Rich PICKINGS
Since moving into her “dream apartment” in central Milan a year ago, fashion influencer Doina Ciobanu has become more excited about interiors than she is about clothes. “Honestly, I now prefer to spend my money on furniture,” she laughs when we speak to her on the phone.
Born and raised in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova – the smallest country in Europe that was once under the rule of the Soviet Union – Doina launched her blog The Golden Diamond in 2010, aged just 16 years old.
She had started following a few of the early influencers, like The Cherry Blossom Girl and Rumi Neely, who is now a friend of hers. “I liked how they shot fashion and I was very passionate about photography, so that was kind of a nice mix.
“While I was still in Moldova there wasn’t much backdrop I could necessarily use that could be aspirational and beautiful on an international level; so, I started posting a daily outfit blog.”
Her love of fashion stems from her mum, who she tells us is very stylish. “Even in the USSR times at the end of the
