Milan, 10PM, not just another Thursday, during a fashion week that will make history for TBS. It’s the night of our very first The Blonde Salad party, a celebration we organized for months on end, shoulder to shoulder with i-D, and finally, tonight is the night. There is already a long line outside the Salone delle Cavallerizze, the new industrial-style space within Milan’s Museo della Scienza e della Tecnica, the science and technology museum, and a few raindrops are falling, seemingly blessing our first large-scale event: we have no intention to let a little rain dampen our enthusiasm, and our guests seem to agree with us. While the first few DJs are warming up the atmosphere, Chiara arrives on the Maserati she rode for the past week, and parks it under the wall with our giant logo. We join her for our traditional group picture, and realize that there are so many of us that we almost don’t fit: 30 people, from all walks of life, of all ages, brought together by passion, and with a common aim for tonight: the wish to have fun! And so, the party officially gets started. While the boys at the bar are working hard, preparing Campari-based drinks for a growing number of guests, Petite Meller, our performer for the night, steps onto the stage and starts singing with her musicians. Mobile Girl and Why Be + Total Freedom follow her at the turntables, staying with us until 2AM. People are getting lost and finding one another again, getting drinks for one another, taking photos at our Samsung 3D photo booth, challenging the incessant rain for a cigarette. Girls are getting their makeup touched up by YSL’s makeup artists, who are ready to fix any damage done by the intense night. The new Adidas campaign, featuring outsiders celebrating individuality, is showing on the maxi screens alongside our best videos, and images by the young talents of Marangoni fashion school. If the idea of talent could be defined by a single image, it would have to be a blurred frame that includes all of these images: this is the world’s new wave, this is Milan, the city that is now unstoppable. It’s 2AM: lights out, we are told to leave. The party might be over, but for us, this is just the beginning.
Pics by Lodovico Colli di Felizzano
A special thanks to our institutional partner, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana