Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Abroad again


In Brazil right now, yayyy! I'll be back in Amsterdam on May 3rd and no more posts until then! I'm really busy here - with great things, thank God :)

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Puma's clever little bag


I love when I stumble upon ideas I wish I have had. It usually happens with the most simple ones - these small shifts that don't seem that significant at the time but can cause change in a huge scale when you think of them in long term basis.

This is one of those ideas.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Sex and the City 2 - You really got me now


I HATED the first trailer, thought the film would be totally meaningless - just one of those awful continuations of a story that hasn't got anything else to tell. But this trailer here just changed it all... Carrie meeting Aidan in Abu Dhabi in a girls' trip after marrying Big? That's something I REALLY wanna see.  And yes, I am in fact a very silly girl :)


Lola Ciccone looking just like Jessica Alba

Haute Couture + Kandinsky in Den Haag (2)


I promised to write more about the Gemeentemuseum in Den Haag and to post some pictures, so here I am.

So the museum has 3 floors: 

The basement had an exhibition called "Wonder Kamers", which means "Rooms of Wonders". There are several rooms and closed doors between them, and before opening the door you can only see the colour of the room on the other side - not its content. So you'll be surprised each time you go from one room to the other, not knowing whats awaiting you. It's a very cool exhibition, everything really interactive and experimental and covers all the themes showing on the other floors of the museum (fashion, design, art, music, etc). As the rooms were really dark I wasn't able to take pictures - because using flash was not permitted. It is a trendy and young environment, worth one visit if you like this kind of things. You'll find more information (with pictures) here

On the ground floor I found some interesting things:

Georges Vantongerloo: a Belgian Painter / Esculptor / Designer / Architect / Theorist that makes such simple yet perfect things. His history is fascinating and his work reflects that. I had never heard of him before seeing this exhibition, but then I started to look for more information and found out he was really relevant though art historists say he didn't get all the attention he deserved for his work. 


Besides Vantongerloo, there are others artists that work with colours and geometric shapes on the ground floor. Really interesting.

I happened to find an exhibition about Tupperware as well, which I loved! Totally related to what I'm  professionally interested in. It was about how Tupperware emerged, the context by then, the appeal fof this product to the 40's/50's/60's housewives, how they were sold and advertised, etc, etc. There was even a 50's kitchen there to give the idea of how things really worked for women at that time.


First floor - this is the must-see floor, in my opinion:

Kandinsky and Der Blaue Reiter: this exhibition is sooo beautiful! So colourful, full of life... from the time Kandinsky and other great artists formed a group (Der Blaue Reiter) to start doing something different with their painting. Their purpose was opposing to what was being done by others and start painting from sensations and feelings, and not from reality. Just BEAUTIFUL. Pictures here:


And last, the Voici Paris! exhibition, showing the history of haute couture and its role through the decades, starting in the mid-1860's. Their collection include great creations from all major Maisons (Dior, Givenchy, Chanel,...) and a great sample of the couture work that's being done here in The Netherlands. This exhibition is mesmerizing, you can spend one whole day just there, admiring all those amazing gowns - some of them having an average of 800 hours of handcraftmanship on. It's pure art.

Here are some pictures, not of my favourite gowns though. I had to choose the clearer ones, because most of the pictures are just too bad, as the place was too dark - shame.

Armani Privé

Dior by John Galliano

Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld

And voilà! Today I was reading the Couture Suplement of the Italian Vogue (March edition) and found an article about this exhibition! So I guess it's really unmissable :)


Sunday, April 11, 2010

Remember Me

Today I watched Robert Pattinson's 'Remember Me'. It made me cry.


Trendy Tilda (2)

Here are some of my favourite Tilda Swinton's looks:



Trendy Tilda


I love the idea of using Tilda Swinton as a model for fashion brands as she's really exotic, intriguing and interesting with her alien-like look. Besides that she has her own style, her own fashion identity which happens to be really elegant. I usually love her looks on the red-carpet, though most of the times she gets the worst reviews from the gossip press - but what do they know about elegance and good design, anyway. 

I find her androginy very fashionable and I really see her in campaigns for groundbreaking fashion designers, like Martin Margiela for example (and I know he doesn't advertise but I think Tilda could easily be his muse if he did). 

