in her hot pink pants, paying no mind to any close-minded gawking stares that she might receive.

I: My name is India, and I’m from Italy. I moved to New York for Parsons in August, I started the AAS the associate degree in fashion marketing. So yea this is my second semester, I’ll be here for three semesters at parsons specifically, but New York hopefully for more. What would you say your personal style is right now? I: Today right now? Okay so, I think today specifically like I'm wearing these pants that are made by a tailor that is in Turin my home town that does stuff for my family a lot, and they specifically were designed by my Dad. So kind of like today takes me back to maybe my origins. There are some days that my style is inspired more from where I’m from and other days where my style is more inspired by New York or other experiences. What makes it unique to you? I: since I feel like every day that I wake up I’m in the mood for a different thing, so my style varies a lot. I think it all comes from my experiences and things that I see or people that I admire. So your personal experience translates to what you experience so the only person who can be that is you?? I: Yes exactly, it all related to my own experience How has it developed since pre Parsons until today? I: Well in Italy I was working in consulting so there was kind of like a dress code, and I worked full time so that would be my style every day, because I would get up and go to the office- but I really loved it because it was fun and corporate. And what did that look like? I: It was always pants not jeans, nice shirts, nothing too showing, nice suit jackets, long skirts, and always very polished shoes. But when I moved here to NYC specifically, I felt way more free to wear whatever I want, even my PJs on some days. And here I usually wake up in the morning and I go to a yoga class, so half of the days you see me on the streets. I'm probably wearing my yoga clothes because then I run errands around town and I don’t go home to change. But I’d say that New York made me way more free to visually listen to my mood and then decide what to wear, and also to play more with colors. I feel like in Italy, it’s much more downtrend colors and blacks blues dark colors, whereas here I have those bright green pants that I wear, you know, hot pink, which is stuff that I would never wear at home for example, even if I were to go back now because people would like be not scared... but very surprised.