In our region, when people say “Via Aemilia“, it makes us think of traffic jams, the elderly playing cards on balconies and kiosks selling melons. We’ve forgotten that the Milan-Rimini roadway is of Roman origin! And, actually, it still looks good after two thousand years! Along with the energy of our forgotten past and the frenzy of our modern real estate growth, we have discovered that “Via Aemilia” is also the “road of contemporary art“.

Starting from Reggio Emilia, we are greeted by the white sails of Calatrava’s bridges stretching skywards over the A1 highway. In the city centre, we can encounter the minimalist statue “Less Than” by Robert Morris, which rejuvenates the San Domenico Cloisters. The city’s students get to study under a multicolored ceiling in the public library painted by Sol Lewitt.

Read the rest of this entry »

Are you a fashion movie expert? I’m a sort of modest “movie spin doctor”.
On one hand, it’s due to all those Sunday cinema marathons of my teenage years, on the other hand, to a university ‘History of the Cinema’ course. I suffered through all the great masterpieces from Nosferatu (the great grandfather of Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula) to the Battleship Potemkin!

Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a completely different experience! I was amazed by Audrey Hepburn’s elegance. She certainly didn’t need Givenchy to become such a style icon. And I’ve realized that cinema is an important marketing tool for fashion.

Do you remember Richard Gere in American Gigolo?
He was certainly helped by Giorgio Armani, who was very adept at exploiting the image of the emerging actor.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mandarina Duck has just doubled its presence in both Turkey and Istanbul with the opening of its second store in the Besiktas district.
It seems bizarre to have such hi-tech bags in this large big Turkish city - now a UNESCO heritage site - which evokes memories of Constantinople, the eastern Holy Roman Empire, the glory of the Ottoman Empire and Turkish sultans.

The aroma of spices and the sound of belly dancing music are still here in between the Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sofia church-mosque and the historic districts of Tarlatasi and Kumkapi. They’re all being revamped for the Biennial Exhibition in 2009 and the designation as European Cultural Capital City for 2010.
The ultra-modern buildings in Levènt - the business and financial district - clearly show that the city is looking to the future.

Read the rest of this entry »

Creative hunger? Craving green?
Well, until 26 September, “Picnic” will be taking place in Amsterdam.
It has nothing to do with wicker baskets or disposable cutlery.
It’s a meeting of the most intelligent people in the world. Media managers, designers, intellectuals and free thinkers will get together for three days of conferences, labs and seminars looking for ideas to solve problems caused by climatic changes.
Read the rest of this entry »

Browsing through art exhibitions can actually not be boring, especially if they’re about fashion art!

Do you love buying shoes? Have you already spent all your savings on your last spending spree during the sales season?
Well, from 23 September you can dream of being a Hollywood star like Audrey or Marilyn without going broke!
At the Triennale Design Museum in Milan you can see wonderful creations by Ferragamo in the exhibition “Salvatore Ferragamo - Evolving Legend 1928-2008″, which includes wooden shapes of famous feet and shoes from the Fifties.

Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever seen something great and thought, “Wow, I’d love to get that but I have no room for it.” So, you end up renouncing on something really cool for your home. I know how that feels as not only is my home more of a concept than a place. It’s actually only about the size of a garage!

My laptop commutes between my footstool and my carpet, my glasses are at a constant risk of breaking in their acrobatic positions in my credenza, the contents of my pockets are always emptied out on tables and in vases and my clothes drying rack constantly blocks the only hallway I have inspiring bizarre contortionist moves on my part.

Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve never seen me, have you? Well, here am I!
Actually, this is a virtual Ducky that I created on Lively, Google’s new 3D browser!

It’s very easy to use. You just download the software, log on through a Google account and get creative!

I can finally boast about having an avatar, as my experience on Second Life wasn’t very successful. I’ll leave it to my web engineer friends.

Read the rest of this entry »

We already know that ducks are very celebrated birds but I’ve discovered that a Duck Day actually exists!
Last Sunday, the Thames looked like a giant bathtub. The only thing missing was the foam!

Two hundred and fifty thousand plastic ducks (a Guinness world record) competed in the Great British Duck Race, a one-km race from Hampton Court Bridge to Albany Reach with spectators on all sides.

Read the rest of this entry »

After all the backstage gossip, the new Mandarina Duck campaign is finally out!
The shots by Bruno Van Mossevele have just been published in such fashion magazines as Glamour, Velvet and Marie Claire!

So, go take a good look!

Show as slideshow

I always tire out easily when I run and now I’ve discovered why. I’m wearing the wrong fabric! I need an aerodynamic suit like Fiona May has!

Well, I could go to Superhuman Performance - at the Textile Museum in Prato - and choose from a variety of high performance, aerodynamic, hydrodynamic and fireproof sports garments that would make even Spiderman envious!

We often buy clothes because we’re dazzled by their shapes or colors while we see their fabrics as secondary. However, fashion is adapting to new lifestyles primarily because of the development of new sportswear fabrics.

Let’s see what new textiles come out of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, which just may become part of the history of fashion!

Technorati Tags: textiles, sports garments, Olympics, Beijing