Italian Fashion Models : Rethinking the Discourse on National Identity

This chapter reflects on the controversial concept of national identity through the discourses at play in fashion magazines, focusing on the overlooked case of Italian models—and their bodies—and their role in these discursive practices. In Italy, the profession of the model has been affirmed and specialized during the second half of the twentieth century thanks to specific activities of fashion houses, institutions that promoted Italian fashion and the emerging of fashion publishing houses. Italian fashion models progressively became public figures and models of femininity, being featured in fashion magazines such as the international editions of «Vogue» and «Harper’s Bazaar», or «L’Officiel Paris», as well as in popular women’s magazines such as «Marie Claire» or «Elle». In this manner, Italian models became a central dispositive for the construction and production of those imaginaries and visions of Italian beauty which are necessary for the creation of discourses and interpretation of fashion. The case of “Italian models” becomes an interesting phenomenon to explore because it is in this period that there is a dialogue between a national discourse and the international panorama which has—in some cases—been articulated through a specific discourse on “Italianità” and on specific traits of beauty that have been displayed in magazines and which often drew upon the atmosphere of Italian cinema. Drawing upon Stephen Gundle’s essay titled Bellissima (2007), this chapter not only rebuilds the historical context of the emergence of “Italian models” in the international scene but it also shows the mechanisms behind the international success of some contemporary Italian models (Monica Bellucci, Biana Balti) and their relation with an ideal of beauty connected to a nostalgic image of Italy and with those aesthetic codes rooted in cinema (the “bella italiana”). At the same time, the aim is to show some alternative cases from this canonical view, discussing other figures (Carla Bruni, Simonetta Gianfelici, Mariacarla Boscono) and their capacity to offer an iridescent and kaleidoscopic image of Italian models able to put in discussion and problematize the construction of an “Italian model” or “canon” of beauty. The essay has a high level of originality, since Italian models have been largely neglected in fashion studies. Methodologically, the essay uses extensive historiographical research conducted in fashion magazines, and interviews with some Italian models from different eras (such as Gianfelici and Petteni). The impact of the essay is international: the publisher specializes in the field of international fashion studies, and the text is included in a choral volume where some of the most influential voices in contemporary fashion studies are present.