Glamor and confidence exude from this photo by Mrs. Millicent H. Fenwick, 1970. Getty photo
Nowadays the advance of age is seen as a tragic event, due to the unhealthy importance of the external appearance, but this does not apply to the “sciure”.
We need to go back to the classical age, which rejected the representation of physicists who were not shapely or shapely, to understand the current idea of beauty and ugliness as synonyms of youth and old age, then taken up again from the Middle Ages, a period in which the representations of ” old” symbolized a physical and moral decay. And while “Death becomes Her” takes the form of a fearful parody of the human being, between instagram filters and the disproportionate use of cosmetic surgery, it seems that the revaluation, typical of Baroque art, of female imperfections, as elements of attraction, is also convincing the “guilty” fashion . How? Making her like the character of the “sciura”, dialectal term that indicates a high-ranking, elderly and Milanese woman. The sketch? Wrapped in a vintage fur, accessorized with a pearl choker, surrounded by a fresh hairdo and accompanied by small dogs.
Now a mythological figure, fun to see around Milan, made known to all thanks to @sciuraglam, an Instagram profile full of videos and photos from which the glamor of yesteryear emerges that fascinates young people, and not only. Vestiaire Collective, Desigual and Versace invest in them with ad hoc social campaigns, sponsoring a figure who – strangely – is neither young nor perfect, but rich and promoter of the status quo through manifest luxury. Of course, the world cannot be revolutionized in one go, but it is fascinating how two diametrically opposed behaviors can be observed: there are those who exalt an untouched and flawless female figure, and those who aim for something else, abandoning those useless fears related to age . In fact, unpublished shots of the great divas, such as Audrey Hepburn or Liz Taylor, are very popular, in which wrinkles, signs of age and white hair are publicly appreciated, garnering thousands of approvals. Whether they are true or not, it is not known.
Not only women of the “good Milan” who frequent Sant Ambroeus, which has already been talked about a lot for the recent campaign signed The Attico, but also simple photos in which the idealization of wealth is not contemplated in the slightest. A recent Gucci Beauty Christmas campaign, #GucciBeautyWishes, for example, shoved the hard truth into the face of those hopelessly immersed in perfection, all through the eternal – which does not mean alien to the natural aging process – face of Benedetta Barzini, journalist and sixties fashion icon. She herself, who has also based her career on the outward appearance, confronts Federica Salto in an episode of the Gucci Podcast on the theme of images and the conflictual relationship that binds us to them, exploring how social norms and cultural filters influence and determine the representation of women. Because this self-subjectification, as social psychology teaches us, is a particularly feminine issue, which is slowly becoming also masculine.
A long-standing problem, that of age, which today finds peace in painted ladies animated by a light, almost youthful spirit. Walks with friends, one or at most two, pastries at Cova, evenings at La Scala and staying in Brera or Guastalla. This and much more for those who, now, dictate the trend, making both furs attractive again – strictly from grandmother or mother, or eco – both the timeless classics. Perhaps the “sciure”, which are no longer limited to the borders of Milan, have really found the solution to that number that runs, simply by ignoring it.