The unnecessary controversy over Elly Schlein's image consultant

In an interview with Vogue that came out yesterday, Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein revealed that she turns to an image consultant and personal shopper, Enrica Chicchio. The web went crazy within hours, with Twitter users starting to talk about social privilege, comparing Schlein to Chiara Ferragni, talking about communists with Rolexes, and generally highlighting the apparent contradiction between being a spokesperson for leftist policies and taking care of one's appearance. The social reaction is more about, rather than Schlein per se, a kind of association between fashion and politics whereby it is normal for a right-wing politician to have and spend money and instead a left-wing politician (who in some people's simplistic reasoning is "a communist") should adhere to that imagery of style made up of a scruffiness that belongs only to someone's stereotypical imagination. In reality, we might assume, Schlein would have been harshly criticized for whatever outfit choices she made: if she dressed too elegantly they would have called her a privileged champagne socialist, if she dressed in Zara or fast-fashion brands they would have criticized her for choosing unsustainable brands, if she dressed with complete neglect they would have criticized her lack of decorum and elegance. The truth is that, now more than ever, it's totally normal for a public figure (mostly the leader of Italy's second-largest party) to use a consultant for her wardrobe and make-up. 

Reading what her advisor said, Schlein's goal was not to get a wardrobe made of luxury brands, but simply to create a more elegant look to leave behind what had accompanied her in her previous political phase. «We replaced the eskimo with a tailored-cut trench coat,» Chicchio told La Repubblica, stressing the importance of clothing symbolism in political communication. «Elly doesn't have a militant look,» said the consultant, signaling, in all likelihood, a desire to visually depart from the stereotypical image of the militant leftist by presenting herself to the public in a more relatable guise. After all, even Giorgia Meloni shops at Armani's without anyone feeling like objecting, but more generally, the political world believes that the dress maketh the man, which connotes the politician who wears it even before the ideas he wants to put forth. It has only been a few years since Stefano Bonaccini, who by a bizarre will of chance challenged Schlein himself in the PD primaries, had made headlines for the makeover he underwent during his campaign for the regional elections. An operation that at the time, more than raising controversy over the Modenese politician's new look, had aroused curiosity in a country that still seems to have a dated idea when it comes to political communication. Especially since now, as Davide Angelucci of the Italian Center for Electoral Studies writes, «the main support [for the Democratic Party] comes from the more educated segments of the population and relatively more affluent social classes» putting the party in the position of having to dialogue and represent a plurality of voices with different ideas and visions even when talking about a trivial matter such as wardrobe.

Finally, in reference to armocromy, it would be difficult to define this practice as peculiar to elites. Originating as an application to the decorative arts of color theory in the 1950s and 1980s, it has now become the practice of image specialists, beauticians, and life coaches who rotate in the outer, remote orbits of the fashion world and exploit its aspirationality. A huge number of hair salons now offer arm-chroming consultations, as do the vast majority of beauty salons - this is to say that Schlein did not turn to the famous Milanese celebrity stylists, but used an advisory service that was by no means exclusive, in fact, entirely popular. On the results of this service, it is not for us to judge, although we certainly cannot say that Schlein's outfits are precisely impeccably cut - but that is another matter. Representing a left-wing political party, in short, does not mean vowing to poverty like the Franciscans friars while many of the insurgents on social media should ask themselves if they would not call Schlein a hypocrite if she wore the blue-collar as she did in the days of the "worker president" Berlusconi.