Thursday, 11 February 2010
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
The PITTIs, the Vicenza Fair, and the Vintage Market
For the past few weeks Florence has been a busy busy city, its just the time of the year. First it was all the Pitti Shows from Uomo to W to Bimbo to Filati. Then came the vintage market at Stazion Leopolda where I stared my eyes straight at the 80-year-old Chanels purses. Also two hours away was the jewelry fair at Vicenza, which was absolutely humongous... We will go through them one by one.
Pitti Uomo, basically the biggest show in the industry for buyers to gather around and decide what they want in their shops a few months later. From top luxury brands such as Stefano Ricci (where one of his BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL sons was at looking after the showing), Kiton, Isaia, Savile Row's Richard Anderson (whom I happened to meet in person and buy his book from, which he signed,
also his business partner Brian Lishak was extremely kind ), Zilli, to the usual fashion brands we see, for example Marlboro Classics, Gant... You get the picture. Everything was overwhelming and after a couple of hours it was inevitable but to feel a bit exhausted. The part I found more interesting than the showing was looking at how the clients, buyers etc. dressed. There were grey plaids suits with red leather shoes, knit trousers, lots of scarves and lots of blackberries. I had to go back there a couple of times for this trend board, which isn't that amazing since there really isn't that much new stuff on the roll. A few points, purple still going strong, plaids, some knit ties appearing here and there, and the greys, the navy... blah blah blah.
Pitti W was boring. Not much to say. There weren't many brands there at all and everything was in a grey-ground-color mood which is again, BORING.
Now here comes the cute part: Pitti Bimbo. Those little jackets with patching done around the elbows and the little dresses paired with tiny little slippers! There were heaps of fur to be seen, sequins, plaids, plus floral of course. About the sequins, thats where I'm concerned about. This is a photo a friend of mine took at the fair.
Little babies do need to look pretty and shiny and glittery, but most important of all, they need to be comfortable and safe!! No matter how some brands were trying to explain to me that their sequins were sewn on with great care, well, I had to say to their faces that I simply don't think that right. The fur... some designers were using common rabbit fur!! Come on, if you want to use fur, use at least rex rabbits, the common rabbit fur is the easiest to float around, do you want those kids to cough up fur balls like cats do?! What were they thinking?
Pitti Filati is said to be a dying fair, with a time-to-market of 18 months its a bit too slow for the business nowadays. The whole fair was about natural, with themes like "No Washing Machine", "No Emails", "No Restaurants"... All the dyes presented were natural dyes taken mostly from our plates, greens, wheats, some reds, and ground. Loro Piana had an impressive display, but only their yarn division people were there, when the textile division is where I was more interested in.
The Vintage Fair like I said had loads of goodies, but for very very high prices of course. So when I got this Salvatore Ferragamo purse I considered myself getting a bargain for a fairly reasonable price.
Isn't it a beauty? Its dark blue snake skin, and when under light it has a gold-ish reflexion which adds a bit of mystery to it. When I go to the Ferragamo Museum tomorrow I will sure carry it with me! I also got this black double layered jackets, no brand, no nothing, however it reminded me of some of the Jil Sander stuff from last year, the whole Pol Chambost look. It has a longish back too so it has a Napoleon feel that is right on for this season.
By the way, I took this while walking back from Stazione Leopolda. I've been wanting to take photos of these lightpoles for a long time, no reasons in particular. I just like them :P
At the Vicenza Jewelry Fair I had the chance of meeting Roberto Coin and Marco Bicego in person, which totally made my day, especially Mr. Coin, he was hilarious during the little chat we had. Like I mentioned in the beginning, the fair was humonguous, no way you could look through everything in one day. There is no point either, just the saying "nothing new under the sun". The jewels that were on display would be on the Italian market within the next 4 to 5 months, and soon on the global market, but just soon they will go out of style again. There are exceptions though, such as RCM or Golden Shapes by Gaspari, now they are LUXURY. Their pieces are bought to be treasured and kept. The fact that they only do word-of-mouth to promote the brand, and their limited cliente, there is no need to follow any trends. (A special mention of Mr. Coin here, who made it clear that he would see a trend, do the exact opposite and make other follow. He made it very very clear.)
Next stop, the Ferragamo Museum, can't wait.....!!
Pitti Uomo, basically the biggest show in the industry for buyers to gather around and decide what they want in their shops a few months later. From top luxury brands such as Stefano Ricci (where one of his BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL sons was at looking after the showing), Kiton, Isaia, Savile Row's Richard Anderson (whom I happened to meet in person and buy his book from, which he signed,
also his business partner Brian Lishak was extremely kind ), Zilli, to the usual fashion brands we see, for example Marlboro Classics, Gant... You get the picture. Everything was overwhelming and after a couple of hours it was inevitable but to feel a bit exhausted. The part I found more interesting than the showing was looking at how the clients, buyers etc. dressed. There were grey plaids suits with red leather shoes, knit trousers, lots of scarves and lots of blackberries. I had to go back there a couple of times for this trend board, which isn't that amazing since there really isn't that much new stuff on the roll. A few points, purple still going strong, plaids, some knit ties appearing here and there, and the greys, the navy... blah blah blah.Pitti W was boring. Not much to say. There weren't many brands there at all and everything was in a grey-ground-color mood which is again, BORING.
