Cosa Bella's 'La Dolce Vita' | Women of Harlot Babylon
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Photographer Alberto Tolot serves up a classic, sultry campaign for Cosabella’s fall/winter season, writes WWD. Anchored in a “scandalous time” in Italy, the images celebrate the glamour and sensuality of the Sixties movie “La Dolce Vita” by Federico Fellini and the magnificent leading ladies of Italian cinema including Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida.
“There was an explosion of Alfa Romeos, Lamborghinis and Ferraris, Sophia Loren really began exploding worldwide, and Fellini helped pave the way,” said (Guido) Campello, an American-Italian whose parents, Ugo and Valeria Campello, founded Cosabella with Sergio Oxman in Miami in 1983. Campello is vice president of marketing, branding and innovation at Cosaabella.
Personally, I find Campello’s commentary a bit off, regarding the women’s states of mind globally.
“We went through a terrible period in fashion with the recession where it was all about price and value, and a lot of details and eccentricities that make fashion what it is were eliminated,” said Campello. “We saw an opportunity this year and thought with the presidential election we would end the year in a better way, a better place.…‘La Dolce Vita’ represents the idea of the return of a rich, luxurious feeling, of letting women return to the escape of feeling free, luxurious and sexy.”
The presidential election results will depress as many women as they elate in Cosabella’s market. However, as I noted on the just-posted Naomi Yang editorial of Hanna Wahmer for Vogue Taiwan, the blue tinted background is perfectly optimistic and not dirty.
Women, in particular, are so tired of the fighting, the bad news and confrontational nature of our societies — and especially in America — that any call to “La Dolce Vita” is appealing because it’s centered on woman and real sensuality.
Women of Harlot Babylon
This very Cosa Bella campaign could be condemned as ‘The Corruptress’ by those ministers in America who label women like me members of Harlot Babylon. It’s okay. When your good company is Oprah and the Statue of Liberty, some of the sting of the condemnation goes away. (Read When Talking Rick Perry’s Harlots, Add the Statue of Liberty to the List”. )
Italy doesn’t manufacturer sensuality LA style — although the original California girls were rooted in nature and the Sixties. It was an explosive and optimistic time for women. Personally, I vote for optimism and a determination for female principles because somehow we must break the testosterone, financial-religious gridlock that defines our politics worldwide.
As we face “wits end”, many enterprising women are digging deep into our psyches and emotional resources. The truth is that we Smart Sensuality women MUST lead the way out of this desert. The answer lies in firming up our commitment to the full participation of women in our societies.
In America women are under attack on all sides — including from very religious women who come brandishing big sticks. It’s not only our sexuality but our modern identities as women that are under assault.
Italy has hardly led the way for women worldwide when the focus is women’s rights. What I personally love about “La Dolce Vita” is that while glossy and glamorous, it has always expressed a strong current of authenticity around the genuine sensuality that runs deep in the veins of Italian woman and society. That sensuality represents a form of power that monied patriarchal religious forces seek to repress.
Women are not in the mood to go running for cover, as Guido Campello seems to suggest. Rather, we take strength in our sensuality and are using it for battle. This is the mood and messaging in my new jewelry collection GlamTribale.
For more context, read GlamTribale Says “Hang Tight, The Goddesses Are Coming!” We celebrate women who are “Pioneers of the Possible”, a new book published by Assouline. Register also for my soon-to-launch newsletter ENGAGE! Daily news from Anne of Carversville: popular fashion and style posts, Spittin’ out the Pitts politics, women’s philanthropy and new GlamTribale arrivals. Register Now: ~ Anne
