Dilemma: online or paperback guides?
Well, considering the vast number available, the only thing I know for sure is that we need a “guide to guides“!

Before planning a trip, which can be a real investment, it is best to get some tips.

The pocketbook guide Wallpaper is very stylish looking and available for 60 different world capital cities. When I was in London, I made a great impression  on a Scottish friend of mine who told me that the roast beef with applesauce was better than her grandmother’s! Perhaps it was due to the placebo effect created by the restaurant’s Buckingham Palace style furniture. Anyway, as a native of Bologna, I prefer my beloved lasagne!

For major world destinations, you can find suggestions at Tripadvisor, where users are gurus of “do-it yourself” tourism. The blogs at Moleskine are a bit more romantic and written in travel diary style similar to Chatwin. Unfortunately, the number of cities is quite limited.
The next time I go to the States, I’ll check out Zagat to avoid the usual mega-calorie fast food meals. They present just one risk: side effects due to extensive mouthwatering!

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Seasonal trends evoke a romantic style with modern élan.

Romantic and exquisite.
Precious as treasure.
Rare and ornate.
Ancient fabrics mixed with fragile silks and refined jacquards.

Past and future. A meeting of two worlds.

Our history holds the key to our future. We don’t wish to emulate the past, just use our imagination to generate modern ideas.

Originals are the starting point, revisited with humor and imagination to obtain new creations.

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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.

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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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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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

The 21st edition of the “Compasso D’Oro” Awards has just concluded. The theme was security and functionality and included domestic objects that may already be in our homes.

Two of the winners were Marc Sadler for “Big”, a modular library with essential lines made from extruded aluminium for Caimi Brevetti.
And Eero Aarnio for his multifunctional child’s rocking chair designed for Magis.

The show continues at Venaria Reale Palace in Turin until 31 August.

Technorati Tags: design, Marc Sadler, Eero aarnio, Magis, Caimi Brevetti

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These days, the window-shopping has become a “mission impossible”.
You have to choose between the tropical climate on the city streets or the Antarctic temperatures in the malls.
There’s no in-between! That’s why online shopping is a real alternative.
And you can do it comfortably from your own home.

By pure luck, I found the Virtuy Mall website. 
It’s a virtual shopping centre where everything is in 3-D. I’ve read that it’s the first of its kind in the entire world!
I was so curious that I clicked on the virtual map and entered a few stores. I found a myriad of things, even ultrasound rattraps and fermented papaya! I even found a record player, which is great because I still have some LPs I’d love to listen to!

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