On her latest trip to Italy, Chairish co-founder Anna Brockway shopped Parma’s famous fair Mercanteinfiera. See an edit of her favorite Italian-inspired finds, read her tips below for planning a vintage tour of the area, and stay ahead of the style curve with outfit ideas from Anna’s Italian excursion, courtesy of our friends at Tuckernuck.
SHOP ANNA’S ITALIAN-INSPIRED FINDS >>>
Why did you go?
Over the years, I’ve heard about the fair as a legendary treasure chest of fantastic European finds. It’s in Parma, Italy, which is a bit off the beaten track. It’s a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Milan, and it’s a beautiful small Italian city. The name of the fair–Mercante-in-Fiera–translates to Merchant’s Fair, which it most definitely is as it attracts top dealers and designers from around the world.
Nate Berkus told me years ago that it was one of his favorite antique markets in the world. Because of its location, I hadn’t been able to attend, but through a lovely guy and a fantastic Chairish dealer named Tom Preston (of Bell and Preston) I was introduced to the marketing team behind the fair.
They invited me to join them in Parma to see the show. I went with a group of designers, and we had a ball. We all stayed at the same hotel, along with a bunch of other dealers and groups of designers. I was in a group with Cynthia Ferguson, a great interior designer out of Toronto, along with Alexis Tompkins and Leann Conquer from Chroma Design.
In a completely surprising turn of events, there was an author with us, Frances Schultz, who works for Veranda and wrote my mom’s favorite book called The Bee Cottage. She’s a great writer and a lovely person. I have a pied-a-terre in New York, and she lives in my building! Her sister also just bought a unit next door to me on the same floor. Small world!
I’d been talking about doing something with Tuckernuck, so we did a co-promotion of the fair, with Chairish and Tuckernuck working together. We photographed the fair and some amazing locations around Parma: the Duomo, the main square, all over the town. Parma is the hometown of prosciutto, and the food is fabulous, Northern Italian style.
We shot at a beautiful private home in a stone palazzo, with an inner courtyard and fabulous reception rooms with painted ceilings and frescoed walls. The home has been in the same family for a very long time.
It was a very fun, whirlwind trip.
What treasures did you discover, and what should people scoop up from the Chairish Parma collection?
The fair is very big, with six large-scale pavilions. There’s everything from furniture and lighting and art to jewelry and vintage clothing. It’s quite extensive and diverse. One of the most impressive things was the Murano lighting. Parma is not far from Venice, and there’s Murano for miles. Fantastic pieces.
Another great thing were these rather humble cabinetry pieces that were painted with dusty, muted, chalky colors and patterns. They were very Italian looking, and had the powdery texture of old Mediterranean paint.
There was a ton of Italian rattan and wicker. It was so beautiful. There were bicycles, seating, chairs, and lighting–all in wicker. There was also Mondrian-like glass, colorblocked, mid-century cabinetry. There was a lot of mid-century jewelry with animalia vibes: snake bracelets, drop earrings. I saw a lot of branded leather goods, including old Chanel, Hermes, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton–including trunks, which was fun to see.
There was a lot of mid-century lighting. One of the things we see on Chairish is an interest in Italian 1950s, 60s, and 70s pieces. It was not necessarily branded, but there was a lot of it there. A lot of chrome, with hot colors in some cases, and a lot of mid-century seating. Italian armchairs, and that sort of thing.
There was crumbly Italian art, with lots of old mirrors and art in old frames. A lot of Baroque, late-Renaissance-style gold mirrors, which were really fantastic.
There was a guy who sells the front grill plates from classic cars, like old Mercedes. They look like a work of art, these huge chrome Mercedes logos. Mick Jagger used to check into hotels under the pseudonym Mr. Mercedes Benz. This dealer was for him!
There were beautiful antiques from the late 1800s to the 1930s. That beautiful Italian polished olive wood, in handsome cabinetry and dining chairs. I saw fantastic Aldo Tura wrapped leather pieces, like bar carts and attenuated looking seating.
What did you love most about Parma?
Authenticity. If you were on a standard Italian tour, you may not visit Parma, because it’s small and less traveled—but what a miss! Parma is in the Emilia-Romagna region known for its prosciutto and cheese so the food is bananas good. I mean, does it get any better?! It’s also home to the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world. So in addition to stunning old world architecture, piazzas and courtyards there are lots of students bringing vitality and modernity to the streetlife and cafes. It feels very authentically Italian. It’s a truly charming, off-the-beaten-path city. And during the Mercanteinfiera, the city floods with creative business people with excellent taste. Super inspiring.
ON STYLE
Describe your style in a couple of words. Do you have any style icons?
- Vintage-inspired. Idiosyncratic. Colorful.
- I’m inspired by Lee Radziwill. She never made a mistake.
Where do you find style inspiration? For your home and your closet?
For my closet, I’m more inspired more by the sidewalk than the catwalk and by historical references, particularly from the early to mid 60s. Lee Radziwill is an example.
