CARTIER PRESENTS: L’ODYSSÉE DE CARTIER

CARTIER – BEHIND THE SCENES

Story: the Worlds of Cartier

At the start, the Cartier brothers opened their boutiques in three main cities: Louis ran the Paris boutique (opened in 1899) at 13 rue de la Paix, while Jacques oversaw the British operations out of the 175 New Bond Street boutique in London and Pierre developed the New World from the boutique on New York’s Fifth Avenue (opened in 1909).
All three Cartier brothers shared an unassailable passion for exploring the world which prompted fabulous encounters and friendships in countless countries.
The film looks at the key cultural influences and exceptional people that fueled the House’s creative efforts. For the first time ever, Cartier reveals a glimpse into the imaginary World inhabited by its designs, under the watchful gaze of its iconic muse, the Panther.

Direction: a signature Cartier blend of dreams and reality

Cartier hired Bruno Aveillan to direct the film. A graduate of Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse, Mr Aveillan is one of the world’s leading advertising film directors. Cartier wanted first and foremost to privilege “realism”, even if animations were necessary for certain scenes.
The director employed a crew of around 60 staff for the on-location shoots.
The special-effects team numbered around 50 designers working for over six months.

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Tags: CARTIER, L' ODYSSÉE DE CARTIER

VALENTINO THE NEW FLAG SHIP STORE ON VIA MONTENAPOLEONE – MILANO

VIA MONTENAPOLEONE 20 Milan

The new Valentino flagship store on Via Montenapoleone has the character and atmosphere of a palazzo – a personal space, not simply a shop. Combining the old and the new, the store clearly communicates Valentino’s latest directions.
An enfilade of rooms, each with a different aspect of the collection, not only separate the different types of merchandise but are also imbued with distinct atmospheres created by a custom palette of colours, textures, surfaces and light.
The architecture is designed to complement the pieces on display, making use of a range of discreetly opulent materials – grey Venetian terrazzo with Carrara chippings, timber, marble, glass, thick leather, and soft carpets – to focus attention on the collections and evoke a sense of intimacy.
The design unifies these individual rooms into a consistent experience by surrounding an inset floor panel made of timber parquet, marble in black and white chessboard patterns, or wool and silk carpet, with a continuous Venetian terrazzo frame. In many cases, the challenging angles typical of found spaces have been enclosed within the walls to create rooms which demonstrate idealised geometries.
Wall finishes vary from room to room, including mirrors which have been sandblasted alternately on both sides, and custom-designed panels of extruded gypsum plaster or borosilicate glass tubes, to give the effect of frozen curtains running behind the clothing. At each threshold, the terrazzo rises from the floor to line the doorway, emphasising the thickness of the walls.
In contrast to the solidity of the architectural elements, the collection is displayed on slender polished carbon-fibre racks and shelving around the perimeter. These fixtures incorporate LED lighting, allowing each shelf or rack to be individually and almost invisibly illuminated.
The overhead lighting strategy reflects the variety of finishes and spaces, combining concealed ambient lighting and clear white product lights around the periphery of the rooms with warm lighting or decorative chandeliers in the centre. The chandeliers are assembled from optical lenses set in brass bezels into a range of shapes, including a pendant which fills the central void in the main stair.
Certain rooms have been finished with floor to ceiling marquetry shelving in American walnut, offering a more intimate experience, evocative of a gentleman’s library. The walls of the changing rooms are upholstered with leather, softening these very private spaces.
The freestanding furniture in each room has the feeling of a personal collection, mixing unique modern pieces and custom-built chests and storage units with stand-alone pieces inspired by Art Deco furniture.

