The bare shoulders of «Mr. President». A praise – Corriere.it

We were not used to asking ourselves “who knows what the Prime Minister will be dressed like”. It just wasn’t a theme. Yet at Giorgia Meloni’s first major social event, the Prima della Scala, the wait was also for how she would present herself at the theater, what dress she would choose, what make-up, what hairstyle. Scanned like none of his predecessors, the “Mr. Prime Minister” has made another small revolution, through some messages which – after the euphoria of the evening – become like those snowflakes inside the glass balls: once they are deposited in the sphere the whole panorama suddenly becomes clearer. “I hope the dress lives up to your expectations,” said the prime minister upon her arrival. A thought that one would not expect, perhaps, from the very tough Giorgia Meloni, one who is not afraid to speak clearly with her allies, to set limits, to discuss with the unions (it happened just yesterday morning). Can the dress she wears be a problem?

But yes, she too, showed a crumb if not of insecurity at least of vulnerability right where we almost all fall: the image, the aesthetic aspect. One of us, in this sense for real. There is no right or left, but a woman who knows that even her choice of dress will be analyzed as never would be done with a man. But if there was also the thought of her, the prime minister decided to deal with it as best she knows how: her head. She wasn’t cautious, she didn’t reason by subtraction: she went to the stylist who best interprets the spirit of the Premiere – Giorgio Armani – and she chose an elegant but not subdued dress, which left her shoulders uncovered, a not irrelevant detail (and she he may not have known). Not a suit that is difficult to comment on, not even a high-necked and sober dress like that of Ursula von der Leyen. Grappling with the expectations that still have a different weight on women and men, Meloni decided not to deny them – that she was excited, and very much, it was understood – but at the same time to arrive soon at a therefore: I’m Giorgia, and at the Premiere of the Scala I go dressed like this.

Behind that dress is once again that strong woman who never misses an opportunity to assert herself, even when it takes a bit of effort, even when she has to overcome some hesitation. Net of political ideas (they have nothing to do here), this woman who was the first to find herself doing things that had always been monopolized by men, is trying to carry on perhaps the most subversive ambition of all, that is to act out of her mind his, with that pragmatism that seems to want to liquidate every question in the shortest possible time. Including an event like the Prima della Scala where «the Prime Minister» showed up with his shoulders uncovered and then let’s hope for the best. If at the Premier of the future the future ladies presidents of the Council (and all the others, down in the audience) no longer wonder if their dress will live up to expectations, perhaps it will also be a little due to those bare shoulders on the Royal Box .