AFTER the
clobbering Italian fashion has taken of late - in some accounts for its inability
to produce a new generation of hot designers, in others for using
underpaid Chinese immigrants to make overpriced handbags - Isabella Rossellini is making a stand for Milan.
Ms. Rossellini,
the actress and model, appears in a new government-financed advertising
campaign that urges American consumers to "Let yourself be charmed by an
Italian" And although Ms. Rossellini, is, of course,
half Swedish and now lives in
Quite
frankly, I think it is appropriate because I have worked as a model," she
said. "They might have chosen Sophia Loren
or Monica Bellucci, but I think I might have
worked in fashion more".
She has, as they
say, kicked the tires.
She has been out
with Giorgio Armani and been surprised to
see crowds treating him as the star. She remembers Max Mara as a coat
house and Prada when it sold only
purses. She remembers how fashion was perceived when she first came to
Ms. Rossellini,
who was once the face of the French cosmetics company Lanctme,
is well versed on the intricacies of the American marketplace and how difficult
it can be to succeed here. Perhaps this makes her sensitive to the
competitiveness among Italian designers trying to do the same.
Deciding what Ms.
Rossellini would wear for the campaign was fraught.
Obviously,
everything had to be Italian", she said. "The great debate was
whether I would wear an Armani or a Missoni."
Ms. Rossellini
coyly suggested an outfit by Cristina Bomba, a
designer unknown outside of
She praised
Armani and Missoni, mind you. She once wore a lot of
Dolce & Gabbana, too, but this is where Ms.
Rossellini went a bit off message.
Im not
fat," she said, "or maybe Im vain and dont want to think of
myself as fat. But now I dont fit, and that is a mystery to me."