La Rotonda della Besana is one of the most original works made in the eighteenth century in Milan. A masterpiece of elegance and proportions with the elliptical colonnade surrounding the square around the church of San Michele ai Nuovi Sepolcri. Being a building of the eighteenth century, it corresponds to the late Baroque style that is found in the whole series of its architectural features. From the outside it looks like a Roman amphitheater, and inside is a real beauty, with the succession of columns and arches lined with spaces, offering ever new perspectives.
It's right between these arches that today I had the privilege of wearing a dress that is called, coincidentally, Baroque Jasmine, a masterpiece of proportion and elegance too, designed by Izumi Ogino, since 1993 creative director of the Maison Anteprima. The designer, Italian by adoption but very attached to her homeland, Japan, designs and creates through her collections the image of a joyful and colorful woman, elegant, feminine and contemporary in every season.
This wonderful long dress that I wear today, part of the Spring Summer 2017 collection, makes me feel a very modern princess, it is romantic in its ruffles and dynamic lines, elegant colors and details, contemporary in sharp cuts and light in shapes, luxurious in the plots of the fabric. I love the floral pattern of this dress, an easy-to-wear sophistication, I think it is visible how I feel exactly in tune with its refined style - I did fluttering skirts between the arches of the Rotonda della Besana and I felt to be at one with its architecture.
What a nice feeling, I'm in this rarefied atmosphere and quiet environment, where I feel to be in harmony with the whole. And this is the primary aesthetic concept at the center of traditional Japanese culture that attracts me more and which I personally strongly look for: the search for the harmonic value in everything. Japan has always been for me a synonym for harmony and balance, and for a moment I feel like I embody all this. In fact, I'm wearing a dress so proportioned, rich but at the same time equilibrated and of a simple beauty, easy-to-wear and sweetly wrapping me. It could nearly remind of the Kimono, the well-known traditional Japanese clothing. And this is what I mean: this dress expresses the wise combination of two diametrically opposite worlds, the East and West, creating a unique and up-to-date image, which seeks beauty in a very natural way and without cultural barriers.
Japan, which has attracted me and which I have deepened in many cultural aspects in the course of its evolution since the time of my university studies, is for me a truly remarkable country. I love its habits - like the tea ceremony; I love its politeness, sometimes even ceremonious for us Occidentals, but based on an inner respect for people, tradition and for the country, I love its philosophy and approach to life. An approach to life fast and efficient, but able to slow down when it's time to enjoy the pleasure of contemplation of beauty or a traditional ceremony.
The accessories proposed by Izumi Ogino are fresh and very original, like this Wirebag, the iconic bag of the brand, hand-worked as a shirt, with a wire thread that reflects light, a little bourgeois chic. It has a refined elegance, thanks to the lighting effect lurex given by processing, handicraft, of unusual materials such as recycled PVC wire. If you look at it more closely it is even more beautiful - I would like it in all the flowers colors of this dress.
And what about the Spring time delicacy of these sandals, comfortable, lively green and with a retro flavor?
I imagine life as a succession of experiences and opportunities given to us, which we need to grasp to improve and inwardly enrich ourselves. Even and especially in tiny little moments. Today I felt inspired by this moment of peace and beauty I have been able to enjoy, while outside of these walls the usual chaotic traffic of Milan was thundering.
