06/09/2013

Life on Mars

Comparing an island – enclosed by one of the most beautiful seas of Italy and visited every year by thousands of tourists – to Mars could seem weird. But Stromboli, the most savage of Aeolian Islands, is in many ways a place so hostile, that going ashore this island could really give you the impression of being an astronaut who has just set foot on the rocks of “The red planet”.



Even before setting your foot on land, you’ll understand. Disembark from the dinghy (the only way to reach land, Stromboli has no harbors) and you will find yourself on a shore of black lava rocks, parallel to a strip of land on which Bermuda grass grows undisturbed, disappearing only in the zones in which the asphalt and the cement of the houses steal the space. You won’t find street signs, nor cars. The best way to reach San Vincenzo, the main inhabited village of the island, is to follow the tourists or attempt the alleys wedging between houses built next to the sea. Whatever you decide to do, the volcano is there, shadowing upon your head, majestic and threatening.


When you arrive in San Vincenzo, enjoy the small restaurants clinging to the rocks, the houses made of tuff with scraped facades, and the shops balancing incredibly between prongs of rock, populated by lizards. The traffic of Apecars and scooters will give you the impression of being back in civilization, but it fades in just a moment: the feeling of being in an inhospitable place will explode one more time inside you when you reach the slopes of the volcano. It erupts lava gushes continuously, but it can be climbed. The roped parties get on their way when the sun dies down and come back barely before midnight. The island seen from the top, sitting next to the crater, is a sublime spectacle.

The descend will take your last remaining energy. Once down, you’ll discover that Stromboli is dead. Its 400 inhabitants retired in their homes. Restaurants and small shops that just few hours earlier comforted you, are all closed, only few wandering tourists left to occupy the abandoned, pitch black streets; Stromboli has no public illumination. So, the best way to get back to shore is to light the torch of your cellphone, otherwise the return to your dinghy may get trickier that you expected.



Antonio Leggieri – Images Luca di Ciaccio, Nanel, M Aquila, Lars Christensen 
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05/09/2013

Fashion Week Through the Eyes of Ondine Azoulay

“When I start thinking about fashion week I panic, hahaha! I mean, it’s fun and exciting and I look forward to it but in the same time I’m thinking ‘Oh my god, here we go again’”. Ondine Azoulay‘s reaction to the sound of “fashion week” comes spontaneous and with a big smile. “Fashion week for me is first and foremost work. It’s super exciting and I absolutely love it but it’s so easy to ‘glamify’ it and forget that it’s also exhausting. It’s not only shows – it’s meetings, presentations, more shows, events, dinners, parties – well, ok, wait, the parties and dinners are fun! – but it’s all crammed into one small week per city. It’s a lot to take in!”


Ondine Azoulay was born and raised in Los Angeles but moved to Paris over ten years ago to study fashion design. Since then, Ondine has worked as fashion and beauty editor and freelance styling contributor to some of the largest publications and brands of today, as well as working as a stylist alongside major photographers. She’s what you could call an industry insider. Today fashion week starts for real, but last night The Blogazine got the chance to sit down with Ondine to have a chat about fashion week from her point of view.

“Normally I travel all month. I do New York and the fashion weeks in Europe and normally I also style shows in NYC and London. But this year I’m only doing Paris. It’s my favourite week, always.” We speak about the shows, the front row, who’s in and who’s out and how the buzz around fashion week keeps on increasing, looking back only a few years. “I mean, they crowd so much people into the venues – it’s insane! It’s so hot you think you’re going to faint at times! I can’t believe that everyone who’s in there really needs to be there. Maybe I’ll stay in, sit down and watch a couple of the shows from the comfort of my sofa – I mean, everything is online!” Ondine thinks for a second. “I also think some designers should do presentations instead. Not everything needs to be put into a show!”


The conversation about how fashion week has become absolutely frenetic continues, and soon switches over to a discussion about what to wear. “I usually don’t plan my outfits – whatever I feel like in the morning is what I’m going to put on. I feel like I keep on repeating it, but fashion week is madness! Everybody is doing the latest trends and only wear clothes from the season, and borrow things from press offices. I feel it’s just too hard to “compete” with all that so I’m trying not to think about it and just do my own thing. I wear a lot of vintage and maybe I add a pair of shoes of the season but besides that, you know – I stick to my wardrobe.”

And what about the runway? Which show is the highpoint? “This is probably going to be the answer of every fashion editor or stylist but I’m absolutely obsessed with Céline, of course. I just think that Phoebe Philo can’t do wrong! That’s the show I look forward to the most. Then we have Chloé, Valentino, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton and so on, and in London it’s always cool to see all the new designers. I haven’t really thought about my expectations for S/S 14. To be honest, I’m just back from my annual holiday month, totally off-fashion. And then I’ve been working every day since I came back, I’m still so into this season’s collections! Let’s just say that hopefully we’re going to see something surprising!”

