The elegance of the rapper. The clothes don’t make the rapper. Take Daveed Diggs, the talent on the cover of the latest Style Magazine. He has critized the USA, infact the title of the interview is “I’m not proud of being American”. I very barely know rap music but, after watching Diggs starring in the Netflix series Snowpiercer (inspired by the namesake movie by Bong Joon-Ho, the Korean director of Parasite) with Jennifer Connelly (the girl that in Dario Argento’s Phenomena trained insects), and in Wonder with Julia Roberts, I started to follow him on Instagram, where he has almost one million followers, and, incredibly, I started to appreciate also his music genre. And I liked the fact that he agreed for Style Magazine to wear clothes far away from the standards and the clichés of the rapper. Proving that talent doesn’t need labels.

The woman in red. My first virtual contact with Maria Pia Calzone was three years ago. I took a fancy to her thanks to her character in the first season of Gomorra the Series, Imma Savastano. She had already been great in Mater Natura, where she interpreted a Neapolitan transsexual, but thanks to Gomorra she has become more popular (117k followers on Instagram and 26615 on Twitter) and protagonist of other successful movies like Io che amo solo te and Dobbiamo parlare. Style Magazine dedicated to her a portfolio signed by Toni Thorimbert. At first I was so influenced by her camorrista character that I imagined a woman as tough in real life. But Maria Pia is really sweet, actually. In this picture, taken from Cinema Italia, the great book by the photographer Simon, she plays the role of the sexy icon. She plays, because she’s ironic and funny. But, to tell the truth, she’s sexy indeed.

Master of style. John Cassavetes: a rare mix of beauty and talent. Between the 50s and the 80s he acted in about thirty movies and directed a dozen of independent movies. They were “special” movies, often filmed in interiors, like theatrical pieces. Conceptual films and intellectual scripts. Cassavetes, indeed, is not so famous, mainly among young people. The only movie that reached the public approval and made him popular as an actor at the end of the 70s was Rosemary’s Baby, by Roman Polanski. And the only well-known one he directed was Gloria. A summer night, interpreted by his wife Gena Rowlands. She had the same destiny. she is little known even if she’s as talented and beautiful as others more famous colleagues. Cassavetes has always been in the shadows, like all the greats of the show business and he was (in my opinion) unconsciously sensual. He had an innate and discreet style, he was confident wearing a suit as well as a classic/informal outfit. John Cassavetes (on the right) with Peter Falk. Picture from the book John Cassavetes by Jim Healy and Emanuela Martini (Il Castoro Publishing)

The top of style. Sporty and classy: in the mountains with style. The technological development of the fashion industry has often favoured comfort at the expense of appearance. Bright down jacket with a reflective effect, stuffed trousers, absurd boots, which are waterproof but also horrific. Luckily there’s a U-turn from this season on: waterproof garments and accessories that are also warm, comfortable and windproof, now become more fashionable and, above all, more appealing. Store your synthetic fluo jackets in mothballs and opt for neutral colors and wool fabric. Store your down mittens and buy a pair of gloves made of waterproof leather; wear a turtleneck instead of the sweatshirt and velvet trousers. Finally, free yourself of those old laced boots and try to imagine the coolness of a pair of leather shoes with non-slip sole and snowproof upper.