But why this ad for Pringle of Scotland? I get the brand is a classic as they make knitwear since 1815 (so it's a REAL classic) and they want to make it look trendier, but why this paranoid/terrified look on her face? It just doesn't fit. I'm not talking about the whole campaign, which I find beautiful, but this ad just doesn't look right.


Can one vote for the next 'it girl'?





 








I wonder what the Lola Bag will look like and which brand will be the one to create it... after the Birkin, the Kelly (both Hermés) and the Alexa (Mulberry), I guess Lola deserves to have one created in her honour as well!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

RIP Malcolm McLaren


Malcolm McLaren, father of the Sex Pistols and owner of the first punk boutique (with Vivienne Westwood as his partner - in life and in business) died yesterday - after a long battle with cancer.

 Vivienne Westwood with Malcolm McLaren
 
This is the man who changed the course of culture in the 70's by introducing punk music and fashion in London - which became one of the most important and easily recognizable movement / style in the world. What happened then thanks to Malcolm is still a huge influence to almost every fashion collection and to a huge number of music bands.


Jean Paul Gaultier AW 2007

 
Agyness Deyn and her punk style

Friday, April 9, 2010

Haute Couture + Kandinsky in Den Haag (1)


Today I was trully amazed by Den Haag Gemeentemuseum. I went there with the only purpose of seeing the temporary Haute Couture exposition (until 6 June 2010) and I ended up spending the whole afternoon (and by that I really mean the WHOLE afternoon, as I arrived there at 12:30 and left when the museum was closing). When I have the time to do it properly (this weekend), I will write more about it and post some of the pictures I took - and yes, it was permitted, so I wasn't doing anything wrong as long as I kept my flash off.

The highlights were the Haute Couture and the Kandinsky expos, both temporary, but the permanent collection is mesmerizing as well - at least for those who are not big fans of classic art, as this museum is  clearly modern-biased. Still I would say no one should miss these temp expos, so it would be best to go there before May 24 - when Kandinsky's expo goes off. 

Here's the Gemeentemuseum website, but I tell you, it doesn't do justice to the museum. Really.

Ok, so this weekend I'll write more about it. Time to go to bed now :)

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Gastronomie Parisienne


The best thing about Paris is how everything is amazingly integrated with the most classic style and how the most traditional places are still in the youth's agenda. I'm not the most classic person as I'm more inspired by new and trendy things, but classic always has its great value, and that's what Paris is all about. Talking about that, these were the most memorable experiences I had in Paris this weekend regarding gastronomy and its esthétique. Both classic, traditional, though not old. There are fantastic places anyone who goes to Paris should visit, regardless of their age.


The first café in Paris, which welcomed habitués like Voltaire, Robespierre and other French intellectual characters and is amazingly in continuous operation since it opened in 1686. Le Procope was refurbished in 1988 in eighteenth-century style, receiving red walls, crystal chandeliers, oval portraits of famous people that have been patrons, and a tinkly piano. It's all decorated with ancient books that you can take and read as well. Fascinating.

The menu has a full set of typical French Culinaire. It was the first time I had the guts to try Oysters (when I was a child I believed one could drop dead while eating Oysters) and Escargot (that I used to find repelling). Surprisingly, I didn't drop dead eating Oysters and the Escargot was definitely not disgusting. 

Here are some pictures of the whole experience:





They claim to be the maison who invented the double-decker macaron, by joining two macaron shells and giving them a creamy filling. The place is amazing, a classic tea room, very classy  decorated in pale tones. It looks like a doll house, you won't believe the tables they set. Everything was absolutely delicious, but when you get there how things taste is actually the least important thing. It's visual food by all means - wherever you look, you want to take things home.

As it was Easter holiday, the place was crowded and I couldn't take pictures inside, but I took some of the table I was at. Luckily there was a small Ladurée Boutique in my boarding wing at Charles de Gaulle Airport, so I was able to take a lot of pictures and buy a gift for myself - a tea called Marie Antoinette, that came in the most beautiful pale pink cilindric carton packaging. I love tea, but what I really wanted was to take home a piece of Ladurée. And when I finish the tea, of course I will keep the box - I wouldn't dare throwing it away.