A new craze has been born in the USA.
I’m not referring to over-sized purses but real shopping bags. The common plastic or paper bag we use to carry our groceries.

It all began about a year ago, when Anya Hindmarch designed and produced the now famous “I’m not a plastic bag” bag. An eco-friendly cotton tote bag created to replace the plastic bags being used in supermarkets.

Becoming more of a fashion accessory than an eco-shopping bag, the Hindmarch tote gave life to a case history.
This phenomenon has since spread across the USA. The desired object is no longer the content but the container! While walking around New York or Los Angeles, you can easily come across groups of young people toting colorful, branded paper bags.

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Glossy. Soft patent leathers.
This season’s ‘must’ is soft, shiny leather. It must have wavy textures, the idea of softness and never be flat.

Digital Visions. 
Dazzling, light colors that are bone dry.
Intense, fresh, juicy neon colors.
Light blue becomes a memory of computerized digital visions in contrast to juicy colors.

These are images from Pantone Books that we have used as a guideline for this season:

Technorati Tags: Inspiration, pantone book, colours, design, textures

It’s Monday morning and, as usual, it’s hard for me to start up my day.
I’d like to take my time and sip my coffee slowly.
Although, any relaxation that it gives me will be gone in thirty minutes - the time it takes to download my email - and I’ll off in fifth gear!

But today it’s different.

If, last Monday, we guiltlessly missed an opportunity to take it easy, we can do so today, as it is the second worldwide day of slow living.

“Take it easy” would certainly be my slogan.
Let’s look at ourselves: on the road, we drive like Gran Prix racers; in restaurants, we gobble down our food and can’t distinguish a steak from a hamburger (what about those slow food rules?); in supermarkets, we cast infuriated glances at the people ahead of us in line (and even worse if they’re paying in cash).

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If I were to say “Murano“, what would you think of?
You’d probably think of either the island that is world famous for glass blowing or the city of Venice.
It was Mardi Gras a while ago and, as usual, Carnival events in the lagoon were quite distinctive. This year, the theme was Sensation.

At Mandarina Duck, Murano recalls our Fall-Winter 2001 bag collection created by Marcel Wanders.

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It’s time for something new. New stimuli and objectives to start out the new creative year in the best possible way.

I’d like to see beyond the visible and forecast trends.
Somewhat like the bohemian Peggy Guggenheim, whose intellectual verve I greatly admire. She goes beyond images, capsizes ordinary life and creates new ways of seeing art. She has brought the Surrealist genius of painters such as Brauner and Duchamp into the limelight in an exhibition running until 2 March 2008 in Vercelli at the Arca of the Church of St. Mark. Read the rest of this entry »

This week I keep on receiving signals from the movie world!

Last 28th January at the Beverly Hills Shrine Auditorium, actress Catherine Keener was wearing a YY dress and boots and a Y’s Mandarina bag on the Screen Actors Guild Awards’ red carpet!

She’s been nominated for Best outstanding Performance by a Female Actress in a Supporting Role, thanks to “Into the wild”, directed by Sean Penn.

Here are some pictures:

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Technorati Tags: Y’s Mandarina, Catherine Keener, Sean Penn, Beverly Hills

Constantly looking for low-cost flights to NYC and intense weekends in the USA. These are certainly the causes of chronic jet lag. Well, I say enough!

Now you can see exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York comfortably and directly from your computer at home!

The first Metropolitan blog was launched in December 2007 by the outstanding blogger, Manolo Blahnik.

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This season, there are some people looking for a new point of view, one that is turned completely upside-down.
They surely won’t go unnoticed in newspapers and magazines in the coming days!

Here are some photos stolen from backstage of a new campaign shot by Will Sanders in the heart of modern Barcelona.

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It appears very timely to me, mirroring the desire for newness and change.
Perhaps the world is more beautiful upside-down.

What do you think about it?

Technorati Tags: Advertising, Ads, backstage, Barcelona, Will Sanders, Mandarina Duck

This morning my colleague Sandra has showed me a “special guest” in Mr. Wonderful 1993 movie.
Annabella Sciorra – the female heroine –together with Matt Dillon. She never leaves her backpack.
Have you recognized it? It’s a black Utility.

I wonder if there were any other movies casting Mandarina Duck products!
I’d really like to root out some other ones.
Please, tell me if you see them!

I think I’ll take a plunge on a Nineties films review!

Technorati Tags: Mr. Wonderful, Matt Dillon, Annabella Sciorra, backpack

A while ago, a blog reader had asked me about our advertising campaign from 1998 to 1999, which had impressed her very much. The image was of a just-married elderly couple coming out of a church, which had also been used as a store banner.
According to the blog reader, the ad communicated a positive brand image and emphasized people who had worked hard all their lives.

While I was going through the Mandarina Duck archives, I found these images of “2037: a future documentary”.
This campaign ran for three consecutive seasons and its mission was to talk about a not-too-distant future.

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