On September 4, while writing about Milan Fashion Week, I imagined a major fashion show taking place inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. I did so for a very simple reason: I believe it is one of Milan’s most powerful images, perhaps one of the locations that best embodies Italian fashion. The Galleria has beauty, history, architecture and a natural sense of theatre. It is Milan in one of its most recognizable forms.
That is why I created exactly that scene for the cover of the article. Tonight, watching Vogue World transform the Galleria into a spectacular stage for fashion, I immediately thought back to what I had written on September 4.
Of course, Vogue World had been conceived, planned and organized long before then. There is no connection between the two things. But seeing that same vision of Milan I had imagined a few weeks ago come to life — on an entirely different scale and at another level — was quite something.
And after seeing the Galleria tonight, I am even more convinced of one thing: this is one of the places in Milan where fashion should take to the runway.
Then the show began, and what moved me most was not simply seeing top models, actresses, actors, singers, dancers and athletes walk through one of Milan’s most beautiful landmarks. It was seeing alongside them the artisans, workers and people who represent that long and complex supply chain without which fashion simply could not exist. Behind every garment there are hands, skills, fabrics, workshops, pattern makers, seamstresses, technicians and companies.
There is an enormous world that normally remains behind the scenes, working every day so that this industry can continue to create beauty, culture, employment and value. Vogue World Milan had the merit of bringing that world into the spotlight as well, telling the story of Made in Italy through the relationship between human craftsmanship, industry, creativity and innovation.
Fashion is often described as superficial, even frivolous. Part of it certainly can be, but stopping there means failing to understand its language. The way we dress is also a way of communicating something about ourselves, of showing others how we choose to present ourselves and, sometimes, simply of making ourselves feel better. Clothes do not define who we are, but they can contribute to the way we choose to express it.
And then there is beauty — perhaps the word that has stayed with me more than any other tonight: the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, the music, the dance, the models, the artists and, above all, the human work that makes all of this possible.
Yet perhaps never more than now should we remind ourselves just how precious and fragile all of this is. We are living through days in which words we thought belonged to history books have returned: war, borders, missiles, rearmament. Images reach us every day from every corner of the world, and we even risk becoming accustomed to them. Then, for one evening, beneath the glass vaults of Milan’s Galleria, something completely different passes before our eyes: people who have built, sewn, designed, sung, danced and performed.
People who have devoted time, intelligence and talent to creating something beautiful. It has taken generations to build culture, craftsmanship, knowledge, cities like Milan and industries such as Italian fashion.
Losing all of it, however, could take far less.
Perhaps that is also why the Galleria looked even more beautiful to me tonight.
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Alessandro Sicuro
Brand Strategist | Photographer | Art Director | Project Manager
Alessandro Sicuro Comunication
