DEAR SANTA CLAUS, TAKE NOTE!
XMAS JUMPER? LET’S WEAR THE MAGIC
December 25th: lights, Xmas trees, gifts and the old saying ‘On Christmas we should be good’. We are missing an ingredient, though. And I’m not talking about tasty food you will put on the table, but about a typical must have of this season: the Xmas jumper.
Raise your hand if, at least once, you have been speechless in front of the reindeer sweater that Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) was wearing in Bridget Jones’s Diary. Probably you swore you would never buy something like this or that for sure you would never date a man with such an outfit. Probably you ended up like me: 30 years old, dressed in a Xmas jumper with a sequin penguin on, and an American boyfriend who got a refined pullover with Santa Shark…FROM YOU.
ORIENTAL STYLE: BEWARE THE DRAGON’S BITE!
The wind is blowing from the East: China, Japan, Korea and so on seem to be the inspirational mood of Fall-Winter. So, the oriental style makes a splash and harks back to the traditional dresses. Silk, dragons and kimonos: you run the risk of exaggerating.
All the exotic things attract and seduce. If we talk about fashion, the appeal is even stronger, though. The cold season has come, but this year, in addition to the ordinary quilted jackets and coats, the oriental style dominates the catwalks and our wardrobe too. Coming soon!
HARRY AND MEGHAN: ALL TALK…AND ROAST CHICKEN!
Did romanticism die? It’s up to you to judge! Every day many love stories begin and finish, but the most talked about relationship of this period is without a doubt the one of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The grandson of Queen Elisabeth will get married soon: what about his proposal? In front of a roast chicken!
I’m sure that, at least once in her life, every little girl dreamt the Prince Charming. A man dressed in a pair of stockings, blue shorts and with a feathered hat: it’s a questionable choice but everybody can get wrong! Once we grew up our tastes became more sophisticated and we started daydreaming about two real Royal Highnesses. Princes of England fomented the ‘royal ambitions’ of many teenagers, but when William married Kate, he partially destroyed their hopes. Now, his brother did the rest. Harry and Meghan, this is the main gossip of the latest days: wedding soon at Buckingham Palace!
ADPOCALYPSE …NOW: FAMOUS BUT POOR. HOW WILL YOUTUBE CHANGE?
Wannabe YouTubers? If you think that it’s time to count on your creativity and your supposed videomaking skills, unfortunately you are running out of time. To make money with YouTube is a good idea like to bet on the victory of the Italian team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Have you ever heard about AdPocalypse?
«Have you ever considered any real freedoms? Freedoms from the opinion of others… even the opinions of yourself».
I decided to start the article with a quote from “Apocalypse Now” about freedom. Today I want to clarify what AdPocalypse is since, probably it is destined to revolutionize YouTube.
BLACK FRIDAY: SALES, SHOPPING…AND GOODBYE DIGNITY!
Are you going through a bad time? The only black day that everybody wait for, is just one: Black Friday. It’s the most known commercial ‘holiday’, is the beginning of Xmas purchases and pushes to empty our wallet. Great deals, guys! Let’s go shopping!
The appeal of the United States strikes back. So, in addition to Halloween, McDonald and the bridesmaids, in Italy we imported even Black Friday. Probably, many people know that it’s a day (the fourth Friday of November) in which especially the big stores organize incredible promotions and super sales. In other words, it’s the occasion in which everybody needs to buy whatever they find on special offer, of course. Because, it isn’t so difficult to exaggerate. At the beginning you buy just a hard disk and an hour later you have become an associate at Microsoft.
LAST-MINUTE INVITATION: NO THANKS!
How many times did you get a last-minute invitation? It doesn’t matter if it is for a birthday party, a press day or a fashion show, the rule is only one: you must say no. If you are wondering why, the answer is easy: be proud.
Whoever calls you at 7:30pm to attend a party scheduled at 8:00pm, generally doesn’t do it for love. We can say that you are the replacement (maybe) number 1 for a place that unexpectedly became available. The same rule is valid when a last-minute invitation is sent to take part in a press day or in any event that of course has been scheduled months ago.
Do you know how airlines manage the overbooking? It’s the same philosophy: there’s a main list and then there’s the one with the reserves. Nobody likes sitting on the substitutes’ bench, therefore, when your participation is asked with a ridiculous notice, remember to say no. If you are looking for a good reason to refuse, find it in your pride. That place wasn’t yours, someone is kindly proposing you to act as a stopgap.
As everyone knows, last-minute invitation is concealed like a forgetfulness, it could be both an e-mail and a text enriched with cute emoticons, or a phone call introduced by a fake “Daaaaaaaaaaaarling!”.
One of the most classic excuses is that your invitation probably got lost “because you know, there are many mail inefficiencies…” or that the e-mail service had some problems in the latest days “and so, you cannot imagine what a mess!”.
The point is that when you will understand (and it isn’t difficult!) that you weren’t the choice but the alternative, you need to decline. Cordially.
Think about how you would feel if the guy that you like decides to have dinner with you only because another girl gave him a flat refusal. The sensation is being a second-best, a not bad option that in any case could work.
