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How can we understand and cope with the various signs of death in our daily lives? How can we save the earth? How can we live this moment filled with diverse challenges and hopeful dreams?
While pondering on questions of life and death, vitality and disappearance, one of my friends introduced me to "Milanonna."
Many young people regard "Milanonna" (meaning "grandmother in Milano") as their role model and appealing influencer because she gives them a moment of healing, dynamic energy, and simple but inspiring philosophy. She also motivates them with honest sharing, joyful humor, practical advice and profound wisdom.
She is well-known for wearing the shirts that her father used to wear long ago. Many items and articles are handed down from her family. Her habit to value old things and to economize as far as she can, her intuition and wise sense, her efforts to save tissues in public, humble and simple attitude, and the elegant way of speaking appeal to so many people in every field these days.
Milanonna was born in Gongju in 1952. After studying "Decorative Arts" at Ewha Womans University, she became the first Korean woman to go abroad to Italy to study fashion. She graduated from "Istituto Marangoni" (Marangoni Fashion Institute in Milano) and became a fashion designer, fashion buyer, fashion consultant, stage costume designer, professor, and culture coordinator.
She has lived both in Italy and Korea for the past 40 years. As culture coordinator, she received "Ordine della Stella Italiana" (Italian Republic Knighthood) from Italy in 2001.
She introduced Korea to luxury fashion items such as Ferragamo and MaxMara. She was also a consultant on such products at Sampoong Department Store, but she began to ponder the meaning of life when the building infamously collapsed in 1995. She finally made up her mind to help nursery schools and youth shelters to which all her income and royalties are donated.
Listening to the advice of young people, she became a YouTuber in November 2019 with a fandom called "amici" now with more than 970,000 followers.
"I wear 'Versace' in the sea and 'Armani' in the city" was her first book published in 2009, and the second book titled "Because the sun is brilliant and life is precious" was published in 2021.
Milanonna is the nickname of Jang Myeong-sook whose Catholic name is Angela Merici. Towards her seventies, she has become an inspiring content creator. It is most interesting to see that so many people are interested in her life these days.
Much more than her fame from her fashion career, I notice that she has an inspiring philosophy and sincere faith in her life. Such spiritual fruits as frugality, simplicity, creativity, spontaneity, faith, doing your best in the here and now and not saving face appeal to us and draw our attention.
In this era of suffering amid the COVID-19 pandemic, she lives a simple life with faith. Since she was young, she wanted to be a "cool" person. Not only her appearance but her spiritual life reveals her cool personality. Truly in her simple sharing with various kinds of people, "the sunshine is brilliant and life is precious."
The author is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul (fsp.pauline.or.kr.) living and giving the Good News to the world by means of social communication.
