Don't tell Alain Elkann that streetwear exists

Milan is beginning to resemble the jungle in Jumanji, in Sicily entire cities are collapsing, without water and light or airports. But a good half of Twitter today is talking about one of the most cringe-worthy editorials ever to come off the presses of La Repubblica, namely On the train to Foggia with the young "lansquenets" signed by Alain Elkann who, let's remember, is the father of John Elkann, the paper's publisher. There is no need for us to rip the article to shreds, Twitter is already taking care of that with delightful ferocity, but perhaps it may be interesting to comment on it in the parts that pertain to us, namely those that talk about fashion. That's right, because in the tranche de vie that Elkann wanted to present to us, perhaps unaware of the existence of a meme known First World Problems, fashion is indeed talked about: from the «very tinny blue linen dress and a light shirt» to the «leather bag»which he nobly wore, complete with books and newspapers; to the streetwear of the 16-year-old "lansquenets" which is described as follows:«White T-shirt with colorful writing, black short shorts, Nike brand training shoes, blond hair cut short, a green backpack. And iPhone with headphones to listen to music. [...] Some had the classic baseball player canvas hat with a visor on their heads in different colors, mostly black, and they all had either arms or legs or necks with rather large tattoos. No one wore a watch». 

Later, Elkann refers to himself as a «Martian» among them-but it is curious to note that he is actually the one who speaks of teenagers as strange alien creatures. Every word used to describe them, he judges them. One can already tell from his prolonged descriptions in somewhat bookish Italian that modern clothes defy his understanding: the «the classic baseball player canvas hat with a visor» which in the real world is just a «baseball hat»; but also sneakers that become «Nike training shoes» but the most shocking detail, so much so that it deserves a sentence of its own, is that «no one wore a watch». Now, there is certainly no need to be indignant about the opinions of Mr. Elkann, who with his staggering bank account and 73 years of age can well afford to be disconnected from the real world, but it remains peculiar to note how from the height of his culture, Elkann fails to realize the trivial fact that customs change with the ages and, therefore, perhaps it is understandable that a young man does not wear a watch since he has one in his phone. Now, since Elkann gives signs that he understands French literature, we might quote to him Baudelaire's brilliant essay The Painter of Modern Life, in whose opening pages, speaking precisely of fashion, we read:«Those modes of dress that appear ridiculous to unthinking people, serious people without real seriousness, have a dual appeal, artistic and historical. [...] I am pleased to find in all or most, the morality and aesthetics of their era». Elkann's comments, ça va sans dire, sound like those of an unthinking person.

Now maybe the morality and aesthetics of this era do not appeal to Elkann (even without "maybe") but it is interesting to note how costume and dress have remained today the most fundamental signifiers of where we are in society but also where we are in history. For example, if in Elkann's mind there is the blue linen suit strictly tattered and worn «despite the heat» and thus in deference to the rules of elegance; the exact opposite would be the incomprehensible streetwear of teenagers. But is the division really so binary? Or perhaps both Elkann and his young "lansquenets" exist in respective and incommunicable worlds that are just two spheres of the larger multiverse of fashion today and its meanings? Looking at the issue from inside the fashion bubble, to say, one might note that a blue suit is, however expensive, as conservative, boring, and banal as a man can wear (by the way, the gray suit is in this year), a type of suit that can be associated with anyone who has to show up to work in a tie, from the real estate agent to the high-flying politician, and not something a young man would wear out of autonomous choice; at the same time the young people, in their boldness and innocence, were not paying enormous attention to their outfit, since no one requires us to wear a suit to board a train.

But if a group of teenagers in Nike t-shirts and sneakers prompts Elkann to write (presumably with his fountain pen) an editorial in La Repubblica, what would have happened if Elkann had seen someone in a full Rick Owens outfit? Perhaps the meaning of being mature lies in how we approach reality rather than how we react to it. For everything there is an explanation and, strange to say, even Milanese maranza outfits have their own historical meaning if one makes an effort to understand it. The truth is that the world of blue suits and the world of white T-shirts do not communicate - they refuse to communicate, each entrenched behind its own ideas. But it is not from young people that dialogue can start.While waiting for this enlightenment to come one can comment on Elkann's editorial with just two words: «Ok, boomer».