31/12/2014

Francois Prost: After Party

Melancholy, desolation and bewilderment are rarely associated with lavish night clubs. And yet, Francois Prost’s photographic series “After Party” catches a glimpse of the clubs after their magic has dispersed, unfolding a sense of emptiness and displacement. Captured under bright blu skies, these French night clubs loose all of their compelling charm. Once darkness is lifted, we are left with strange conglomerates of cliché visual iconography, improbable architectural compositions, funky names and an endless amount of dire neon lights, told through Prost’s direct photographic language, that subtly mocks the scenes’ predicability and dreariness. As we cheerfully approach New Year’s celebrations, we have to wonder if this is really what our after-party will look like?

Rujana Rebernjak 
Share: Facebook,  Twitter  
30/12/2014

Daily Tips: A Cosy Winter

The role of blankets is woven deep in the history of Native Americans. For centuries, they have been used for warmth and comfort, as a medium of exchange, for artistic expression and as an important part of ceremonies and tribal councils. Pendleton, an authentic company founded in Portland, Oregon in 1909, has been producing blankets that honour this culture’s special symbols, traditions and beliefs for over a century. Originally, Native Americans brought their own designs to Pendleton, depicting their beliefs and legends, while today, the company works closely with Native Americans to create high-quality blankets in vivid new designs, with a new pattern introduced each year as a symbol of the design’s history.
For the upcoming cold months, these beautifully woven blankets will be the perfect warm companions draped on a sofa as you catch up on your holiday movies.

The Blogazine 
Share: Facebook,  Twitter  
29/12/2014

Style Suggestions: Home for the Holidays

Going home for the holidays can be stressful, especially when it comes to packing, as you want to look your best while visiting the folks and friends. Just remember, don’t go overboard – feeling comfortable is always the best option.

Beanie: Marc by Marc Jacobs, Coat: Miu Miu, Sweater: Proenza Schouler, Jeans: Paige, Boots: Roy Roger’s, Bag: Mismo

Styling by Vanessa Cocchiaro 

Share: Facebook,  Twitter  
29/12/2014

Campana Brothers: Staging the Woods

Within design practice, a sphere apparently focussed on rationality, rigour and functionality, speaking about the role of intuition and playfulness as a key driving force of innovation may be judged blasphemous. And yet, it is exactly a spark of intuition (often justified by recurring to a designer’s ‘creative genius’) what gives shape to some of the most revolutionary solutions in design. For Fernando and Humberto Campana, relying on intuition and, thus, its often unpredictable outcomes, forms the most defining characteristics of their work. From their first approach to design practice – Humberto Campana unexpectedly ventured into design in 1984, shortly after graduating from law school – to their visually exuberant, unapologetic designs, Campana brothers’ work has been guided by intuition, as in a desire to translate their Brazilian national character into a specific design methodology.

As such, Campana brothers’ work is dedicated to storytelling, revealing the origins and reasoning behind a project through emotion and deliberately provocative visual configurations, bridging the gap between art, design, installation and architecture. A recent example of this approach is their exhibition at Bildmuseet, a university museum in Umeå, Sweden, which features a site specific installation titled “Woods”. With their hands-on approach, playful translating physical specificities of materials (in this case, locally sourced flax and wood) into emotional qualities, Campana brothers have built a series of tree-like structures that have overtaken the gallery space. Deliberately mixing together the organic appearance of structures that look animated and dynamic, with the peculiar structure of the material and cold artificial lighting of the museum and its white-cube space, Campana brothers have both pointed a magnified lens at the museum as such, as well as invited people to immerse themselves in nature, to feel its silence, light, smell and texture. An experiment in the power of sensations, visual and material dichotomies and three-dimensional storytelling, “Woods” showcases Campana brothers’ exceptional ability to adapt their work to the specific context in which they work, and build a world of feelings, images and sensations that could not be better experienced than by immersing oneself in it and simply following the designers’ intuition.

“Woods” by Fernando and Humberto Campana will remain on show until February 8th 2015 at Bildmuseet, Umeå University in Sweden.

Rujana Rebernjak 
Share: Facebook,  Twitter  
26/12/2014

The Talented: Andrea Jiapei Li

If we had to define the work of Andrea Jiapei Li – a Beijing born, New York based design – in short, we would have to point out her use of structural garments and innovative materials. Yet, what gives true value to her creative output, are the meanings and messages hidden underneath layers of material. Although Andrea Jiapei Li studied at Parsons The New School for Design, one of the most important and innovative design schools, and held internships at 3.1 Phillip Lim, Diane von Furstenberg and Edun, her work rose to prominence when she was chosen among eight finalists of the H&M design award for 2015.

Her design aesthetics is characterized by a profound reflection on the meaning of design and the stories it can tell, as expressed, for example, in her latest collection “I am what I am”. The collection speaks about accepting individuality and who you are, both with literal prints, as well as through more subtle features present throughout the collection, with the knot-pieces reminding us of the importance of self-acceptance. Andrea Jiapei Li’s idea and ambition is larger than just making clothes: she is able to unite her design and technical knowledge with an understanding of society, to create not just pieces that are “right in time”, but collections that bring stories and messages to life.

Hanna Cronsjö 
Share: Facebook,  Twitter  
25/12/2014

Happy Holidays from The Blogazine!

Stay warm, have fun, eat, drink and be merry! Happy holidays from The Blogazine!