Long days, meetings and appointments – yes, fashion week is a moment of work but it’s also the time when you get to meet up with friends that you don’t see all the times. It’s an occasion to get out, go places, do things. “I love that during fashion week all the meetings are in fancy hotels. Sometimes I look at myself from the outside thinking ‘who is this person?’ Fashion week is so different from my regular life but I love that I get to spend my days at the Ritz!”

It’s time to say goodbye and let Ondine wind down, preparing for the hectic period that approaches. “I love this time but it’s a whole mix of emotions: fun, interesting, annoying, exciting. I have so much to do that my feelings about it are different every day! Every year during the fashion weeks I take a full day off. I need my little break in the middle to keep my sanity!”

Interview by Lisa Olsson Hjerpe – Swamibu, Mi Chiel 
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05/09/2013

Fifty Shades in the Front Row

What is it about the front row seats of the fashion shows that seem to cause at times nearly as much of a stir as the show and clothes themselves? And what does a front row seat candidate need to possess, apart from a certain celeb factor and hefty bank account? Well, perhaps a spectacular pair of sunglasses?

A front row lineup would not seem right if there weren’t an array of shades dazzling as cameras flash the latest looks and ensembles strut down the runway. One could question the necessity of such accessory in an already semi-lit area and where the idea is to view and see the collections in all their glory – not in fifty shades of grey, so why darken the effect?

Flashing camera lights may perhaps be too much for some, but more likely it’s because of a need to portray an edge of enigmatic cool, or perhaps a cover-up so no expressions can be read or miss-read. It could be like a kind of disguise, or perhaps it is a quick fix for too many late nights attending too many fashion parties – for this we may forgive them.

As a living example, Anna Wintour springs to mind. But that’s her trademark look, and she kind of gets away with it. For the rest of the shade-clad fashionistas, we’d like to see some dazzling eyes for a change.


Tamsin Cook 
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04/09/2013

Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s

In 2013 fashion exhibitions seem to focus much on celebrating the eternal, never-ending inspirational link between style and music. After MET hosted Punk: Chaos to Couture, Victoria and Albert Museum of London launched, in July, Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s.

Through more than eighty-five outfits, the aim of the show is to perform the exiting world of the historical clubs of the city, by making the viewer conscious of how they have deeply influenced the designers of the time – as well as all those people involved in the fashion field.

Among the others, you’ll find pieces from Betty Jackson, John Galliano and Georgina Godley who, talking about the exhibit, said: “Young London was all about taking risks and creating something out of nothing through passion and ambition”. Club to Catwalk traces the creative link between music, club and catwalk, by analyzing a special decade that consecrated London as the capital of eclecticism.


The exhibition runs until February 16th and the side events are many, like the one on Friday 6 September: a special talk for celebrating the thirty years of Paul Bernstock and Thelma Speirs, whose anarchic hats have always been worn by celebrities. From the museum’s website you’ll find the full events calendar.

Francesca Crippa 
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04/09/2013

Combining Digital Stores and Magazines

Fashion turning digital – as far as we’re talking sales, marketing, communication and branding – has become somewhat of the new black. Online fashion platforms are popping up like dandelions, printed magazines design their online copies and no matter where in the world you are, you can have the dress of your dreams shipped to you. The number of branded e-stores is increasing in the same time as multi-branded e-commerce sites create their own ‘brand name’, becoming as famous as the brands they stock. One of the latest upcoming online stores is Italian Sevenbell. A month prior to the official launch, The Blogazine had a sneak-peek into the group that is aiming to give their visitors the shopping experience.

The Sevenbell Group holds over 60 years of knowledge in the fashion industry and manufacturing, and with the new platform they’re taking “the next step”. The goal is to create something more than just a store – a place you want to go to for inspiration and news, exclusive interviews, fashion stories and of course, shopping. Not restricting the target to male or female, the store will be selling to everyone.

Being given a peek, the site looks well-designed and fresh, and while eagerly waiting for the store to launch so we can explore the full features, browse through the pages of the Sevenbell Journal and fill our shopping baskets to the brim, we’re signing up for our 10% discount.

Lisa Olsson Hjerpe 
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03/09/2013

Monthly reads: Forget All the Rules

Have you ever admired the colours of a poster without noticing the event it was supposed to promote? Have you ever found yourself lusting over a beautiful letter set in an even more wonderful typeface, without noticing the message it spelled? You probably haven’t, because graphic design can never be separated from the message it is supposed to convey. Its ultimate function is communication, as obvious as it might seem.


Yet, there are probably thousands of designers right now browsing thousands of other blogs looking for ‘inspiration’ for their new project. Looking for the ‘looks’, the style, the image, and not the solution. And if you may be one of those designers, or spot one sitting right next to you, please note that a design can only be taken so far by an aesthetically driven solution. This apparently blatant phrase comes as a conclusion after reading a tremendously significant (at least, as far as we are concerned) book “Forget All The Rules You Ever Learned About Graphic Design. Including The Ones in This Book.” written by one of the most genius graphic designers of all times – Bob Gill.


