It would seem as if fashion should never end in this land of leather and pasta. But during August, the natives go on a month long holiday named Ferie, a time when the city of Milan literally shuts down.

For a true Westerner, the concept of closing down any business for a month is unheard of and silly. For Italians it is a tradition to leave the big cities like Milan, Florence and Rome and go to their family beach houses on the coasts.

Capri, Monaco, Tuscany, Sardinia, Sicily and Pulia are the main destination spots, but many others choose the lake to be more in touch with nature.

This month long holiday officially kicked off on the 15th of August and during this week not only are there only certain gas stations and supermarkets open, there are no big name designer stores opened at all!

They say that the fashion people are the first to leave right after the men’s collections that ends in early July. Via Monte Napolone and Via Della Spiga, the two main high-end shopping streets of Milan, are closed completely with most of the shop windows covered. How could this possibly occur during the pinnacle of tourist season in the city center?

But of course, fashion can never really end in a city where a large percentage of the working population’s jobs are centered on fashion in some way.

Although the city center is dead, one must travel around the edges of Corso Buenos Aires and find the faithful shops that dare to stay open and reap the benefit of the tourist dollar.

Of course, you have your high street stores open like H & M and Zara and a few department stores such as Rinscacenta and Coin.

The only place to really boutique shop during ‘vacanza’ is at the markets. Milan is not really known for their extravagant clothing markets like London or Paris. This city is known for their Swap Meets(SM).

Mostly outside of the city or in secluded residential areas, these swap meets carry some of the best fashions that cannot be found on any high street. It is not as glamorous as shopping in the new Just Cavalli store or around Armani’s lifestyle compound, but it gets the blood pumping just as good for the next big thing.

At SM you can usually find a lot of famous designers along with their young teams scourging through the euro bargain bends for inspirations on any given Sunday morning. The most famous and most notarized of these SM is at San Donato in Milan. Here one can find a stereo set or a vintage Versace cocktail number circa “The Gianni Years”. These SMs will not be mentioned in any tourist guide or pamphlets about Milan, but they are definitely hot spots to visit to find a vintage Dior belt or a Cacherel argyle sweater.

Fashion never stops for a true fashion headhunter who does not mind getting down and dirty in the name of a signature piece…….