Cathedral of the fashionistas

For many  women in China, fashion is comfort – inspirational and aspirational, it gives tangible assurance that they have made it somewhere, have gained their own identity amid an ocean of similar people. Millions of Chinese have the same first and last names, even – masses with the family name Wang or Zhou or Li. There are only about five or six last names used by the true Han Chinese. And there are more than a billion of them.

Those on the Mainland have no sacred spirits to worship, no everlasting icons to give them comfort in the stark awakening from a bad dream at 3 am. Along with the all-important family, it is material things and money that give them something to hold onto.

So when female friends and colleagues in China heard that I was moving to Milan they were mightily impressed. I would actually gaze upon the fountainhead itself, the actual headquarters and flagship stores of global glamour giants like Prada, Gucci, Versace.

Yes, I made it to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele right next to the Duomo Cathedral. And I too basked in the reflected affluence of the incredibly ornate shops. They were so expensive-looking I was afraid to walk in.

And I admit it is far and away the most elegant shopping “mall” I have ever seen.