There is a moment, in Elodie Di Patrizi’s past, which holds the seed, perhaps even the foundation, of what everyone today recognize it as a phenomenon. Because there are many singers, some pop stars but very few icons and Elodie, it is now clear, is. A bit like Beyoncé, a bit Madonna but above all herself, capable – when she wasn’t even twenty years old – of transforming the battered streets of the Quartaccio into an imaginary red carpet: the spotlight wasn’t on her yet, but inside her yes, it was already on, suggesting that, somehow, who knows how, but something important was in sight for her. She liked herself, she often said so. And she was vain, so much so that she looked at herself in the mirror in every shop window. But, even more, she liked herself for how she faced the many difficulties that she had to overcome every day.
She liked his character, his personality, in short. To the point that, one day – and here’s the moment -, she decided to shave off her hair. “I tried to shift the gaze of others inside me because I felt much more than a beautiful shell,” she later explained. Now we are at the end of 2023, rightfully her year. Her docuseries, I Still Feel the Dizziness, has been released, she has released the first Italian club tape, Red Light, and her sold-out tour turns into an event every night. Each date is a different show in which she sings, dances but also admires what Elodie creates on stage. Often through her body, her shell. A body exhibited and highly looked at, after all her videos also fly to millions of views.
But a body that divides. The total slit of her red mini, the lace bodysuits, the tight overalls, the lap dance. For many they are the manifestation of women’s emancipation, the self-determination of those who choose not to be guided by ancient and judgmental modesty, the mockery of patriarchy. For many others, however, they are the sign of her surrender to those hard-to-die codes that lead to the sad and dangerous sexual objectification of women’s bodies. This thesis is even confirmed in the memes which, in the last week, have had the singer as their protagonist, almost all of which focus on the epic question: underwear yes, underwear no? Under that slit, was she wearing them? Her response was a Pausinian “I keep it like everyone else”, as if to say: let’s not be scandalized by things that aren’t scandalous.
But the debate remains open and the voices of those who think that in this way we risk ending up in the usual clichés remain loud. In all of this, Elodie’s thoughts have always been clear: I don’t do it to please others, I do it because I like myself. A thought which, in her case, also became a manifesto: «I want to be free to express myself and play. In this historical moment, it seemed right to me to vent”he explained when launching his club tape, whose cover was entrusted to Milo Manara. The maestro reworked the shot – which was also very controversial in that case – which accompanied the single A fari extinguished, in which the singer showed herself naked. Except that “in the drawing of her – he explained – she does not modestly cover her sex, rather she closes her hand into a fist as if she were claiming the dignity of her body”.
Which Elodie does. She likes herself and claims it, convinced that in this way too we respond «to an important problem: there is something misogynistic that should not be justified in any way, we should question ourselves and think about how many times we women have sexist attitudes. For centuries we have had to take a step back and understand the fragility of man, but I am tired of justifying their fear of the beauty of women.” An awareness that makes her strong and proud, the bearer of what, to use her words, is «a strong, free, naughty and musically decisive visual message. I’ve always enjoyed being annoying, I always will.”
Innately determined, capable of detonating that anger accumulated over time into a very healthy desire for revenge. «If perhaps like me you come from public housing – he told GQ -, having a result is even more complex because you have to deal with a lot of complications, so the success of the convict is even more striking. And as such it must be celebrated, exhibited.” In the language of semiologists, the icon is a message entrusted to the image. It’s not the wrapping, but the thought behind it, once the hair is shaved or lengthened, perhaps infinitely. And this also applies to extensions.
2023-12-03 06:05:57
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