Beautiful is everywhere in Italy. The skill is knowing what to leave on the rack.
The rack that tests a buyer
Good light, better coffee, a rail of pretty things. Your hand reaches before your head has voted. That is when a buyer earns her keep.
What never makes the suitcase
The piece that falls apart after two washes. The shape that flatters one pose. The loud item that dates the moment its season ends.
Ninety percent is still a no
The hardest ones are lovely in three ways and wrong in the fourth. A gorgeous fabric let down by a cheap zipper.
The one question behind every no
Will a woman in Sarasota still reach for this in three years without thinking about it. Most things never clear that bar.
What she brings home instead
The few pieces that earned their place.