It’s obvious that a last-minute invitation for a fashion show doesn’t have any emotional involvement, but unless you really consider it important or can take some economic and professional advantage from it, saying no will be classy and won’t make you look like a desperate that was anxiously waiting for that call. If it would be too difficult, at least take time and hesitate: pretend to check your planning, to have to reschedule another appointment…in other words, keep in limbo those who behaved in this way with you until the very last moment.
It’s a matter of principle, nobody loves a heated-up soup, even less if it’s the one that someone else rejected. Bear in mind that, it doesn’t matter the circumstance, those who want you will seek you, and will do it in advance. In this case, Miranda Priestly is a great example to follow: «I don’t understand why it’s so difficult to confirm an appointment. […] R.S.V.P. Yes to Michael Kors’ party, I want the driver to drop me off at 9:30 and pick me up at 9:45 sharp. Call Natalie at Glorious Foods and tell her no for the fortieth time. No! I don’t want dacquoise. I want tortes filled with warm rhubarb compote […] ». Devil wears Prada, docet.
INSTAGRAMMERS: CREDIBILITY OR RIDICULOUS NARCISSISM?
Social, web, marketing and digital world continuously evolve and never stop. New professions inevitably arise, they’re those jobs that until a few years ago were non-existent and maybe even unimaginable. 2017 sanctioned the boom of the so-called instagrammers. Who are they?
I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe… I didn’t find any better way than the most famous quote from Blade Runner to begin this article. Because it’s true, around on social networks, actually, I’ve seen things that you wouldn’t believe. Instagrammers ’ creativity has no limits. They’re children of Instagram, in other words they are those influencers whose job consists of posting their more or less spontaneous photos taken for various brands and companies.
Up to this point everything sounds normal, in the end nobody has ever stood on ceremony while watching commercial supported by celeb testimonials, even when they were almost improbable. But if I can tolerate George Clooney that gives up his shoes in change of a cup of Nespresso, it’s difficult to accept general instagrammers that claim to look natural using a shampoo on a tropical beach with an orgasmic expression.
GIFTS TO THE INFLUENCERS: WHEN UNWRAPPING BECOMES SOCIAL
Packages, packets…even if Christmas is still far! But it seems that it is already time to open presents, at least for a few people. Gifts to the influencers from those press offices that represent various brands are uncountable, and the instagrammers don’t waste time in posting the decisive moment of the unwrapping on their IG Stories.
In the past it was an open secret: a taboo that everybody knew. We are talking about gifts to the influencers, those cadeaux that companies decide to give them to promote their products. Nobody has ever had any doubt about the origin of these little presents (the press offices of course!), but when the truth is unveiled, everyone feels like when they find out that Santa Claus doesn’t exist, and since we are talking about gifts, it’s the perfect example.
Since the creation of the internet (or at least since they have existed) the role of the bloggers or the serial posters has been to spontaneously and naturally promote those products that in theory they chose without any external conditioning. It’s the old “I strongly suggest you…” said by a friend, but with a higher number of users, beyond your own living room.
LUXURY: VANITY FAIR
It takes all kinds, and so does fashion. It satisfies all tastes, both the beautiful and the ugly ones. The designers create but always pay attention to their business. And since pecunia non olet, often what happens is that what is sold as luxury and expensive actually looks very cheap.
Sophistication, elegance, style: three words that, talking about look, not always (or almost never) are in any way related to the price on the label of clothes or accessories. If not all that glitters is gold, for sure I can affirm that not all that is expensive is luxury. Or better, it’s luxury but results in pure ostentation.
For those who live in Milan, at least once, have bumped into Russian people that crowd the streets of the city center while holding in their hands the bags from the most famous boutiques: Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Armani, etc.
Well, they are the perfect example. They are flashy like a Xmas tree and accessorized with any object that could be defined as showy, they’ve just one goal in mind: to show off their cash. We could say that’s the eternal competition to have the biggest one…wallet, of course!
But even without arriving to the land of vodka and fur hats, we can speak about luxury as also having a look at our ordinary life. It’s enough to think about white trash outfits that we see every single day. Giant logos printed on t-shirts, bags, shoes. They’re so visible that they don’t go unobserved even for somebody blind as a bat. And also belts appropriate for a duel at the time of the wild west, chains around the neck like a saint during the procession and other whims that burn the bank account. Expensive, but ugly and ungraceful. I still remember the age of jeans by Richmond with the graphics RICH just over the butt cheeks, no comment.
“That’s the fashion, baby. The fashion! And there’s nothing you can do about it. Nothing!”, the contemporary Humphrey Bogart would say in a potential remake of Deadline – U.S.A.
The threat is bad taste. Luxury at all costs, because to appear rich is priceless. So, even what is considered ‘high’ can become drastically ‘low’ and CHEAP. That’s the slight line that highlights a clear border between somebody rich and the nouveau riche, even if the attitude to show off without any moderation, often belongs also to people who don’t have ready money but want to build their social status. Each of us has an aspirational model, it’s the well-known What do you want to be when you grow up?: there’s those who want to be Donald Trump and those who aspire to be Dario Fo, even with the cash of Donald Trump. As always, it’s all about class…that cannot be bought. So, please, take cuffs off of your pants: they’re allowed only in Venice if the tide is high, very high.
