Anyway, this week was/is FASHION WEEK. Amazing! I love fashion week and being in Milan during fashion week is very fun. Models walk the streets with the rest of us, take the metro and tower over us. It's great. Well, this year, C'N'C Costume National, had their fashion show in Piazza Duomo. They hosted an entire nighted called Milano Loves Fashion, including some performers (The Kills and some others) complete with performances and then finally the fashion show and a DJ after. So, Christina and I met up after work and headed down to Duomo to eat and scope out the scene. There weren't many people, so we casually got dinner, went into a few shops and then headed to get some good spots. There were only about three people in front of us, so we camped out and waited for the show to begin. Well, it began, and the performances were going on and suddenly Christina taps me on the shoulder and I turn around and there is a giant space between us - because there was a woman in a wheelchair pushing people out of the way. Now, at this point, it is crowded - VERY crowded, we could barely move anywhere and this woman is coming through. She stops RIGHT between Christina and I and is trying to get her way to the very front. Mind you, people are NOT happy about this. She was with her son/friend/I have no idea who, but this tall man and she is in her 60s probably, wearing a pleather coat and scarf. TELLING, not asking, people to move out of her way. And so the drama begins: she reaches our area, and there are two people left in front of her - a little asian tourist and this older woman, we'll call her signora. So the asian tourist kinda shuffles to the side as much as he can seeing that he's sandwiches in this huge crowd. So there is only signora left. Mind you, the show is HAPPENING and they are yelling at people to move!!! There is a little elevated grate and then a baracade at the very front of the crowd (before the runway). Her son/friend/tall man lifts her up so the front of her wheelchair is on the grate and then she's like YELLING at this signora to move. Signora does NOT want to move and she is PISSED. So she ignores her. The woman in the wheelchair is MAD and starts RAMMING into signora with her wheelchair!!!! It was unreal. Finally her son/friend/tall man yells at her, "ma sei matta?!?!" (are you crazy?!?!) and makes her stop. At this point, there is ONE person in front of her, this tiny signora, and she had a clear view of the runway. But, she is not satisfied and says, ok, we need to go back then! And her son/friend/tall man is like, are you kidding? We made our way here through this huge crowd, and you want to go back?!?!?! She yells, "la ammazzo!!" Meaning, "I'll kill her" (about signora). So, thank god, the son/friend/tall man is like ok, so they GO BACK through this entire crowd of people, just trying to watch this show!!! It was quite the scene and just insane. (Sidenote: during this whole scene Christina is loving it - saying ONLY IN ITALY, THIS IS AMAZING!, THIS IS CRAZY!) The show itself was really interesting. I think more fashion shows should be done with a public audience. They of course had seating for the actual guests (like the mayor of Milan, some tall blonde woman wearing a giant blank scrunchie who was famous because she was getting interviewed/lots of pics taken) but the other side of the runway was for the public. It was great!
the grand finale
