It’s true that perhaps we could have expected something more from a report on the prestigious ASVOF (A Shaded View On Fashion), the personal blog of Diane Pernet, independent icon of the fashion world and talent scout par excellence. A couple of lines introducing A Shaded View On the IVO MILAN shop, well why not?

But you cannot imagine the attention and promptness that our invitation to be hosted at our shop in Padua received from Miss Pernet and her staff, during a week when Italy practically comes to a standstill in the middle of August.

The idea came about with the famous ASVOFF (A Shaded View on Fashion Film) stopover in Venice at the end of the month. This would have been during the first annual touring festival in the world related to fashion cinema, with Diane Pernet, founder of the festival. Instead of letting our bold and ambitious proposal fall by the wayside, we received a reply almost immediately, informing us that it would be impossible to get to Padua during that time period because Miss Pernet was part of the jury. But that she would appreciate receiving some material on our business. You can just imagine the excitement and turmoil in trying to recover photos from the archives at a time when half the staff was on holiday, and the online catalogue was being revamped for the changing season?

Well, the result was this summarised report:

Why has this experience made such an impression on us that we want to share it with you?

We are certainly not impassive in the face of the visibility that could potentially be gained for the site; but seeing that the post appeared on the eve of the 15th August holiday, and there is no text to explain its specific nature, we need to emphasise that what struck us the most, was the selfless interest and promptness shown by Diane Pernet and her staff. Described as a free, cultured and independent spirit, on the look-out for original news and stories, she showed herself to be true to her celebrated status far beyond what we would have expected. For IVO MILAN, experiencing this level of availability and receptiveness was an unexpected surprise, especially in the context of an environment that usually only looks towards handsome rewards.

For all of this, many thanks Diane!!!

For anyone that has not yet encountered Miss Diane Pernet, we refer you to this interesting and in-depth report: