Missoni at the University of Milan - Lesson 7 I told you I was coming with a big big surprise about

Missoni at the University of Milan - Lesson 7

I told you I was coming with a big big surprise about my lessons with Missoni and here it is. But first things first.

This seventh and last lesson was our last meeting with Angela Missoni, the actual designer of the brand, and it was going to be a Q&A this time. She was of course accompanied by Rosita, who sat in the first row quietly listening to her daughter talking and answering all the questions the students had previously prepared for her - I think Rosita loved us so much she decided to come to every lesson <3 She’s such a cutie. 

For this last lesson I would also like to introduce my readers to a person who was always present during the other meetings, but who I’ve never talked about because he didn’t really have much to say all the other times: Beniamino Marini, who works in the communication office of the brand (photo 2; he’s so HOT). I kinda found on the Internet something about him working for Vogue.it, but I haven’t figured out if he’s still working for them or not. Btw, this time he took the microphone to talk - very briefly - in front of us students, and asked some questions to Angela (he asked her when she is going to make public her Instagram account - and if you want to know, Angela Missoni’s account is missbrunello) and to..a very special guest.

Of course you see the photos above, so you already know who I’m talking about, but let me tell you how things worked. The Fashion History class is at 4.30 pm in a building detached from the main University building, so you have to walk a few hundred metres to get there. I also had a lesson finishing at 4.15 pm that day, so after that lesson I headed to the building where the class was going to be held. When I got to the classroom, before entering, I saw some of my classmates making very frantic gestures and I understood something was happening, because I could obviously see they were extremely excited. And then, I figured out one of them was telling me, trying to make me read her lips: ‘ANNA DELLO RUSSO IS HERE’.

You can imagine how things got inside me when I realised what was happening. It was like Christmas before Christmas, and my very fashionable Santa was Anna Dello Russo in person. I stepped into the class, and I saw her, standing just some feet next to me. I didn’t even know where to turn to go and take place at my seat next to my friends. When I finally started walking, Angela Missoni noticed my - awesome - lemon yellow jacket and said 'Oh, last time we had an orange coat, today we have a yellow jacket!’. Needless to say, that orange coat from the last lesson was mine as well - yes, I like wearing 'sober’ colours :D

Anyway of course we were all like kids in a candy store. I mean, Anna Dello Russo, one of the most important and famous fashion editors in the world, one of the most fashionable people in the world, was there, ready to talk to us, to answer our questions, to give us tips, to LOOK at us. 

Yes, I feel stupid while writing these things, because I usually try not to give too much importance to celebrities (unless they are Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Anna Wintour and fashion designers in general - basically a lot of people then) but this time I couldn’t hold my happiness. It was a great surprise, and just the day after my birthday!

While Angela was wearing a very simple black ensemble (with a skirt, I guess, I was too concentrated on Anna to look at her, I have to be honest) while Anna was wearing the first look of Missoni S/S 2015 collection (photo 4). I tried to take a photo of her before the lesson started, but I was shaking and you can see the result (photo 5).

Btw, the lesson started and Angela started answering some of the questions the students wrote beforehand for her. I have to be honest and say this time I was really upset with her attitude, I understand there were a lot of questions to answer to, but she was doing it as she really didn’t want to do it, very quickly and without giving to many explanations. Yes, I have to admit many of those questions were really stupid - I was actually wondering how people could possibly ask such predictable and obvious questions to someone like Angela Missoni - but anyway, she should have taken every question more seriously and dedicate more time to the Q&A. Among the questions I remember she answered, there was one about the designing process, when she said she’s not very good at designing, but she’s very good at making people design what she wants (???); someone asked about a possible collection of Missoni with another designer, to which Angela really didn’t know what to answer because 'there are so many designers I like’ - but Anna readily replied, with a grin 'J.W.Anderson!’; who’s the most important figure in fashion for her? 'Chanel, of course’, replied Angela without even having to think about it.

