This is an edition of the newsletter Pulling Weeds With Chris Black, in which the columnist weighs in on hot topics in culture. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Thursday.

Milan is one of my favorite European cities. It is old, beautiful, and simple to traverse on an easy-to-find Lime bike. The food is delicious, and the treats at Marcheshi 1824 never disappoint. I have mostly visited for fashion weeks or for a quick few days en route to a more water-forward Italian locale. Last year was my inaugural journey to Salone del Mobile Milano, which is officially billed as a furniture fair, but has blossomed into ground zero for brand activations of all shapes and sizes. Every venue (especially the T Magazine party at Villa Necchi Campiglio) is rammed with hot gay guys who have been in the AD100, ignoring the passed canapés for another glass of champagne while wearing vintage Prada. Bar Basso is so packed that it gives flashbacks to the TSA shutdown fiasco with one hundred percent more cigarettes.

Fashion brands use this week as an opportunity to explore design however they see fit. JW Anderson collaborated with a Yeoman basketmaker, Jil Sander partnered with Apartamento to create a curated reference library, Miu Miu and Armani hosted multiple days of talks and performances. My favorite incense purveyor, Astier de Villatte, put 100 plates on a wall to celebrate their years-long partnership with New York OG John Derian. De Cecco, the boxed pasta juggernaut, even opened a baffling temporary design-forward store. I took a break for a long lunch at A Santa Lucia with my chic friend Tina Lutz Morris and a small group of locals and visitors, including designer Peter Saville, who was in town for the festivities and some shopping at Valextra. Sadly, I didn’t get an invite to the Restoration Hardware store opening hosted by Margot Robbie and Zoe Saldaña, but I heard the caviar offering was bigger than a Cloud couch.

One of the highlights, besides the menu at the Puck dinner at Sandi, was an impressive Range Rover exhibition, Traces, a three-part journey done in partnership with big-dog spatial designers Storey Studio at Galleria Meravigli. It focused on the brand’s bespoke program, which allows those flush enough to customize almost everything. For me, a layman, the stock offerings do the trick—but more discerning types may want to embroider the seats, customize the exterior paint, and go nuts on materials. The Range Rover team keeps them within the guardrails without squashing any dreams. Will Verity, the Brand Design Chief for Range Rover, compared it to working with an interior designer, “It’s a consultancy service, with the expertise that we have about product and materials,” he said. I love expertise!

Full disclosure: Although Range Rover didn’t bless me with a free custom vehicle, they did pick up the tab for my flight from Los Angeles to Milan (with a delightful two-hour stop in Frankfurt). THe journey had me feeling absolutely loopy, which made my walkthrough of the Range exhibition even more enjoyable. The final room housed a bespoke Range inspired by a freshwater pearl from the River Tay in Scotland, the white car (with a 24K gold lettering on the hood) was set on black gravel, surrounded by a very cool collection of objects curated by Bard, an Edinburgh‑based shop and gallery focused on Scottish craft and design. Their website is worth a perusal if you are furnishing your new apartment at the Barbican or an expertly remodeled house in Hudson.