Whilst wondering what Italy had to offer this week I thought about the famous traditions, today for example is Mardi Gras the big carnival party when traditionally you would have eaten all your meat and behaved outrageously….whilst in a mask of course. However, like these traditions, and Dolce & Gabbana, although they provide a solid foundation on which to judge the nation they’re often not the parts that make you sit up and take note if you really live there. So…I began thinking about the new breeze that is sweeping through some parts of Italian society, politics excluded, that is making people rethink their rigid stances, never one to let a problem sit and plague me for too long I took the aesthetic route.

Whilst striding around my house in an oversized fur coat I realised my friend Tommaso, creative director of Toxic Toy, is one of a cluster of young hot brands that the bigger and more established boutiques are starting to take note of and realise their commercial potential as well as displaying a certain type of humour and irony that is normally misunderstood in Italy; the exception to this of course being DSquared!

Wit and irony are not normally things that I accredit to Italian culture but a growing number of young designers are starting to play more with these ideas as the jokes of street culture have begun to slowly infiltrate the staunch Italian aesthetic.

Tommaso, on seeing a video of a local pornstar in a sex shop, was so enthralled with the blow up mermaid dolls in the background they’ve been lightly woven into his work for this season. Not the subtlest of jokes appear in his flawless use of computer illustration but an Italian laughing at Jesus on the beach is definitely something new.

In fact it seems that even other Italians are taking notice, Toxic Toy won the new talent award last year in Milan and is now stocked in a hand full of the more avant garde boutiques around the country.

Another bright young character is Gienchi whose trainers I have been obsessed with since seeing them all over Milan. There are some street trends that are so blatant that sometimes when arriving to a city it is something you immediately associate with the style of the place, the obviously fake Chanel print Tshirts and these trainers were without question the two pieces I saw everywhere and think of now when thinking of the more grungy Porta Tichinese side of town.

Like so many of those on street fads that make you giggle and want to rebel against catwalks and trend reports , these shoes are quite the shiners. Originally covered in sequins the simple idea of “if you don’t like it, stud it” has now been applied to Converse high tops, either fresh and clean or beaten and worn (my faves) covered in shiny spiked studs. They have that, “why didn’t I think of that” quality to them mixed with an irrational desire to own a pair! I was scrutinising them all weekend and trying to work out what exactly it was that made them so great. Spotted on the feet of Agnes Dyne and Co. it doesn’t seem like I’ll find my answer anytime soon, nor a simple way to abate my desire….unless I choose to give in and buy a pair!

These two examples are by no means on their own or, indeed, carving a completely new path. They are, however, gaining strength and followers through interesting marketing and showing the kind of certainty that has made the bigger, more entrenched luxury vendors in Italy, sit up and take notice. This is by no means a small feat in a place which, glorious as they often are, is often engulfed in tradition to the point that it slows it down. Hence why I chose to give further voice to the younger ones, so often stifled by the older traditional types. However, Happy Carnival may it be as debauched as you dare and may you manage to keep your identities well secret…at least until after Lent!