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... of course the fashion pack has already moved on to Paris but I'd still like to share some impressions from Milan with you - in the first place because I'm always so truly impressed with how present fashion is all over town during fashion week (and I think there you've got a valid argument for what really makes a fashion capital) ... même si le trombinoscope de la mode s'est déjà déplacé de Milan, je voudrais partager avec vous quelques impressions de la capitale lombarde. Pour la simple raison que, à chaque fois que j'y vais pour la Settimana della Moda, je suis impressionné par la présence massive de la mode partout en ville ... sebbene i fashionisti più importanti e convinti si sono già mossi di Milano a Parigi, vorrei condividere con voi qualche impressione dalla capitale lombarda dove, ogni volta che si svolge Milano Moda Donna (ma anche nei momenti meno modicizzati...), la mode è davvero presente dappertutto nella città ...
... Michael Kors even made it onto the Duomo di Milano, that's quite something I would like to think ... le designer américain Michael Kors qui a fêté le 30ème anniversaire de sa maison plus tôt cette année a même réussi à laisser son empreinte sur la façade du dôme ... l'americano Michael Kors ha persino riuscito a lasciare una sua traccia sulla facciata del Duomo ...
... and then there was some kind of Valentino guerilla gardening thingy I stumbled into ... puis il y avait un peu de jardinage urbain de la part de Red Valentino ... c'era da stupirsi di un po' di giardinaggio urbano della griffe Red Valentino ...
... the opening of Gucci's very own museum in Florence at the end of fashion week (which caused, according to Jessica Michault, empty seats galore at the Ferrè show) already jumped at me upon my arrival in the train station of Milan ... l'ouverture du musée Gucci à Florence s'était déjà annoncée au moment où je suis arrivé à Milan, à la gare, visible pour tous ... l'apertura del museo Gucci a Firenze, prevista per l'ultimo giorno della fashion week, era molto visibilmente annunciata alla stazione centrale di Milano, è stata praticamente la prima cosa che ho visto a Milano ...
... but then, what do expect in a city where even the manhole cover bears a logo that reminds one of the Fendi signature icon ... mais de l'autre côté, à quoi d'autre pourrait-on bien s'attendre dans une ville où même les plaques d'égout rappellent le logo de la griffe archi-italienne Fendi ... ma alla fine, che cos'altro potrebbe aspettarci in una città dove persino i tombini somigliano alla griffe iconica della maison Fendi (sebbene sia di Roma) ...
beautiful "Heuriger" wine glasses by Das Goldene Wiener Herz
... even during fashion week (or should I rather say, ESPECIALLY during fashion week) we should keep our eyes open for other things AND be aware of the (potential) power of irony ... this Milan-based guerilla art intervention (near Porta Ticinese in a very lively and not at all luxury-flooded part of town), fake street sign closely resembling the official ones, is an amuse-bouche for sure ... "Via dell'ironia ... e l'apatia se ne va via" means something like "the road of irony ... and apathy vanishes", and living life on the ironical side myself, I think I can only agree ...
... "The real issue is that in the fashion business, it's almost against the law to tell the truth, and anyone who steps behind the silk curtain to show how raw the business really is can expect a rough time" (John Fairchild) ... PRECIOUS INPUT for the fashion journalist that will hit Milanese ground later today ...
... wonderful, wonderful, wonderful: I love bumping into true gems of really wild-growing public/street art, remember the horse mural made of leather? Lovely, that was. Some days ago, upon crossing Vienna's Schwarzenberg-Platz where another example of highly official and officially commissioned "public art" has already materialised, I came across this tribute to an anonymous sprayer erected by an "unknown artist". I like! ... je trouve tout à fait adorable des rencontres fortuites avec de l'art urbain tout à fait sauvage. Il y a quelques jours, en traversant la place de Schwarzenberg à Vienne et passant à côté d'un autre exemple d'art créé pour l'espace public (des goûts et des couleurs, vous le savez fort bien ...), j'ai remarqué cette sculpture-guérilla, un hommage au tagueur inconnu, érigé par un artiste inconnu: j'aime bien, décidément ...
... I recently interviewed the dream-team of traditional Austrian costume ("dirndl", notably), consisting of mother and daughter Gexi and Anna Tostmann for the newspaper ... cet été j'avais la chance de rencontrer le très ravissant duo par excellence du costume traditionnel autrichien (qui s'appelle ici "dirndl"), et ce sont donc Gexi et Anna Tostmann - l'interview a été publiée dans le journal ...
... after we'd had our little chat, we descended to the basement of the building that houses this Viennese fashion institution, and I had a first look at the costume exhibition that was put together by Gexi Tostmann, entitled "My 365 dirndls tell their story" ... après notre entretien, on est descendus à la cave de l'immeuble où se trouve leur siège viennois (il y en a un autre, en Autriche Supérieure), et c'était là une belle occasion d'avoir une première impression de l'exposition de Mme Tostmann, "Mes 365 dirndl racontent leur histoire" ...