Anna sneaked into the conversation among all the questions and answers and started talking about how fashion is changing right now. What I loved about her - something which I really didn’t expect from her - was that everyone who listened to her could be blown away by how passionate her words were. Don’t get me wrong, I know she’s very passionate in what she does - she wouldn’t be one of the most important people in the fashion business if she didn’t - but I would have never expected she would have talked in such an inspired AND inspiring way in front of us. I could say, she was amazing.

She talked a great deal about how things work now that Internet and the digital innovation has taken over basically the entire world - fashion being one of its primary field of experimentation. She made us laugh - yes, she’s extremely funny! - saying that until some years ago, her assistants would have killed for a bag, while now they would do the same for an iWatch from Apple: 'I would prefer a bag, wouldn’t you?’ she asked the audience, who obviously replied 'Yes!’, to which she replied 'Oh, I see you’re old-fashioned then!’.

She talked about the fact that Interne has enabled every kind of person in the world to get into the world of fashion and become someone in such a short amount of time: for her the 'high towers’ of the fashion world have been destroyed, meaning that fashion has become a more accessible and welcoming field for everyone.

Well, this was basically the summary of what she said - but she talked so much that really, it would be impossible to write you guys everything she said. Anyway, there was time for some questions and I have to say some of them were hard candy for Angela and Anna (don’t underestimate the students!).

One of my friends asked Anna if, saying that the 'high towers’ of fashion were destroyed, she thought the success of many fashion bloggers - in Italy, among others, Chiara Ferragni - was not due to their wealthiness. Honestly, I didn’t understand if Anna didn’t understand the question or just tried to skip it saying something else, but she basically didn’t reply. She just repeated that now is much easier to get into fashion thanks to the Internet and that people like Chiara Ferragni put a lot of effort into what they do and bla bla bla. I personally agree with my friends: if you don’t have the money to do it, then people are not going to follow you (apart for some very few exceptions; Charles Baudelaire said the same in 1863).

I took the chance myself to ask a question to our lovely guest, and starting from the fact she said that if she could be born again, she would like to be born in one of the new generations because of the amazing power of Internet, then, didn’t she think, from a purely fashion point of view, that this is not a very 'exciting’ moment for fashion, as many fashion journalists are seeing a sort of boring repetition in what fashion brands do? Angela laughed and looked at me as I was crazy (I would have liked to add that, even if I love Missoni, her brand is, in my opinion, one of those that always do the same things over and over and really need some rethinking), and Anna was shocked as well, and replied denying it without thinking too much. She talked to me about a lot of exciting new fashion coming from Asia, especially from Korea, she gave some names (which I really couldn’t write down, you know how complicated are Asian names to understand) and openly said that is going to be the future of fashion together with Japan. She also named some Western designers, J.W.Anderson being one of the most exciting for her and citing Nicholas Ghesquière as the real starting point for all these new designers: 'If you ask them, who’s your main inspiration, they don’t talk about brands and designers from the past, but they tell you they look at Nicholas Ghesquière’.

I was satisfied with the answer, and I must say I agree with what she said, even if I think this is just one side of the coin. After all, it’s true that during the main fashion weeks, New York, London - maybe less than the others - Milan - which I love anyway - and Paris, we are currently seeing the same things, repeated millions of times to nausea. I could name some very exciting new designers, such as Stella Jean in Italy, brands like Hood by Air, or Alon Livné in Israel. But my question is: who tells us these designers are going to continue being successful? Who tell us they are not going to repeat the same things which are making us excited now, until they become just something predictable and boring? Of course, we have to trust them and hope for the best. But the big, ancient brands, we cannot even put them apart either; and they are the ones where the need for a reinvention is stronger. So yes, Anna was right, but I would have liked to reply again to what she said, just to clarify my point of view.

Hope I have the chance to do it in future. Who knows?

xxx 

Oh yes. How could I forget this? Anna Dello Russo took selfies with us after the lesson! For once, you can also see me :D I put a red circle round my face in the second photo, but you could spot me from the yellow jacket I’m wearing: no doubt I’m that guy.