What are Bianca Balti and Monica Bellucci doing on the walls of Milan?

It’s quite striking to see the Dolce&Gabbana billboards scattered in the city, looking down at passers-by. They are displaying the Spring Summer Women 2012 Campaign: a representation of a quiet and relaxed summer’s day at the seaside from the Fifties that features two of the hottest women on Earth clashes with the hectic, frenzy attitude of the capital of fashion.

 Stazione Centrale of Milan

Milan locals – nor tourists - may not connect the dots, but this frame, coming straight from Sofia Loren movies, that depicts how Italy was back then, is capable of changing the mood of the city. How is this possible? Thanks to a clever use of the advertising media. Proof is that despite the fact that in big cities we are always rushing to catch up and we never look back, yet whoever is waiting for his train looks up and is reminded – thanks to a Dolce&Gabbana colourful, giant-sized advertising hoarding - of an époque of light-heartedness, beauty, courtship-rituals and fun, an époque not even that long ago, yet light-years from where we are now.

 Garibaldi Train Station in the shadow on the EXPO15 development

So even if “hurry” seems to be the keyword today, this campaign fully succeeds in making people stop, if only for a second, and dream about a time when all that mattered was being together, sharing (food, experiences, music, beauty), remembering to smile despite everything. Isn’t that just what you do today when you see those billboards? Yes, they remind us of a luxury brand that has its pillars in family, tradition, Italian craftsmanship, glamour and Dolce Vita lifestyle. But they also allow us to dream, at least for a second, surrounded by beauty and forgetful that we are not at the seaside enjoying the sun on our skin but on our way to work. As a daily gift, Dolce&Gabbana could not do better.

Written by: Elisa della Barba

Credits: Dolce&Gabbana Women Campaign SS12 is shot by Giampaolo Sgura