Life post-Brexit

Photographer: Carolina Mizrahi. Model: me For Afternyne magazine

The past two weeks have been so weird I have often thought I was having a prolonged nightmare. The 23rd of June was a very normal day, I did a shoot for Pompom magazine, August issue, at a great Hampstead location, the magnificent Pergola. I was late in getting to the polling station but I made it. On the way, I kept on bumping into people giving out 'In' stickers and I took two of them for both sides of my large bag from a very cheerful young woman  - even laughed about it with her, explaining why I really wanted two. At the polling station I said I would keep my poll card, as a 'souvenir' of a momentous referendum. More laughter. I never meant to be a Cassandra!

It did not even cross my mind that this referendum would be won by the Leavers - I agreed, for once,  with David Cameron  when he said dismissively,  a few years ago, that the Leavers were fruitcakes. On the 24th morning I had nowhere to rush to and put the TV on while breakfasting - bad habit I know, but I wanted to check the results - and then I choked. I was...incredulous, stunned, not sure I had seen or heard the right thing.
For the past two weeks I have tried to get my head around it. What is going on?

The Pergola, Hampstead

It is the question my relatives in Italy have been asking me. Italian politics is usually highly dramatic and full of antics but since Brexit won the UK has surpassed it. For the past two weeks my TV has been constantly tuned on BBC News. Every day there is some twist and new development  in a riveting narrative no theatrical production can possibly compete with, except that it is all rather tragic and it affects people quite badly. You just don't know what's coming next, our political class seems to have completely lost the plot.
Brexit is bad news. It has unleashed xenophobia and made it all right for people to be openly racist. It has made uncertainty a constant. My young son called me the other day to say he was applying for an Italian passport at once, could I help him with the forms (his Italian is good but legalese is not his forte)? He had delayed it for a long time, never believing he would really need this second passport and not wanting to part with the passport fee.  Not anymore. "I have been stripped of my European identity and status" he said. "I want it back". And he is considering relocating to a EU country in the long run.
I am British because of my marriage - long dissolved. When I realised London was going to be my home I wanted to be able to vote and participate with full rights in the life of the community. But I am Italian by birth and European by upbringing. I come from a very cosmopolitan family. As things stand, I would not be surprised if at some point people like me, with two nationalities, one of which from a EU country, were asked to choose one, absurd though it might seem now - I hope I am not having here another Cassandra moment.

The Pergola , Hampstead

Last weekend an article by Charlie Porter in the FT considered what Brexit might mean for fashion. The article opens with the lines "the impact of Brexit on the fashion industry is daunting, brain -scrambling and multi-levelled". Not very good at all. The article raises the question of what will happen to British talent who for the past thirty years has benefitted from flowing so freely in the various capitals of fashion, Paris for example. Now a situation will arise whereby top recognised talent will obtain visas and work permits but young fashion graduates will no longer be able to go and knock on say, Givenchy's or Dior's doors for a job that will teach them all the ropes.
Will it change the modelling business? I am not sure of all the implications.  I know that at present models can go to Milan and Paris and get easily hired for Fashion Weeks. This might not be so easy in future for British models as the issue of work permits will arise. There will be a lot of screening.
Meanwhile I keep on monitoring the situation.
One thing is certain. I'd rather leave by choice than being forced to by political whims.