MILAN loves FASHION and vice versa

... back from MILAN I wanted to share some impressions from the Italian CITTÀ DELLA MODA (who needs Roman Alta Moda after all... just joking!) with you, so for example I found it really nice that the CAMERA NAZIONALE DELLA MODA ITALIANA had succeeded in transforming the PIAZZA DUOMO into the city's fashion hotspot, I mean, how about that as the ackdrop for a fashion tent ... je viens de rentrer de Milan et je dois dire, c'est tout à fait merveilleux comment la CHAMBRE NATIONALE DE LA MODE ITALIENNE a réussi à transformer la très prestigieuse et archi-milanaise PLACE DU DOME en fashion hotspot - qu'en dites-vous, de la place qu'on a trouvée pour la tente où avaient lieu pas mal de défilés ? ... Milano, città italiana della mode come nessun altra, dove sono stato poco tempo fa per assistere alle sfilate, si e mostrata molto FASHIONABLE durante la sua settimana della moda, e devo dire che il retroscena trovato dalla CAMERA NAZIONALE DELLA MODA per la tenda delle sfilate era particolarmente impressionnante (figuratevi, la stessa cosa a Parigi, champ de Mars ?) ...


... how nice, also, to see the posters that sported the slogan MILAN LOVES FASHION in order to make passers-by aware of the importance of fashion (for the local economy, why not), and these feelings are reciprocated, considering that a little lawn somewhere is taken care of by no other than EMPORIO ARMANI, isn't that touching ? ... j'ai bien aimé le slogan MILAN LOVES FASHION qu'on pouvait voir affiché dans les rues du centre, et j'ai aussi adoré le fait que quelque part dans le centre, il y ait cette petite pelouse dont s'occupe aimablement EMPORIO ARMANI ... per assicurare che tutti capiscano quanto è importante la mode, lo slogan MILAN LOVES FASHION si poteva leggere dappertutto nel centro, e poi lo si capisce, questo amore, visto che anche la moda ama Milano sufficientemente per CURARE UN VERDE, come lo fa Emporio Armani ...


... even though this beautiful gesture by Emporio Armani becomes all the more understandable when you realize that the backside of the building adjacent to that lawn is occupied by a huge poster showing off the latest Emporio-testimonial RAFAEL NADAL (what a hot tennis player, if I may say so) ... même si cette verve verte devient plus compréhensible si l'on considère que la partie-arrière d'un immeuble qui donne sur cette pelouse est occupée par une affiche énorme où Rafael Nadal se montre de son côté le plus attirant ... sebbene si capisca un po' meglio questo amore reciproco e questo gesto sostenibile della griffe considerando che uno spazio enorme sul muro di un palazzo adiacente è occupato dall'ultimo affisso del marchio con RAFAEL NADAL ...


... and if there has been talk recently about London affirming itself as the fashion capital of livestreams via the BFC's website, Milan certainly took care of its CITY USERS by streaming many a show in the central fashion zone in VIA OREFICI - very exciting that was, and such a nice way of bringing fashion into the city life ... et tandis que Londres s'est affirmé récemment comme la capitale des défilés transmis sur le web (grâce au site du très attentif BRITISH FASHION COUNCIL), Milan a misé sur le côté "vie réelle" en projetant un grand nombre de défilés sur un pavillon situé VIA OREFICI, dans le centre ... e mentre abbiamo sentito parlare di Londra come capitale di moda trasmessa in diretta su internet attraverso il sito del British Fashion Council, a Milano la CNMI ha assicurato la presenza delle sfilate nello spazio pubblico e, perciò, nella VITA REALE DEI MILANESI con un grande numero di sfilate trasmesse dal vivo e progettate sulle pareti dello stand MERCEDES in VIA OREFICI; mi è piaciuto molto, devo dire ...

FASHION AND POLITICS

photo by Alistair Guy, courtesy of the BFC

... even though she poses in front of a somewhat grey London sky hanging over a muddy river Thames here, Caroline Rush, CEO of the British Fashion Council, is a very, well, sunny character. I met her this summer to conduct an interview for the newspaper, and we talkd about the responsibility and tasks of the BFC. I found it very interesting to hear about the importance of fashion's digestibility:

"For the London Development Agency, the aim was also to strengthen London Fashion Week: if you've got a firm position among the world's four leading fashion capitals, this will help in terms of inward investment and strengthening the city and council itself. So the mayor of London has got a very clear message about London as a creative capital, and clearly fashion is a very strong communicator and a very digestible way to communicate the excitement and creativity that we've got around."

An interesting, and very down-to-earth way to look at things. Fashion as a communicator, fashion as a tool for regional politics?

I guess that other allegedly CREATIVE cities would like to do the same, but for obvious reasons, London always does the trick a little bit better ...