For my home, it’s really a lot from travel and from the work of the interior designers with whom I’m lucky enough to work. I’ve also learned a lot from hotels and how designers treat things in hotels, where they can be a bit more experimental.
Shop The Chairish Parma Collection
ON SHOPPING
What is your best piece of advice for those that are new to vintage shopping? Where do you start?
- Believe in love at first sight.
- Always negotiate.
- And don’t wait, because great one-of-a-kind things get snapped up fast and are gone forever. As we say . . . Nothing haunts you like the vintage you didn’t buy.
What is your approach/opinion on buying art? How do you know if a piece is a good find?
Firstly, do you instantly love it? Don’t get hung up on dimensions or where you will put it. If you adore it, you will find the perfect spot. There’s always room for what you love.
Advice for integrating your finds back into your home?
It’s about experimenting and moving things around, both the new pieces and the pre-existing ones. I very rarely have something that stays the same in my house for more than a year or two. I move things around all the time, making way for new pieces, juxtaposing things in a new way to freshen things up. Also when experimenting, have a wee bit of patience and let thing sit for a day or so before you try another configuration. Often I hate an arrangement and then, after a day or so, I’ll love it. It takes my eye a while to rest into something and see it anew. If it doesn’t age well, keep moving, and just try something else.
For someone who can’t make it all the way to Italy or another exotic location to shop for antiques, what advice do you have for vintage shopping close to home?
That’s why we invented Chairish–to bring the world’s finest, most exceptional one of a kind pieces to tastemakers regardless of where they’re located. The world is your shopping oyster. 30% of our inventory now comes from Europe, and that part of our business is up 150% year-over-years. We make it easy for American shoppers to access fantastic European finds from all time periods by working with the very best suppliers, making negotiation simple and managing the shipping and customs.
ANNA’S PACKING LIST
Buying trip/antiquing uniform essentials?
Comfortable shoes. In a day of going through the markets, we’ll log 18,000 steps easily. So I strongly recommend a chic, little sneaker. I got a cute pair of Loewe sneakers for this event.
The other thing that’s important is having two kinds of bags: a crossbody for your money, cards, passport, and ID, and a very large-scale market bag for anything you find that you can take with you. Old silver, pillows, textiles, or even paintings can go in the bag.
I’m also a fan of pockets. I wore a Max Mara jacket with lots of pockets to keep things here and there and everywhere: iPhone, business cards, an extra pair of glasses to get close-in on things and really see details.
You also need a light measuring tape, back up charger for your phone and of course some Advil and a couple of protein bars in your bag. The food is fantastic in Parma, but it’s not always the case at every fair.
What three pieces in your closet do you get the most mileage out of?
- High-waisted trouser jeans with a slightly wide leg.
- A good little Chanel-style jacket.
- And my big, old, totally trashed Fendi Peekaboo Bag that I drag everywhere with me. I unsurprisingly bought it vintage, and I’ve made it even more vintage. It’s been through thick and thin with me. It’s my Mary Poppins bag, with like my whole life in it.
A FEW MORE FAVORITES
Favorites from your buying trip?
- Piece you bought: A snake clamper bracelet.
- Food you ate/ Restaurant: Trattoria Corrieri, a charming restaurant in Parma with super yellow walls inside to make you extra happy and to die for prosciutto,
- Place you visited: Besides the Mercanteinfiera,, the courtyard of the palazzo that we shot at. Pretty fantastic.
FROM OUR FRIENDS AT TUCKERNUCK
Jocelyn Gailliot, Co-Founder and CEO of Tuckernuck, is passionate about creating and curating apparel for a fun-filled life. Here, she shares a few more insights into style, collecting, and dressing with confidence.
Why did you partner with Chairish?
As two female-founded companies who love curation, partnering Chairish was a natural fit. Chairish beautifully showcases the art of collection, something I strive for in my own home and fashion style. We hope this partnership, featuring one-of-a-kind vintage jewelry inspired by Anna’s trip to the famous Mercanteinfiera in Italy, motivates you to find the fun in collecting, and to seek pieces with character, soul, and stories.
What do you love most about Chairish?
I am a very busy woman with five wild children. I need my home to be functional and welcoming, but I also want it to feel unique and elevated, and collected. I crave a balance of contemporary furniture and antiques, oddities from travels and living abroad combined with hand-me-downs from my family. I am always turning to Chairish as the ultimate design destination, having bought so many of their pieces for my home and for our Tuckernuck office. It’s easy to find contemporary pieces, but I always come back to Chairish for vintage pieces that I can treasure and make my own.
How do you think fashion and interior design overlap?
Fashion and interior design intersect in many ways because they both stem from the same purpose. They are extensions of an individual’s personality and are meant to be both functional and emotional. Every person wants to live and dress in a way that makes them feel confident and stylish. In fact, our designs are often inspired more by interiors than by fashion. Textiles, antiques, architecture, travel, wallpaper and art are all major drivers of our seasonal story boards.
Ready to start packing for Italy? Shop all of Anna’s outfits on Tuckernuck. Arrivederci!