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20110930

FASHION, even in the gutter


... 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) ...


20110925

DESIGN memorabilia

beautiful "Heuriger" wine glasses by Das Goldene Wiener Herz

... for an article in last Sunday's edition of the newspaper in which I talked about especially design-based approaches of urban souvenir-making (as tribute to the endeavour of positioning oneself as a CREATIVE CITY, hello, Richard Florida), I set out and talked to Veronika, Ursula and Alexander from DAS GOLDENE WIENER HERZ (a Viennese heart of gold). I think that their take on the topic of design souvenirs is particularly interesting since they manage to create beautiful objects for everyday life that appeal to people from Vienna just as much as they hold a special charm for visitors of our ever-so beauuuuutiful capital city ... pour un article paru sur l'édition du dimanche du journal, j'ai rencontré Alexander, Ursula et Veronika, trio responsable de DAS GOLDENE WIENER HERZ (un coeur viennois doré) - leur approche de créer des souvenirs de design me paraît particulièrement intéressante, ils arrivent à s'adresser aux touristes comme aux Viennois de souche, en jouant sur plusieurs registres de l'expression "un coeur doré" (faisant référence à Karl Kraus et à Helmut Qualtinger, parmi d'autres) et en présentant des versions remixées d'objets archi-connus, comme cette sélection de quatre verres de vin "Heuriger", ornés de vignes dorés, très beau et (presque) authentique ... per un articolo pubblicato sull'edizione del giornale di domenica scorsa, sono andato a parlare con Ursula, Veronika e Alexander, i tre fondatori del marchio DAS GOLDENE WIENER HERZ (cuore d'oro viennese), e devo dire che mi piacciono assai i loro souvenir di design che riescono a correre tutta la distanza tra l'ogetto d'uso cotidiano e, appunto, il souvenir viennese interessante per il turista che ha voglia di portare con sé un autentico ricordo. Bei bicchieri di vino, decorati di viticci dorati, una riedizione di un originale che si trova da tutti i Heuriger della città ...


20110924

ISN'T IT IRONIC (the Milanese way)


... 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 ...


20110922

FASHION press


... "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 ...


20110921

UNKNOWN street artist




... 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 ...

20110920

BLUE print


... 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 ...

20110918

CAR SPOTTING Mitsubishi Colt




... 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 ...


20110916

BIKE clutch


... 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 ...


20110902

CAR SPOTTING Russian Hill Beetle

a nice pick for Anna Madrigal, don't you think?

... stupid little me thought of the "car spotting" section on ParisVienne.com too late - I should have started taking images of automobilistic gems in California where the most beautiful, impressive cars can be found virtually on every corner. Well, at least I brought back this image of a VW Beetle parked in San Francisco's Russian Hill, which makes us think of, well of corse, Mrs Madrigal, who else. Did she ever own a car? Not sure, but I guess, this one would just have been to her liking ... j'ai pensé trop tard à cette nouvelle rubrique que j'appelle "car spotting", donc, comment dirais-je, des "trouvailles d'automobiles", car j'aurais très facilement pu commencer à prendre des photos de voitures tout à fait extraordinaires en Californie (où il n'y en a pas peu). Enfin bon, j'en ai quand même une ou deux, comme cette coccinelle stationnée à un coin de rue dans le quartier "Russian Hill" de San Francisco, ce qui nous fait penser à Armistead Maupin et ses fameux "Tales of the City" bien sûr, et qui sait, si Anna Madrigal avait eu une voiture, cette coccinelle serait peut-être à son goût ... sfortunatamente ho pensato troppo tardi alla possibilità di includere anche l'aspetto automobilistico in questa pagina, in California ne avrei trovate in abbondanza, di queste vecchie macchine così belle. Va bene, almeno ho fatto una foto di questo Maggiolino nel quartiere Russian Hill di San Francisco, e chi dice Russian Hill dice anche Tales of the City, ovviamente. Non ho mai visto la serie televisiva, dunque non so se Anna Madrigal guida una macchina, ma nei libri non mi pare proprio che ne abbia una. Dunque, eccovi una proposizione automobilistica per Anna Madrigal ...