Hey, guys! It’s amazing to be in New York just during the elections day!
I cannot cover up my enthusiasm for the American political campaign, maybe it’s because I feel quite involved as I’ve got there some emigrant relatives and friends of mine!
Creativity blows up, from coffee mugs to the sweeties boxes… everything talked about elections.
As soon as the fitting day ended - for the shooting of the new catalogue for travel and woman lines - I went in front of the Tv. Ready for the marathon. After some initial uncertainty, things seemed clear.
We just went out on the streets: Union Square enlivened, even if the tunes were understated as if people didn’t want to party beforeheand. A huge American flag hide some small groups and  playing music and singing the praise of Obama (never to say).

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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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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.

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Hi, my name is Roberta. I work in Mandarina Duck’s communications office, specifically for the travel and business products division.

I’d like to tell you about the shoot for our Spring-Summer 2008 catalogue, which will soon be available in our shops!

It all started with casting calls, many debates and desperate telephone calls in makeshift Spanish. It was a big job but we did it in only three weeks, which of course is relative considering how much we had to organize it all. But we managed it!

5 am:
The alarm clock rang; I automatically jumped out of bed and was immediately ready, so I stared out of the window while waiting for the taxi to take me to the airport. I got there and waited for Francesco (our communications director) and then we were ready to go!

7 am:
Flight to Madrid followed by transfer to Leon. The photographer, stylist and digital assistant from Milan were waiting for us in Madrid. The rest of the group was local.

11 am:
We loaded our stuff into our vehicle, everyone was in a good mood, the only thing missing was Jean, the model.
We waited for him in the labyrinth of the Madrid airport (very beautiful btw) and, I must confess, I was a bit nervous.
When you choose a face without seeing it in real life, you can end up with an unpleasant surprise.
Anyway, we were lucky. Jean arrived and turned out to be a happy, fun guy!  Read the rest of this entry »

I often go to Paris to look for new ideas.
I never miss out on a tour of luxury stores including Louis Vuitton,  Marc Jacobs and Martin Margiela.
Along with big fashion names, Colette is a great reference point for discovering new talent. It offers design, graphic arts, music and cinema news, as well as mentioning many temporary exhibitions. Such as Josephine Meckseper’s installations on the relationships between media, fashion and advertising.

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I’d just landed at Taipei Airport. It was my third stopover after having departed from Venice and changed planes in Frankfurt and Hong Kong.

My first impression of the airport was neither very good nor very reassuring. After walking down a long corridor, I came to a small duty-free shop right beside the barriers that lead to the customs check. This airport was just not as nice as most Asian airports, in particular Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul or even Shanghai, which I used to think was the worst.

My first impression became a certainty after looking for a restaurant to have dinner in. I had already tasted Taiwanese cuisine and liked it. What a disappointment! The airport had no restaurants at all!
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The trip didn’t start off very well.
Due to an expected strike, I had to take the 6.15 am flight to Frankfurt and then wait for the 1.40 pm flight to Dubai. Oh well! On the positive side, I had some time to work on my laptop in the Lufthansa Lounge.
Then, at the gate, I ran into a friend of mine from Bologna that was also going to Dubai, who haughtily informed me that the strike had never taken place.
So, I was exhausted for nothing and on top of that, my mother had been calling me incessantly with worry over the desert, scorpions and who knows what other potential dangers!
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It’s getting closer to Christmastime and that awakens the child within me.
I always recall the good old days when I wrote my wishes in a “letter to Santa Claus“. It’s a pity he never answered me, sigh!
I could try it again but I’d rather go to his house in Lapland. Perhaps I’ll find a plane ticket under the Christmas tree this year.

“Dear Santa Claus,
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The Eye of London is an eye observing street style from above. Fashion rises up from the grassroots and from the people. In London there are no rules and the streets are the source of trends. That’s why I like it so much.

In Covent Garden, you can breathe a timeless atmosphere amongst the street artists and artisans (who aren’t always cheap). It’s a window on new trends and moods. Globalization and globetrotter: ethnic prints, bohemian scarves and platform boots, mixing is the new must. Giles and Marc Jacobs have shown us.

Walking from Oxford Street to Marble Arch, past traditional British chain  stores, you can come across spacewomen in futuristic outfits of Indian colors that seems to be right off of a Manish Arora runway (stylist to whom the Victoria and Albert museum have dedicated a temporary exhibition).

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I’m often go to Hong Kong for work. Every time I get off from the plane I collide with the charming and both terrific atmosphere of such a contradictory city.

And the contradictions are unlimited. There are amazing landscapes of tropical nature mixed with cement masses rising up to the skyline. You can see clear skies (just after a typhoon) or wait for days for the sun to come out.

When you land in Hong Kong, forget that you are European or American and let the life of this city overwhelm you, along with its hard-and-fast rules, its rhythms, its odors and its people.
Gaseous emissions and gastrointestinal rumblings mix with 7-star restaurants, charming Rolls Royces and Ferraris just delivered from Maranello. When in Rome, do as the Romans do!

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