The Blogazine 
Share: Facebook,  Twitter  
24/12/2014

Trend Watch: Christmas in Sweaters

Well, finally we can’t but say that it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, which also applies to fashion. Whether it is cold outside or cozy by the fire, the trend that certainly has gotten a following is that of holiday sweaters. Yes, we are talking about knitted tops s adorned with a Christmas or winter design print. Be it a candy cane, reindeers or snowflakes, these ridiculous sweaters could be found during the holiday season since the 1950s, while their peaked in popularity in the 1990s. Often used in movies to portray a person’s “dorky side” – as Mark Darcy in the cult classic Bridget Jones’ Diary – the sweaters have recently returned to become a street style darling.

Wearing a piece of clothing previously categorized as lower class within the fashion social system, can be viewed as a direct result of the growing stand of individualism, reaffirming the rule that shows it does not matter what you wear, but how you wear it. Connecting the apparent superficiality of the fashion world to a global contexts, we could also speculate that a growing political insecurity calls for a reflection on better times such as our childhood, thus explaining why children of the 1980s/90s – now grown fashionistas – are trending these bulky sweaters. The trend seems fuse several other trends – such as retro and geek chic in combination with the love of the 1990s and folklore – which, over the past seasons, loosened up restrictions on the once dreaded “ugly Christmas sweaters”. Within fashion circles the sweater has been recognized as a key seasonal piece, re-made with less ostentatious color palates and less ‘themed’, by brands like Sonia Rykiel, Chanel and Dior Pre-fall 2015. Finally we can see designers updating the classic horror garment to high fashion standards, allowing us to proudly wear holiday sweaters both by the Christmas tree and on the runway.

Victoria Edman 
Share: Facebook,  Twitter  
24/12/2014

Steven Meisel: Role Play

Organized by Phillips, Role Play is a traveling exhibition celebrating the groundbreaking work of internationally acclaimed photographer Steven Meisel. From his early days as an illustrator for Women’s Wear Daily, Meisel captured the 80s zeitgeist in his bold and pioneering style. Ever the visionary, Meisel has continued to cultivate his distinct eye with each passing decade, continuously defining and redefining the leading aesthetic in fashion photography. Over the course of his illustrious career, Meisel has collaborated with major fashion publications, from Vanity Fair to Interview, W Magazine, and Vogue, and Vogue Italia, for whom he has photographed every cover for the past twenty-five years. His imagery is reliably rich in narrative, drawing from an encyclopedic knowledge of fashion’s history. With an informed nod to the past, Meisel’s photographs continue to lead the ever-evolving dialogue in fashion photography.

Rujana Rebernjak 
Share: Facebook,  Twitter  
23/12/2014

Daily Tips: Artists’ Cocktails

The key to a successful party lies entirely in the host’s ability to charm his guests, while also making them feel at ease. Well, what better way to create an outstanding party atmosphere than by serving a delightful mix of cultural extravagance and warming alcohol. Ryan Gander’s compendium of “Artists’ Cocktails” comes in handy both as a subject of eloquent chit-chatting and as an interesting way to relax your guests. Here are two recipes from the book published by Dent De Leone, though you should choose the cocktail carefully depending on occasion and tone of your festive gathering.

Waste of time, 1977 by Keren Cytter

60 ml rosé champagne
2 brown sugar cubes
30 ml squeezed grapefruit juice
Pernod Absinthe
Lowball glass

Into a lowball glass pour 60 ml of rosé champagne, adding 2 brown sugar cubes and 30 ml of squeezed grapefruit juice. Fill the glass with absinthe. Don’t jog with it.

The Klaus Hähner-Springmühl by Carsten Nicolai

1 bottle of pure alcohol (98%)
30 sugar cubes
5 litters of cheap black tea
No ice
No stirring

Should be only served to professional drinkers and only mixed if nothing else is available!

The Blogazine 
Share: Facebook,  Twitter  
23/12/2014

Lina Bo Bardi in Italy

“Lina Bo Bardi in Italia” is a “small” exhibition dedicated to a “great figure,” Lina Bo Bardi, a pioneer of Italian architecture, on the occasion of the centennial of the architect’s birth currently on show at MAXXI museum in Rome. 

The exhibition retraces the history of Lina Bo Bardi, in the form of a reverse chronology: from 1946, the year she left for South America with her husband Pietro Maria Bardi, back to her graduation in Rome in 1939.
It tells the story of her intense and tormented years in Milan, prior to her departure for Brazil, a nation she adopted as her home and where she finally found personal and professional satisfaction. In Milan, together with Carlo Pagani, Lina received her first professional commissions, despite the limitations imposed by the War. In parallel, she was a member of the editorial board of various architectural journals and instructive publications.

In addition to designing buildings connoted by a significant material and expressive strength, evidence of a consistent attention toward the social responsibility of architecture, Lina also created multi–coloured imaginative worlds in her drawings: a highly personal iconographic universe that would consistently accompany her development as an architect. These are the origins of Lina Bo Bardi’s history, evoked in her Curriculum letterario (Literary Curriculum); a history of ideas at the time considered avant–garde, and extremely relevant to this day; a history written and drawn entirely by her.
“Lina Bo Bardi in Italia” will remain on show until March 15th 2015 at MAXXI in Rome.

Rujana Rebernjak 
Share: Facebook,  Twitter  
Next Page »