80 HOURS MILAN c/o VOLVO CARS

Although this season our Milan Fashion Week adventure was supposed to last less than 24h, we have been pleasantly surprised to receive an invitation from Volvo and thus, in order to discover the brand personally, we prolonged our stay and moved our little suitcases to the Excelsior Hotel Gallia – where we’ve been greeted by tons of over excited fans that were waiting for the Hadid sisters to come out. Their disappointment in seeing yours truly coming out from the car was apparent, as for me, my excitement was only growing up.

You might think I get excited over everything these days, but it’s true that I love getting to know a brand and meeting a new crew, and this is exactly what awaited us that evening, when we arrived at via Amerigo Vespucci 12, where the 80 Hours Milan c/o Volvo Cars was taking place. If you’ve been following me for a while now you might know that I’m no car specialist at all, and might even wonder what a fashion and beauty blogger is doing at such an event, yet for the launch of its new, compact and premium SUV XC40, Volvo went for a pretty unusual step: instead of revealing the new car at a large auto fair, Volvo turned to one of the main fashion cities of the world, Milan. And the brand is not stopping there: the new XC40 was not to be introduced with a traditional press conference, but with the launch of an exclusive Scandinavian design store, right in the heart of Milan where I was quietly sipping cocktails that evening and admiring 40 of the most interesting brands in contemporary Scandinavian design.

Now that you got the fashion connection let’s get back to the night’s main star : Volvo’s SUV XC40, a chunky car aimed primarily at urban drivers with many customization options going from brighter colors (oh yeah) and a contrast roof, to an entirely customizable interior. Volvo also elevated the game with the storage options scattered around the cabin, including smartphone slots and bag hooks – basically sexy talk to me, merci Volvo.

Pictures : Charles Legrand