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Tags: CONCEPT STORE, VALENTINO GARAVANI

VALENTINO 50th ANNIVERSARY CAPSULE COLLECTION

Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli’s stylistic approach for Valentino is based on the awareness that innovation is fueled by tradition, and that contrast is the essence of modernity. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the maison, the Creative Directors have launched a special project that combines present and past with dazzling continuity.
Their style is sleek and sharp: inspired by limpid modernism, it exalts a delicate grace.
New balances are achieved through unexpected combinations and a subtle search for the ‘perfect imperfection’. The initial passion behind the brand is revived not through a restyling of the past but with a forward-thinking approach because modernity is timeless.
This capsule collection is a cohesive collection of ready-to-wear and accessories.
A graphic sense of elegance with modular emotional clarity dominates the line. The system is closed, but the elements within can be reconfigured. Contrast is the defining note. Animal prints and pristine lines are featured. Lace brings, clear sense of romanticism to the picture, while rivets and patent leather add a dazzling urban touch.
The sleek collection is composed of silhouettes with crystalline purity transformed into animal print designs that are fierce but never lose their aplomb.
The collection includes iconic outerwear made of double cashmere and wool cloth: the cape with mysterious allure, the cool fitted pea coat, the flowing single – or double- breasted coat, the tunic-poncho, and the boxy top worn over a miniskirt.
Each is made in a different animal print: giraffe, jaguar, tiger, cheetah, zebra, and panther with solid color linings. Lace accentuates the contrast concept and contradicts ferine purity: there are tops and dresses with a band collar, modest yet sexy as well as pleated skirts, and shorts. The silhouette is sleek and legs are revealed.
Accessories complete the capsule collection with animal printed scarves, flat moccasins, derby shoes and Chelsea boots with low heels covered in large square studs, studded bangles, and a small studded velvet hobo bag with a bracelet handle. Produced in a limited number, this capsule collection will be sold in the Valentino boutique and comes with a coordinated animal print shopping bag.
Working with utmost lightness, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli establish their vision of contemporary style in an iconic moment for the maison and they bring it to life without nostalgia, focusing on the evocative power of unusual combinations.

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Tags: VALENTINO GARAVANI

GIORGIO ARMANI “ACQUA FOR LIFE” CHALLENGE 2012

Giorgio Armani is proud to renew his “Aqua for Life” challenge in 2012 to stimulate greater public awareness about environmental and developmental problems, particularly water safety and scarcity, by supporting eco-friendly projects by Green Cross International (GCI) promoting access to safe water for children, and their communities, in poor countries.

The challenge is inspired, and linked, to the exclusive fragrances Aqua di Gio for men and Aqua di Gioia for women, which are both associated with water, and closely connected with a perception of nature’s bounty, freshness and environmental harmony. Theses values are compatible with the initiatives and principles of Green Cross, the nongovernmental organization founded in 1993 by Mikhail Gorbachev that responds to the combined challenges of security, poverty and environmental degradation to ensure a sustainable and secure future for all.

In 2012, the “Acqua for Life” challenge, a solidarity campaign on a global scale and with a strong focus on the Internet, is committed to continuing and extending support to Green Cross International’s (www.gcint.org) efforts to improve access to safe drinking water via its project in Ghana, and for the first time Bolivia. GCI’s Smart Water for Green Schools Smart Water for Green Schools programme provides water to communities where access to safe water is limited.

You can help even without buying a perfume just click “Like” here

or on www.facebook.com/acquaforlife to donate 50 liters of drinking water for Ghana and Bolivia.
This is what you have to do to participate in a virtual water race that starts in Milan and arrives in Ghana and then in Bolivia. The collected liters are visible in real time on the site. www.acquaforlifechallenge.org.

On the site you can also check the progress of work in total transparency that characterizes this concrete, measurable and effective charity.
 
As in 2011 our minimum target is 40 million liters of water. This year we hope to be able to exceed that, thanks to the water race and your ‘like’ on Facebook.