Even though it was published more than thirty years ago, in 1981, its lesson still remains an essential one to learn. In fact, what Bob Gill tries to explain throughout the book departs from a single, simple piece of advice: “Unless you can begin with an interesting problem, it is unlikely you will end up with an interesting solution.” Starting from the problem, trying to turn each task in an interesting problem, is what, in Gill’s words, can make even the most boring brief an interesting one and even the worst client a possibly nice one to work with. And this simple piece of advice (along with its further elaborations and a series of illustrated examples included in the book) is possibly the most important one any designer may ever receive.


Rujana Rebernjak 
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03/09/2013

The Space Age

Sci-fi is not only a literary genre, or just part of cinematography. Its imagery interprets a vision that transcends the boundaries of genders and slips between literature, film, fashion and that continues, year after year, to be presented on the catwalk in many and ever-changing ways.

Futuristic visions of the world, fantastic technological scenarios or alternative realities set in the past, the present and the future have always been the central themes of science fiction. But often suggestions also came from the fashion and the catwalks, to demonstrate the fusion between these two art forms. Sci-fi was born in the early twentieth century, but the phenomenon exploded in the fifties, in the United States. The Second World War was over, and to forget the horrors of the past, people started to imagine a different future. Other elements, such as the enthusiasm for the nascent missile industry and the first sighting of a UFO in 1947 made the science fiction a social phenomenon.


Even the designer Pierre Cardin got fascinated by this style, and presented a collection with space helmets, leather shorts and dresses in transparent glossy vinyl. Obviously, this fashion reached the cinema too: a super sexy Jane Fonda in the cult Barbarella, dated 1968, wore daring spacial overalls, designed for her by Paco Rabanne, another forefather of the period that – due to the use of materials such as metal, aluminum, plastic, plexiglass and even fiber optics – aroused the indignation of Coco Chanel, who described it as “the metallurgy of fashion.”


It is during these years that the Space Age begins, a great creative era shared by Pierre Cardin, Paco Rabanne and André Courrèges. Volumes designed with ruler and compass, geometric cuts in white or silver fabrics, flash syntonic to Dan Flavin‘s neon, are intended to make women free in their movements, modern in thought, perhaps astronauts. More precisely, these fashion astronauts – then copied all over the world – had taken off even before the man went to the moon. Cardin, who undoubtedly went alongside this path with an almost magical ability to see into the future, states: “The clothes I prefer were invented for a life that does not exist yet”, in an interview about the collection that had fascinated, amazed and marked the evolution of taste.


Chiara Tiso 
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02/09/2013

Style Suggestions: Cocktail Hour

Fashion weeks commence and we fill the pages of our calendars with cocktails, events and dinners, work-related and among friends. The scent of excitement lingers in the air while we put on our heels, grab our clutches and heads out into the night.

Dress Alexander Wang, pants Acne, perfume Balenciaga, earring ryanstorer.com, shoes Anthony Vacarrello, clutch Kara Ross, ring Aea.

Styling Vanessa Cocchiaro 
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02/09/2013

Fashion Week Frenzy

New York, London, Milan, Paris – even though the smaller fashion cities are already feeding us the trends, talents and news of Spring/Summer 2014, the (fashion) world is anticipating the grand 4. New York with its many ‘low-key’ contemporary brands, London continuing to be the new must-go-to melting pot and Milan and Paris representing the classic, lavish European fashion. In a couple of days, the crowd will be setting foot in New York City and the fashion frenzy can begin.

New York.
From Maki Oh to Y-3 to Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein – New York is the mix of American classics, international guests and upcoming designers. From the city where everything is possible, the expectations lie on contemporary freshness, well-designed, wearable fashion and maybe something bold.

London.
The London scene is no longer questionable. Over the past seasons the city has claimed its position on the fashion map and anyone who may have doubted the Brits, has been eating up the dubious words. The schedule, listing Mary Katrantzou, Peter Pilotto, Christopher Kane, J.W. Anderson, House of Holland, Nasir Mazha, Erdem et cetera, will for sure entertain the international press. And if nothing else, we can always be sure to look forward to the Londoners’ grand show by Burberry Prorsum.


Milan.
We have to love our hometown. Craftsmanship, heritage, world famous designers and a big dose of vanity and gaud. Fendi, Gucci, Prada, Versace, Armani, Missoni, Marni, Trussardi, Ferragamo and the list continues. Milan is the city of classic luxury, Italian pride and great espressos. Aside of high heels and inconvenient clothes in all their glory, Milan is also the city where at least a part of the crowd will arrive with their favourite means of transportation – the bike.

Paris.
We all know it. Paris is the highlight of the month, la crème de la crème of fashion weeks. By the time we reach Paris, it doesn’t really matter that we’re tired from three weeks of traveling, working, walking, talking, partying. The parties in Paris are the best, the Louvre is the Louvre and Karl Lagerfeld still works at Chanel. It’s Paris as we know it, and we’ll know it will be good.

As much as the February shows excite, nothing compares to the optimism of September. Maybe it’s the fact that everyone’s just back from their holidays, tanned and rested, ready to put their teeth into new projects, or maybe it’s the optimism of the Spring collection colours being carried down the runway. For whatever the reason, September is no longer around the corner – it’s here.

Lisa Olsson Hjerpe 
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