Now here comes the cute part: Pitti Bimbo. Those little jackets with patching done around the elbows and the little dresses paired with tiny little slippers! There were heaps of fur to be seen, sequins, plaids, plus floral of course. About the sequins, thats where I'm concerned about. This is a photo a friend of mine took at the fair.
Little babies do need to look pretty and shiny and glittery, but most important of all, they need to be comfortable and safe!! No matter how some brands were trying to explain to me that their sequins were sewn on with great care, well, I had to say to their faces that I simply don't think that right. The fur... some designers were using common rabbit fur!! Come on, if you want to use fur, use at least rex rabbits, the common rabbit fur is the easiest to float around, do you want those kids to cough up fur balls like cats do?! What were they thinking?
Pitti Filati is said to be a dying fair, with a time-to-market of 18 months its a bit too slow for the business nowadays. The whole fair was about natural, with themes like "No Washing Machine", "No Emails", "No Restaurants"... All the dyes presented were natural dyes taken mostly from our plates, greens, wheats, some reds, and ground. Loro Piana had an impressive display, but only their yarn division people were there, when the textile division is where I was more interested in.
The Vintage Fair like I said had loads of goodies, but for very very high prices of course. So when I got this Salvatore Ferragamo purse I considered myself getting a bargain for a fairly reasonable price.
By the way, I took this while walking back from Stazione Leopolda. I've been wanting to take photos of these lightpoles for a long time, no reasons in particular. I just like them :P
At the Vicenza Jewelry Fair I had the chance of meeting Roberto Coin and Marco Bicego in person, which totally made my day, especially Mr. Coin, he was hilarious during the little chat we had. Like I mentioned in the beginning, the fair was humonguous, no way you could look through everything in one day. There is no point either, just the saying "nothing new under the sun". The jewels that were on display would be on the Italian market within the next 4 to 5 months, and soon on the global market, but just soon they will go out of style again. There are exceptions though, such as RCM or Golden Shapes by Gaspari, now they are LUXURY. Their pieces are bought to be treasured and kept. The fact that they only do word-of-mouth to promote the brand, and their limited cliente, there is no need to follow any trends. (A special mention of Mr. Coin here, who made it clear that he would see a trend, do the exact opposite and make other follow. He made it very very clear.)
Next stop, the Ferragamo Museum, can't wait.....!!
"Make it work!"
Suddenly the other day I was watching Project Runway 7, and I freaked out. For two reasons, the first being: I could not believe I missed Project Runway season 6!!! Where was I??? - Well if I were to answer that for myself then, a couple of places, but honestly, missing it is just RiDiCuLoUs. Period. The second reason I freaked out is because, I can't seem to figure out who might possibly be the winner this new season... Competition in the old season was fairly low if you look at how the designers are going to be judge. They have to have their own personality in their designs, be able to adjust and apply that personality into other forms of dress-codes, at the same time be creative and go out of the their little comfort zones of either draping, cocktail dresses, or costumes. Last but not least, to be capable of working well under pressure.
I was a great fan Jay McCarroll, Jeffrey Sebelia, Christian Siriano starting from their first design in that certain season. Unfortunately the other winners Chloe Dao and Leanne Marshall didn't make too much of an impression on me. All I remember is their work being consistent and well done time after time. But as far as it goes, I would support imagination and creativity any day! You can work hard on those techniques but no way can you reborn another brain...
So after watching 7, I was wide-eyed, no for any particular dress that came down the runway but at how even the competition was. Got to say tho, I like how Ping Wu's mind runs, she's got a certain "weirdness" in her designs if you would like to call it that way. But I'm worried how she could transform her ideas into real garments when the tasks become more focused and detailed.
In the end, for us its all for recreation purposes, and did lots of good for the judges I could tell. Tim became an executive, and Nina went to Marie Claire, Heidi, well, she got pregnant again. Anyway, nothing against Marie Claire, but Nina WHY WHY WHY WHY? Elle holds this special place in my heart since its where it all truly started for me, and not seeing Elle on Project Runway anymore is a bummer. A real bummer.
Right, so, I went through some of my old stuff and found two drawings/paintings I did a while ago, and wanted to post them here.
This one was done maybe in 2006 or was it 2007? I forgot. It was done in acrylic under candlelight (it was supposed to help with my vision how the lights moved and i wanted to abstract the background into a runway aisle, with heads bobbing and numerous flashlights). It was inspired by a certain designer runway show around then, and if you can't guess it then don't bother, ha ha.
This one here was done in 2008, as you could probably see scribbled at the top left corner. For some reason for a very long time I was very very proud of this simple crayon drawing, I still am. And now with my sketch book 5000 miles away from me there isn't much I could do to post more old drawings to this blog. Oh well, let's open a new chapter with a new sketch book soon.
