A MODEST PROPOSAL

Since she wrote an article in which she critisized the entire blogger world this past NYFW, Suzy Menkes has become even more well known than she already was - though perhaps a little less loved. But all that has been talked about plenty. Today, I want to share her latest article called A Modest Proposal. I don't know about you, but I think she's on to something here!

From movies to fashion, the stereotype of the Italian woman has wavered between a Madonna and a whore. The first look is about innocence, sweetness and femininity; the other a full-on, sexed-up vision, as seen in scoop-bust, skintight clothes, amply displayed on television by the “protégées” of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former prime minister. But out of Italy has come a fashion miracle: a look that suddenly puts “la moda da puttana” (“hooker chic”) right out of vogue.

The new protagonist is Valentino and its design duo, whose modest capes, long-sleeved, calf-length dresses and general gentility has wiped out a decade of slut style on the runways. The cover-up clothes, undulating across the body, revealing flesh only as a lace-covered shadow from the high neck to the wrist, come from Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, who worked for nearly 10 years in the shadow of Valentino Garavani before budding and flowering on their own.

The word that best describes their clothes is so ancient and out of fashion that it requires a good dust off: modesty. Yet this is not a sackcloth-and-ashes denial of sexuality but rather a fresh take on the female factor. The modern woman is not prudish about her body. She just may not want to put her erogenous zones on display. There has always been an eroticism attached to what is behind the veil — not least in Italian art.

For the entire article (it's long but worth it) click here.