L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano L o v e i t o r h a t e it Milan is, with Rome, the most i m p o r t a n t c i t y i n t h e c o u n t r y . For many, it is the real capi- tal of Italy, because it is its main economic and commer- cial center. Milan is also, needless to say, the trendiest c i t y w e h a v e b e c a u s e i t ' s our capitale della moda, as well as one of the fashion capitals of the world. But how did it gain the title and why? These days, fashion is one o f t h e m a i n s o u r c e s o f income and wealth for this Lombardy city: according to r e c e n t d a t a g a t h e r e d b y the Camera di Commercio di Milano, Monza e Lodi, the two Milanese fashion weeks, one in February and one in September, make some 350 million euro (with today's rate, that's pretty much the same in dollars) in revenue, a n d i n v o l v e m o r e t h a n 135,000 people and 18,000 businesses. Curiously, though, if we w a n t t o u n d e r s t a n d w h y Milan became so important for Italian fashion, we have to take a short journey to another city, Turin, where in 1935 the Ente Nazionale della Moda Italiana was created. The group had the aim to support and promote the Italian fashion industry both nationally and interna- tionally. Under the supervi- sion and work of the Ente, the fashion industry differ- e n t i a t e d i t s t a r g e t s , w i t h Rome, Florence, Milan and Turin focusing on specific styles and products: Rome was the hub of high fashion; Florence of boutique fashion - high-quality, hand-made items, not quite as expensive as high-fashion, but pricey enough to be affordable only to the wealthy; Turin and M i l a n o f p r ê t - à - p o r t e r fashion. In those years and well i n t o t h e 1 9 5 0 s , b e s p o k e clothing represented 80% of the market so, if you needed a suit or a dress, you'd go to a t a i l o r o r a s e a m s t r e s s . Things, however, were to change deeply with the eco- nomic boom and with the cultural revolution of the 1960s: on one hand, there was more money to invest in clothing, on the other, the way one dressed became a mirror of their personality, beliefs or political stance. Milan, with its publishing houses - Italy's most impor- tant, Rusconi, Mondadori and Rizzoli, all had their see there - became quickly a true cultural hub and, located as i t w a s w i t h i n t h e I t a l i a n industrial triangle, it was already a key player in the i n d u s t r i a l a n d e c o n o m i c development of the country. If there was a place, in other words, where an industry like modern fashion, based on manufacturing and cul- tural developments, could evolve, that place was Milan. I n t h e 1 9 7 0 s , f a s h i o n became even more associat- ed with the idea of cultural representation and Milan, already tied with the prêt-à- porter industry, was ready to take up the challenge. But it was the 1980s, the decade when Milan became the eco- nomic capital of Italy, that t r u l y c o n s e c r a t e d i t a l s o as capitale Italiana della moda. These were the years o f V e r s a c e , F e r r é , a n d Valentino; of Armani, Gucci a n d , l a t e r i n t h e 1 9 9 0 s , Prada, whose first prêt-à- porter collection came out only in 1989. Milan, which had been a key player in the world of prêt-à-porter fashion since t h e 1 9 3 0 s , f o u n d i t s e l f – quite literally – in the right place at the right moment: it was the cultural and indus- trial hub the new, economic boom-created and culture- embued fashion needed to develop in Italy. Of course, when we speak about Milan and fashion, we cannot forget the quadri- latero della moda, the area c o m p r i s e d w i t h i n a n d i n c l u d i n g V i a M o n t e - n a p o l e o n e – I t a l y ' s F i f t h Avenue – Via della Spiga, V i a M a n z o n i a n d C o r s o V e n e z i a , w h i c h d r a w a square on the city's map. T h e m o s t e x p e n s i v e a n d fashionable stores of the city h a v e c a l l e d t h e q u a d r i - latero their home since the 1800s. Today, it's where we find all great designers' flag- ship stores, including Prada, V e r s a c e , L o u i s V u i t t o n , Chanel, and Gucci, as well as jewelers like Cartier and Bul- gari, along with Swiss watch- makers like Rolex and Patek Philippe. F u o r c h é ( f o o - o h r - k a i ) m e a n s "except," "but," "apart from" and we use it often, especially in higher registers of language. It always comes in a pair with tutto, tutti, o g n i a n d n e s s u n o , a n d i t always accentuates what we a r e s a y i n g . F o r i n s t a n c e , oggi posso fare tutto fuorché studiare ("I can do every- thing today but studying"), or non mi va di vedere nes- suno fuorché Giacomo ("I don't want to see anybody except Giacomo"). Fuorché is formed by two words, fuori, which means " o u t s i d e , " o r " o u t o f , " and che. This is why, in some old-fashioned books, you can f i n d i t w r i t t e n f u o r ché, instead of fuorché. If you look at it that way, it becomes easy to understand its meaning! W h i l e w e d o n ' t r e a l l y know when fuorché became p o p u l a r , w e a r e s u r e Dante used it, because it's in the Divine Comedy, where o u r S o m m o P o e t a w r o t e t h a t T a n t o g i ù c a d d e c h e tutti argomenti/A la salute sua eran già corti/Fuor che m o s t r a r l i l e p e r d u t e genti (Purgatorio XXX, 136- 138) or, to say it as H.W. Longfellow, his first Ameri- can translator, " So low he fell that all appliances/ For his salvation were already short/ Save showing him the people of perdition." I f f u o r c h é w a s g o o d enough for Dante, it should be good enough for us, too! - Posso aiutarti in tutte le materie, fuorché la matemat- ica - I can help you with all subjects, except maths - Ho conosciuto tutti i tuoi cugini fuorché Anna - I h a v e m e t a l l y o u r cousins but Anna - Mi piace tutto fuorché il formaggio - I like everything except cheese LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Word of the day – fuorché: the right word, apart from when you don't agree! Italian Curiosities: why is Milan the capital of Italian fashion? The runway in Milan, Italy's fashion capital (Photo: Fashionstock.com/Dreamstime) Photo 50879886 © MinervaStudio | Dreamstime.com

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