In lust we trust

Walking along Corso Garibaldi and Corso Como in Milan is starting to be very challenging if you are not interested in lust. Even the ironmongery -one of the few of the city- seems to be so stylish, with the charming old-style windows (but perfectly updated prices).

I was there to visit Galleria Carla Sozzani, but I took the occasion to study the environment; it's quite a long time since I last went there looking up in the air; at the moment everybody is building around here and a bright new future is forecasted here. Corso Como is already a must-go place for those interested in expensive shops and the most popular fashion. You'll find something different from the best known Italian brands (Gucci, Versace, Dolce&Gabbana…) but if your wallet is ready, you'll have a myriad of alternatives to spend your money.

While walking there, I was looking at the new buildings raising in Garibaldi area, around the station. They will be all luxurious apartments and offices, in prestigious condos, inserted in an area that has been empty for decades. Arriving from Corso Como, you see the old city -just restored a bit, considering the high profile inhabitants- in comparison with the new coming. Here weird short-circuits between "Old and New Urbanization" are ready to be noticed by me.

Before talking of my strolling about culture, just few pics about the area, to give you an idea of what I'm chatting of.

First of all, I suppose the joy of the male dwellers living in the house opposite to the biggest Belèn Rodriguez I've ever seen. I can imagine the happiness of them, opening their window in the early morning. A good reason to wake up early, I would say.

Notices boasting the new construction of Eco-Efficient houses, just above the most sadly eco-friendly residence.



New opening for an ice cream shop. The suggestion here is to lick quickly your dessert, before that dangerous vase dangling from the balcony ends on your head or in your ice cream…




Now let's talk about Photography, since Galleria Carla Sozzani is special for free exhibits of famous photographers.
This time it's Alice Springs time, until 22nd April 2012.

The address is Corso Como 10, where you'll find also a gorgeous clothes shop, an excellent bookshop (for art, design and photography) and a sufficiently expensive café. You won't lack anything here, just polish your American Express!

Alice Springs was Mr Helmut Newton wife and He taught her what to do, but without exaggerating with technical secrets. He said, about her portraits, that <she doesn't use any tricks, simply because she does not know them>.
This read, I understood that the portraits displayed in the white spaces are special because she used only natural light, no flash or advanced techniques. The magic of the moment was caught as it was in that exactly instant.
It's a spontaneous mix of intimacy and familiarity with the portrayed people. And what a people! We are talking about the best elements of '70s and '80s fashion and cinema panorama. 
The Galleria temporarily hosts 130 prints. Someone wrote, on the guest book, that the prints were not graphically good. I'm not an expert of this but I felt there was something.. strange in the final rendition. The pictures seemed a bit foggy, but the exhibition anyway shows Alice's work (or June Newton's - her real name) with the best bored jet-set stars and the best creative artists of the time. Everybody is shot in their "natural environment" or, if in a undefined place, with a detail that freeze the personality of the stars. Most of them looked fed up with that golden world, other scared or astonished. But everybody should have been very happy to be represented by Alice.

Some shots are deeply Helmut Newton style, in particular the first with the female naked models; pics even more malicious than Helmut's ones!
The portraits are, I think, the best way SHE could find to express a society and an era, with no regret for the past, but with a certain surprise for the situation, indeed.
As the Press Papers says: she captured their charisma, their aura.

Well, exiting the fashionable building and crossing the stylish courtyard, I looked around me, noticing all the controversies of an early afternoon in Corso Como. The street was waiting for the nocturne "movida" and all the consequent trendy society filling the clubs and cocktail-bars.
Considering that a lot of contemporary supposed celebrities come here to spend their nights, I would like to know how many of them could be ever portrayed in the same way Alice did, 30 or 40 years ago.

For the moment, we only have a 4 floors Belèn Rodriguez, hanging on a building!