Tags: ACQUA FOR LIFE, GIORGIO ARMANI

FAUSTO PUGLISI FALL WINTER COLLECTION 2012-13 – MILANO FASHION WEEK

Moodboard Fausto Puglisi FW 2012-2013

Fabrics: Wool crepè, wool jersey, leather, spandex, cashmere, crepè de chine and chiffon.
Palette: Tropical flash fresh, black and nude.
Present day Virago squeezed into colour-block girdles.
Couture fabrics intertwined with super glossy spandex, Hellenic inspired, printed surfaces.
Handmade embroideries and crystal starbursts, metals and gold thread for an urban warrior.
Fetish-leather: saddle shoulders, Blade Runner details for bomber jackets and sheath dresses, leopard inferno and
vertiginous embroideries alternated with moments of total black.
Contrasts: men’s jackets structured like armour and pea coats as soft as dressing gowns.
American sportswear: box pleats, plissé, college knitwear for Grecian-Roman cheerleaders.
Evening wear: tropical paradise goddesses, playing with hard core slashes suspended between Segesta and Palm Springs.

Special thanks to Simone Rizzo Photographer

Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2012-13, FAUSTO PUGLISI, FAUSTO PUGLISI F/W 2012-13, FAUSTO PUGLISI FALL WINTER 2012-2013

BRUNO MAGLI FALL WINTER WOMEN’S & MEN’S COLLECTION 2012-13 – MILANO FASHION WEEK

After carefully researching the company archives, elements that have made the Bruno Magli name famous around the world since the 1930s are now experiencing a renaissance.
The collection created for Fall/Winter 2012-2013 by the brand’s new creative director Max Kibardin will be revealed during Milan Fashion Week.
The aim is to enhance the brand’s DNA by retaining distinctive elements and reinterpreting the style with a modern twist. This sparked the idea of designing the perfect footwear, accessories and outerwear for modern-chic men and women in order to create not only a collection but a real lifestyle concept as well.

The inspiration comes from style icons whose allure remains irresistible even today, like Ali McGraw, Tippi Hedren, Cary Grant and Steve McQueen. Colours and elements from their iconic clothes provided the starting point for composing the Fall-Winter 2012 collection. For women, pumps featuring sophisticated colours made with meticulous attention to detail and boots with a reminiscently 1970s look.
Court shoes are synonymous with the Bruno Magli brand and have a place of honour in the collection, which is replete with many styles designed for daytime and evening wear. These are perfectly complemented by sandals crafted with unique techniques, moccasins with high heels in matching tones, and elegant boots created from the finest quality leathers.
Tops and pleated knee-length skirts in luxuriously light nappa, ash-grey mink duster coats, and mid-heel court shoes are the absolute must-haves for the new Bruno Magli woman designed by Kibardin.
The Bruno Magli man sports a casual-dandy style, and wears bottle-green and wine-red moccasins in glossy abrasivato calfskin with a fringe and tassels, refined cognac-coloured monk straps in select cordovan leather and classic black double-buckled derby shoes; wardrobe essentials for any man who loves elegance. Leather jackets, shearling coats and a leather trench coat in de rigueur black naturally add the finishing touches to the Bruno Magli man’s look.

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Tags: BRUNO MAGLI, BRUNO MAGLI F/W 2012-13, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2012-13

I’M ISOLA MARRAS FALL WINTER COLLECTION 2012-13 – MILANO FASHION WEEK

The winter sea

Always the sea, free man, you will always love / as the sea is your mirror …
when it is not just a colorful frame for new adventures and lit nightclubs full of lies;

when his voice is not covered by banal music and shouts of agitated crowds;
when it is a fascinating film in black and white … and under the mistral / it screams and pales …

Wild waves chase each other, rolling, crashing on the rocks, they cancel them self, under the cold wind like a sharp blade the sea growls the rocks, reacts with anger, gnashing, writhing, darkening, dropping his fury on the beach, it crosses the dunes, hits the wall.

Let’s go to the sea to listen to his loud, violent, impetuous voice, or to let you hear (or to be heard)?

In the white fury of huge waves, mesmerized (drunk), you surrender, lunges, Resurface, floats.

You like the sea in winter and the stormy days when, as an angry, mad animal, growls and shows his terrible strength, fighting with indomitable energy with the wind that lifts mountains of water and foam and immediately downs under the weight of dense clouds that darken the sky.

You love him, even though it can sometimes be cruel and indifferent, love him as you love life.

And in the breath of the wind and waves you marge your breath and find yourself.

