Florence, Art, and Fashion

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If you're in Florence, one of the most important places to visit is the Uffizi Gallery. This building is full of so many historical art works, included the famous Birth of Venus. Probably one of my favorite paintings in the gallery is that of Madonna and Child with Two Angels painted by Filippo Lippi. Lippi was hired by the church to paint the Virgin Mary. The painting took quite a bit of time to complete and Lippi ended up falling in love with his model so instead of the Virgin Mary, he painted his model completely the way she looked, flaws and all. This ended up being one of the first paintings to depict a woman as blonde with blue eyes and it became a trend to paint women to look like this. The Gallery also had an interesting room with paintings of Medusa. One of the paintings depicted Medusa's chopped off head lying on the ground surrounded by bats, frogs, and lizards while the snakes of her hair seem to be screaming. There was also a shield with Medusa's head painted on it. The head is bleeding while Medusa looks down upon you with wide eyes and her hair of snakes attack each other. Interestingly, they painted her with eyes wide open because it was believed that if someone whose had their head cut off looked you in the eye before dying, it would steal your soul. It was common practice for them to blindfold people before executing them via beheading.

Another good destination is the Innocenti museum which operated as an orphanage during a time when there were an increasing number of abandoned children. It is located in my favorite plaza in Florence, Piazza della Santissima Annunziata. The Plaza is not as crowded as others throughout Florence and it has a wonderful view of the Duomo. There are also these neat fountains with sea creature statues in them. The Innocenti was used as an orphanage and, then later, as a hospital. The building was made by Brunelleschi who worked on the orphanage and the dome of the Duomo at the same time. Some of the most popular aspects of the building is the medallions at the top with statues of babies wrapped in blankets. Brunelleschi actually wanted to leave the medallions empty, but they were than later added about 40 years after he had originally finished his part of the project. The building also included an area to drop off unwanted children. People would often leave their children, mainly newborn babies, anonymously by placing them on this wheel and then turning the wheel so the baby would then be inside. The parent would then ring a bell and someone would go get the baby. It was common for parents to leave their children with half of a coin, medal, or something else in that size range in case they ever changed their mind and came back for the child later on in its life. It was extremely rare for the parents to come back, but it happened sometimes. We were told this sad story about the first baby to be taken in by the orphanage. She died at only a year of age due to having a midwife that did not actually care for her in the way she needed. However, not all of the orphans had a tragic ending. Most grew up to have normal lives and jobs while some even went on to be artists and painters.

Last night we were given an opportunity to see a real legit fashion show, however, it didn't not go over how I had hoped. As someone who has considered Fashion Show Coordinator as a future career route, I was a little disappointed with how they organized it, particularly the way they brought in the audience. The show was in this courtyard, it was square with seats along the wall. We stood in line for maybe about 45 minutes as the line moved so slow. When we finally made it in, we were pointed in one direction and, after a couple of seconds, it was clear we were headed toward the corner furthest from the door, but we didn't make it to any seats because the show literally started maybe 20 seconds after we were let in and we were shoved into a little crevasse by some body guard type guys. I was unfortunately shoved into the back where, due to the fact I am only 4'11", I was unable to see anything the entire show. I was extremely disappointed, but also annoyed by they overall ridiculous how unorganized. I feel like the fact they let people in seconds before the show is just insane. One of my friends almost ran into a model because of how close to show time we were let in. Honestly, if you're planning on letting people come in that close to show time then at least fill the seats farthest from the door first. As a matter of fact, they probably should have done that anyway so that the line moved quicker and more efficient. I did get to see glances of the clothes afterwards because the models all stood in the center of the courtyard after it ended, but I couldn't get a great look. Overall, I expected a little more organization for what it was.

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