How to Do Milan Like a GQ Fashion Editor

This is an edition of the newsletter Show Notes, in which Samuel Hine reports from the front row of the fashion world. Sign up here to get it free.

Every time I drop by Bar Quadronno in Milan, I think: Thank God this place isn’t in New York or Paris. If a wormhole opened and dropped the convivial wood-paneled joint in practically any other city, it would be mobbed day and night by crowds of wannabe influencers fawning over its tidy panini and perfect aperitivi.

But not in Milano. On a Friday afternoon in January, when I had 45 minutes to kill in between runway shows, I found Quadronno—as always—half empty and full of charm. Since 1964, the city’s so-claimed first late-night panini joint has served as a clubhouse for fashion designers like Miuccia Prada and Matthieu Blazy. (I’m telling you: This place is incredible.)

Milan is full of Quadronnos, spots with different but equally powerful vibes that have become unpretentious fashion-adjacent watering holes. Some are old, some newer, but all have been protected from touristic ruin by Milan’s mostly charming backwardness. Milan is not designed for outsiders. It hides its stunning Renaissance courtyards and hanging gardens behind drab walls. The waiters at the staunch local trattorias don’t always speak English, because all the American tourists are in Rome and Florence. It is very, very hard to catch a cab.

I’m lucky to have a cheat code in Milan Fashion Week, which is essentially a biannual speedrun through the city’s maze of palazzos and pizzerias. Here’s the resulting Show Notes heat map of where to go for a coffee, a spritz, a plate of vitello tonnato, a haircut, or even a new suit the next time you find yourself in the menswear capital of the world. Just don’t tell the TikTokers.

1. Eredi Zucca

When they need a hot shave, the modern gentlemen of Milan get pampered like 18th-century noblemen at Eredi Zucca, the dimly lit, oud-scented flagship barbershop and fragrance emporium opened by fashion entrepreneur Davide De Giglio in 2023.

2. Bar Luce

Everyone knows Bar Luce, which probably has something to do with the fact that it was designed by Wes Anderson at Miuccia Prada’s behest in 2015. But the quirked-up Milanese café located in the Fondazione Prada is simply an unbeatable place to loiter over a panini and a glass of wine. (Mrs. Prada is said to have brought in the boys from Bar Quadronno to train her staff in the fine art of sandwich making.)