... I returned to the exhibition twice afterwards to marvel at these dresses a bit longer, and there are a lot of things to see for sure. I was especially drawn to the selection of traditional patterns produced with a blueprinting technique from various regions of Austria (and other countries, I presume). What's particularly charming about the exhibition is the fact that Mrs Tostmann, a great connoisseuse of traditional costume (which was also the topic of her PhD), tells all kinds of stories and anecdotes that are connected to the 365 garments on show. About the blue-prints, she tells her guests and visitors that her mother was very fond of them and insisted that her daughter wear blue-prints, which, at the time, were materials of rather poor quality, which was much to the detriment of the dresses (that frequently burst open at the seams) that were then made of them ... je suis retourné pour voir l'exposition deux fois depuis, afin de contempler avec un peu plus de tranquillité les dirndl et tous les autres objets exposés. Une chose qui m'a particulièrement plu, c'étaient des tissus imprimés à l'indigo et les différents dessins que cela donnait. Qui plus est, les pièces de l'exposition étaient accompagnés de petites fiches où Mme Tostmann racontait des faits-divers et des anecdotes. Ainsi, elle se souvient de combien c'était difficile de trouver des tissus à l'indigo assez robustes pour correspondre aux exigences de faire des "dirndl" très moulants ...
... the other day in Vienna's 7th district, on my way to an interview (don't remember which one), I passed by this charming Mitsubishi Colt, which, by its colour and shape, brought back all kinds of vague childhood memories because (a) it was a very popular car model back then (the Colt A150 was produced from 1978 to 1984 in this form, Wikipedia tells me) and (b) it was all over the place on TV. I also liked the background which, surprising for Vienna, seemed almost Mediterranean ... l'autre jour, j'ai croisé cet exemple tout à fait mignon d'une Mitsubishi Colt, fabriquée à la fin des années 70, en version marron foncé. La petite voiture me plaisait, garée qu'elle était devant cette grille bleue, avec les arbres derrière, il y avait même un je-ne-sais-quoi de méditerranéen qui émanait de cette composition fortuite. Et, inutile de le dire, la voiture elle-même évoquait tout de suite maints souvenirs de mon enfance car c'était bien pendant ces années-là qu'on la voyait partout (et, si je me souviens bien, je ne l'aimais pas trop à l'époque) ...
... l'altro giorno, quando mi mossi attraverso il 7° distretto di Vienna, vissi questo bel esempio di una Mitsubishi Colt, seconda serie, prodotta alla fine degli anni settanta. Mi vennero in mente subito dei ricordi dei primi anni della mia infanzia nei quale questo modello fu particolarmente frequente - sebbene non mi piacesse molto allora. Si sa però che con gli anni che trascorrono, irremediabilmente e non di rado, i gusti cambiano. Infatti, e eccezione fatta dell'aspetto nostalgico di questa osservazione fortuita, mi piacque anche tutto l'ambiente, gli alberi e il recinto dietro, non so perché ma inaspettatamente, mi sentí catapultato quasi quasi in un ambiente vagamente mediterraneo ...
... when I met Eva Blut this summer to talk about accessory design for an article that was published in the newspaper, she showed me a prototype of what appeared to be a bike-clutch that can easily be attached to the frame of a bicycle. And I loved the idea. I truly appreciate Eva's very neat design approach, and the cleverness of her elaborate constructions. This also goes for her handbags, but this interesting attempt at creating a bag for urban bikers is a step in another, more industrial design oriented direction. Eva will present her vélo bags during Vienna Design Week, which is up in October. A special bike-based bag launch will take place on October 1st, hosted by "Fix Dich" (Zieglergasse 78, 1070 Vienna), starting at 4 pm ... quand j'ai rencontré Eva Blut cet été, lors d'une interview réalisée en préparation d'un article paru sur le journal, elle m'a déjà montré un prototype de la minaudière à vélo (c'est moi qui dis ça, Eva n'aurait sûrement pas parlé d'une minaudière, soyez rassurés ...) qui va être lancée pendant la Vienna Design Week qui aura lieu début d'octobre. J'aime beaucoup ce concept d'un sac à main qui s'attache facilement au châssis d'un vélo et qui est pourvue d'un STYLE FACTOR de loin supérieur à tout ce qu'on connaît du domaine des accessoires pour cyclistes. Il est grand temps qu'un créateur s'en rende compte, et je suis convaincu qu'il y a un grand potentiel derrière cette approche tout à fait originale ...
a nice pick for Anna Madrigal, don't you think?