Citations from

Charles Baudelaire, The Man and the Sea Carducci. San Martino

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Tags: ANTONIO MARRAS, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2012-13, I'M ISOLA MARRAS, I'M ISOLA MARRAS FW 2012-13

MARNI FOR H&M: WOMEN’S & MEN’S SPRING 2012 LOOKBOOK

A spring collection for ladies and men packed with MARNI prints and patterns.
The collection features clothing and accessories. Available in selected stores and online from 8th March.
For more information visit: www.hm.com/gb/marni#home

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Tags: H&M, MARNI, MARNI FOR H&M, MARNI FOR H&M SS 2012

DSQUARED2 FALL WINTER WOMEN’S COLLECTION 2012-13 – MILANO FASHION WEEK

PROM NIGHT

With the FW 2012/13 collection the designers make a plunge into the past as they look back at their senior year prom. Every girl in high school dreams about being perfect on prom night. An enchanting evening filled with preparations, sequin, flowers, music and the nervous excitement to find out who will be crowned prom queen.
Queen for one night, the Dsquared2 girl remains true to her roots and her rebel spirit. Despite the crown, she is not ready to trade in her “bad attitude” as she dares to mix denim with embroidered garments.
For the occasion, the Dsquared2 girl loots her mother’s sophisticated wardrobe without forgetting the precious vintage jewellery box. Elegant furs, colourful coats, crocodile jackets, flowing dresses and most importantly diamonds and precious stones.
Narrow and cropped pants, pencil skirts, long evening dresses and cocoon coats give a more curvy touch to the silhouette.
Opposites are brought together by an irresistible attraction: lace and gold damask prints mix with denim; while precious crocodile skins are embellished by soft mink furs.
Mama bags: elegant bags with a vintage feel. Precious accessories at the crossroads between the present and the past. The shapes are reminiscent of the 1950s while the super accessorized inside of the purse with iPad and iPhone pockets immediately bring us back to the present.
Cat eye inspired elongated sunglasses with a “glazed” aspect, toped with diamond sprinkles, seem to have been stolen from a cupcake shop.
Couture baseball caps and striped rugby-inspired scarves in mink, of course. Killer Cinderella shoes and “Leopearls” decolté.
Bows, bows and of course more bows.
Colours are reminiscent of marshmallows, pastel corsages or the prom punch: mint green, sunflower yellow, baby blue, coral and bright red.

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Tags: BACKSTAGE, DSQUARED2, DSQUARED2 F/W 2012-13, DSQUARED2 F/W 2012-13 WOMEN, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2012-13

UMA WANG FALL WINTER WOMEN’S COLLECTION 2012-13 – MILANO FASHION WEEK

The Chinese designer Uma Wang – guest star of the new edition of White (25 to 27 February 2012) – introduced with a fashion show / event, Sunday, Feb. 26, in the Hall of Caryatids of the Royal Palace – under the patronage of the Municipality of Milan – the new women’s collection Fall / Winter 2012/2013.
The designer is known for her ability to mix and match different types of tissues creating simple, yet full of unique details. Material is the starting point, the material develops the entire collection. The contrast of volumes and tissues is the key to understanding: long dresses and
Ultra-light combined with oversized coats and jackets. The knitwear creations, cleverly mixed with other materials like silk, finished with criteria couture.
After her studies at the China Textile University in Shanghai, Wang Uma made her debut in 1996 in fashion at the helm of numerous creative Chinese brands.
Very helpful to her training which allowed her access to the prestigious Central Saint Martins College in London, where she worked on her very own ready-to-wear designs.
Uma Wang debuts her first signature collection at Pure London in 2005, immediately revealing a strong stylistic imprint.
From 2005 onwards Uma Wang makes her way step by step through the streets of international success, arriving at her consecration at Milan fashion week.
Also on the catwalk – a world premiere – the collection of watches signed by Uma Wang for Swatch, the most innovative brand of watches in the world: they are special models that express her creativity, her energy and her style.

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Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2012-13, UMA WANG, UMA WANG F/W 2012-13, UMA WANG FALL WINTER 2012-2013