Oh. Time for lunch, I'm starving!!!
I was a great fan Jay McCarroll, Jeffrey Sebelia, Christian Siriano starting from their first design in that certain season. Unfortunately the other winners Chloe Dao and Leanne Marshall didn't make too much of an impression on me. All I remember is their work being consistent and well done time after time. But as far as it goes, I would support imagination and creativity any day! You can work hard on those techniques but no way can you reborn another brain...
So after watching 7, I was wide-eyed, no for any particular dress that came down the runway but at how even the competition was. Got to say tho, I like how Ping Wu's mind runs, she's got a certain "weirdness" in her designs if you would like to call it that way. But I'm worried how she could transform her ideas into real garments when the tasks become more focused and detailed.
In the end, for us its all for recreation purposes, and did lots of good for the judges I could tell. Tim became an executive, and Nina went to Marie Claire, Heidi, well, she got pregnant again. Anyway, nothing against Marie Claire, but Nina WHY WHY WHY WHY? Elle holds this special place in my heart since its where it all truly started for me, and not seeing Elle on Project Runway anymore is a bummer. A real bummer.
Right, so, I went through some of my old stuff and found two drawings/paintings I did a while ago, and wanted to post them here.
Oh. Time for lunch, I'm starving!!!
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
L'antipasto
I randomly opened the file for Italian Vogue 2008's October issue of mensile, so let's start from here. I hope I don't get in trouble for uploading these beautiful images... From the little knowledge of laws, it should be ok, this isn't for profit purposes, obviously. Plus, I'm a blog rookie.
These were from different stories from that issue, but they all had a glam-rock kind of feel. With real, fake, and even sequined fur jackets (that one was from Max Mara), messy hair. Chained accessories, dark eyeliners. The theme color being black despite the real colors before the treatments.
Somehow they made me relate to some of Man Ray's photos I saw in one of the collection albums. In the collection he had works where he was experimenting with Rayography and some portraits he did also. It was from years ago but I'm glad I kept these photos that I took of the book. Man Ray is such a genius, even without the technique he developed, he could still impress! I especially love the man in foam with flying hair! Love love love it.
Basta per oggi... Baci.
Just to get things started
Last year when Chanel sent out its Resort 2010 I was head over toes all for it, and also the RTW Fall 2009 before that and RTW Spring 2010 that followed. But now turning the page to Couture Spring 2010... well, let's just say it was a tad disappointing. Despite how some commentators are saying that Karl is introducing a new way of dress while the other designers are seeking inspirations from the old. The sillouette was pretty much all the same and every model came out looking like dolls from the 60's. Now how is that new?? For me, old is good, vintage is good, furturism is good, it's all good as long as you what you are doing. Maybe Karl has just been overworking himself too much and needs to take a break. Nonetheless, he is a legend, hopefully he will turn things around soon enough.
Armani Privé, wow, "its all about the moon"... yea right. Some shiny fabric and moon shaped necklaces aren't exactly a way of showing that you were inspired. And Alexis Mabille, nah, simply not my thing.
Enough with the complaining. I loved Dior's Couture 2010, yes its from the old ages and yes its costumey, but its got flair. When everyone is talking about trying to sell during this economic recession, like returning to the basics such as 3.1 Phillip Lim, the idea should be restricted to prét-à-porter, and prét-à-porter only.
So, now you should get the point, this is yet ANOTHER fashion blog like all others. I'm no professional fashion commentator and I won't try to be one, also I'm not little genius Tavi who could make it to New York Times. But at least here I could jot down my thoughts and not have to turn in the unattractive direction of talking to myself about what I'm seeing (just kidding).
Next step, I will upload loads of pictures that I have accumulated over the years, those that struck me as absolutely beautiful. That should be a good base to build this blog on. For now, whoever is going to read this blog is going to be by pure chance, since I'm not going to post the address anywhere else or publicize it in any way.
Baci.
Armani Privé, wow, "its all about the moon"... yea right. Some shiny fabric and moon shaped necklaces aren't exactly a way of showing that you were inspired. And Alexis Mabille, nah, simply not my thing.
Enough with the complaining. I loved Dior's Couture 2010, yes its from the old ages and yes its costumey, but its got flair. When everyone is talking about trying to sell during this economic recession, like returning to the basics such as 3.1 Phillip Lim, the idea should be restricted to prét-à-porter, and prét-à-porter only.
So, now you should get the point, this is yet ANOTHER fashion blog like all others. I'm no professional fashion commentator and I won't try to be one, also I'm not little genius Tavi who could make it to New York Times. But at least here I could jot down my thoughts and not have to turn in the unattractive direction of talking to myself about what I'm seeing (just kidding).
Next step, I will upload loads of pictures that I have accumulated over the years, those that struck me as absolutely beautiful. That should be a good base to build this blog on. For now, whoever is going to read this blog is going to be by pure chance, since I'm not going to post the address anywhere else or publicize it in any way.
Baci.
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