Beppe Sala, the real face of Milan

If there is a single person who best embodies the momentum that Milan is living, its mayor, Giuseppe Sala.
Beppe - for everyone - is the mirror of the New Milan, an open and rising city, that has more in common with other European cities than with the rest of Italy, both aesthetically and culturally. It is no coincidence that Sala's ascent to Milan coincides with the 2015 Expo - where he was the CEO - and that is precisely with the event commonly associated with the Milanese Renaissance. The seed was obviously planted by the previous mayors, who Beppe does not fail to thank in interviews and public interventions, underlining his political fluidity (nobody politically identifies him with his party, the PD) but above all the Milanese exceptionality to recognize the merits of the opponent in a politically contentious and memoryless country.

Sala is a ubiquitous public figure: he interviews Milan's best rapper Marracash, then he chats with Obama at the Seeds ″ n Chips fair, satisfy liberal palates for his management training and participates in gay pride's parades. Everyone loves him in Milan, and it's becoming a cult or inside-joke: the mayor is professional, competent and can be trusted, he also has the irony of the Milanese taaaaac, which sometimes becomes arrogant as the first of the class. As Michele Masneri wrote on Il Foglio, "more than the mayor seems to be the testimonial of Milan". Beppe embodies an industrious and European identity that has made a city that just twenty years ago seemed to be obscured by Rome and imprisoned in the greyness of natural and cultural fog, while today it proposes an oasis of fashion and art, a haven for Italian creatives and it is not place to be of the European coolness. And like any influencer and like every Milanese, the favorite instrument could only be fashion.

Shaking the profile of the mayor there are also various youth outfits, more or less ironic: the baseball cap with the B backwards, the outfit of the zarro styled by Daria Bignardi complete with a shoulder bag and mirrored glasses and finally the Netflix hoodie by La Casa del Papel, immortalized with a shot of a true influencer. Last but not least iconic, the shot that immortalizes the mayor in the climate march with some Milanese students with their branded water bottles Comune di Milano: the mayor wears the suit, while the boy in the front row has a shirt of Supreme Italia.

After the expo, Beppe Sala was involved in a scandal concerning the procurement of Expo. A story that the newspapers followed according to the most classic storytelling of Italian corruption: the manager of a big event that pockets public money. To prove his innocence, Sala suspended himself as Mayor awaiting the end of the investigation, confirmed by a definitive sentence which confirmed his innocence. The public figure of Sala came out dirty from the story - accomplice to the political season of hunting for the corrupt - and his most effective operation of political rebranding did not pass from interviews or television participation but from his Instagram profile: @beppesala. The mayor shares his private life, a few institutional moments, many personal: the sunset wine with his girlfriend, the book read in summer and of course the best casual outfits.

We can define the mayor's style as Cool low-key, that is elegant but without making too much effort.
The Item-manifesto of his casual symbiosis with the city, it is the MSGM T-shirt "I thought It was love but instead it was Milan". Then there are two political-fashion shots that have occupied the pages of newspapers and the talk of Milanese salons: the photo posted on the occasion of the gay pride with rainbow socks (a political statement that was not taken for granted in the Salvini's era). The post is coupled with the photo-celebration for the assignment of the 2026 Olympics, in which the mayor's smile with an impeccable James-Jebbia-kinda polo shirt, he smiles slyly with the success of the Milan-catch-all. A perfect example of Beppe's most personal style is the recent post with the accessory that has become the yardstick for a man's past 35 success: the clock. That of the mayor, immortalized by plane to Barcelona is a Polycarbon D1 Milano: minimal (and cheap) model to avoid backlash on social media.

Recently the mayor cut the inauguration ribbon of Uniqlo - temple of minimal and elegant style - in Cordusio wearing a kimono made by the Japanese brand for the occasion and also when he plays soccer, the Mayor chooses the right shirt: third kit England of Umbro, a nostalgic yet stylish sweater. His formal work suit betrays the fact that he spent more time in the meeting rooms than between the town halls and the Parliament: slim tailored cuts with a City Life skyscraper, a white shirt with a non-intrusive collar and a narrow tie. Nothing to do with Berlusconi's double breasts, excessive ties of 5 stelle parvenus, Renzi's ostentatious youth or Salvini's uniforms. But it's the style outside Palazzo Marino to tell who the mayor is, like when he posted a photo in Formentera with Ghali wearing nike running that are only found in outlets.