Here's what you need to be seen wearing right now in order to sit with the cool kids at pranzo (lunch):
1. Colmar puffy jackets, preferably in navy.
2. Moncler instead of the above if you are (or want to appear) even more fancypants. Let's just point out that these down jackets probably cost more than a typical Italian person's monthly salary.
3. Timberlands have been acceptable 'cool' footwear for awhile now. I used to make fun of Massi's all the time since in Canada, I'm pretty sure people actually wear those on site at work. Or they're rappers, one or the other. Other acceptable footwear are Uggs (ugh, still?) and Converse. The adult version of Converse is probably Hogan sneakers, seen in a previous post.
4. Chunky punky boots in black. Not sure how to best describe these but they remind me of Doc Martens (also semi-popular) but with a heel.
5. Toques with a real fur pom-pom.
6. Eastpak backpacks. May the Good Lord help you should you be a teenager and not own one of these. It's like no other backpacks exist. The boys favor them in forest green. I have literally seen groups of Italian boys with the same forest green Eastpak backpack around Bergamo.
7. Nanapuri...oh wait...I wrote that down wrong in my notes, it's Napapijri. Also favoured amongst the teenage boy set. They love the Skidoo and Rainforest Winter over-the-head pullovers (an anorak?) that cost 300 Euros. Thoroughly justifiable for fashion purposes here in Italy. It's actually strange to see people wearing these because they honestly were probably made for some kind of Atlantic sailing adventure rather than for the city.
Now if you go back and look at the creeper photo I took while waiting for the bus, which trends can you find now? A whole lot of Eastpak eh? See what I mean.