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# 57 • APRIL 5 , 2015
# 57 •APRIL 5
discover our new column The Italian Way
THE ITALIAN WAY:
Italians and their Style
Part 1
By Elda Buonanno Foley, PhD
The poet and cultural critic
Matthew Arnold stated “Have
something to say and say it
as clearly as you can. This is
the only secret to style”. Think
about Italian style, the way we
move and clothe ourselves,
and you can understand why
Italians are worldly famous for
their demeanor and manners.
We have always something
to say and we say it clearly in
the way we prepare ourselves
and we face the world: no single wrinkle of any kind in our
clothes is admissible or accepted.
So what is style for us? Why
do we Italians always make
such a big deal of our “appearance”? Is this related only to
fashion? Do we need to wear
extremely expensive brands to
state something clearly? Or is
it something else; something
related to “la bella figura”, the
way people need to perceive
us? I would propose that it is
all the above. However, let me
summarize a few points: Style
is a matter of perception for
Italians, a synonym of belonging and becoming, the way
we communicate to the external world that we are and we
mean.
Let me acronym the word style:
S is for sophisticated. You
would recognize an Italian
person in a colorful crowd for
the way all the items in his/her
person are set and combined
together. A refined mixture of
accessories needs to indicate
care and attention for the preparation, and, for us Italians,
this is not a matter of social
pressure but, rather, an innate
care for how we make a statement.
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2015
In sum, style is a big deal for
Italians and one reason we
are so identifiable in public: to
be noted, that we, the Italians,
do not seek what the Ancient
Greeks would indicate as kalokagathìa, the sublime idea
of perfection as a combination
of good and beautiful. What
we are and we do is to manifest a sense of harmony and a
continuous research for balance and appropriateness that is
envied all over the world, unto understand the Italian style: successfully copied and relentT is for tradition. Let’s not for- the perception of the self and lessly pursued. La Classe non è
get that Italy is the country of the perception of the role of acqua.
the Renaissance, the golden the self in the bigger commuBibliography
period of flourishing visual nity of the human being.
and artistic arts, of inventiveness, creativity and richness. E as in extension. The way we Linda Ray Pratt, Matthew ArA period that has inaugurated clothe, we move, we eat is an nold Revisited