Today a designer’s muse has arguably become as important as a brand itself. Louis Vuitton is celebrating…
Category:
Culture
Emilio Pucci (1914-1992) had a passion for women, a visionary sense of style, and an eye for color and design. With these talents he created a fashion house unlike any other. By the early ’50s his boutique on the isle of Capri was catering to wealthy sophisticates, heiresses and movie stars buying his “Capri pants”, silk scarves and lightweight separates.
The mere mention of Mario Testino’s name evokes a rush of adrenalin in anyone that cares, even a bit, about the worlds of fashion and celebrity. So omnipresent is he at major magazine shoots and A-list events—an insider if ever there was one—that he has become a celebrity himself. The launch of Testino’s latest book is to celebrate his first trip in China.
This week Hindus around the world celebrated Holi, the Festival of Colors.
Holi is a popular springtime celebration observed on the last full moon of the lunar month. Participants traditionally throw bright, vibrant powders at friends and strangers alike as they celebrate the arrival of spring,
Nautical sailor tops and Madonna’s conical bra are coming to London next year in an exhibition of the work of fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier.
“The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier” will open at the Barbican Centre in April 2014.
The Yves Saint Laurent, a visionary exhibition opened on 30 January 2013 and running until May 5th in the ING Cultural Centre, Place Royale in Brussels. This exclusive exhibition is a first: ING Belgium shows, for the first time, how Yves Saint Laurent’s designs and concepts have radically changed the world of fashion, turning it into what it is today. The exhibition focuses on the visionary power of this flamboyant designer. This collection, which has never been seen before, has been put together in conjunction with the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation.
At Windsor Castle’s Drawings Gallery, The Queen: Portraits of a Monarch is a truly fascinating and rather lovely exhibition which presents a selection of official, commissioned and informal portraits from Her Majesty’s 60-year reign, including work by Cecil Beaton, Lucian Freud, Dorothy Wilding, Andy Warhol and Annie Leibovitz.
The Royal Academy of Arts presents the first major exhibition in the UK to showcase Edouard Manet’ s portraiture. The exhibition examines the relationship between Manet’ s portrait painting and his scenes of modern life. By translating portrait sitters into actors in his genre paintings, Manet guarantees the authenticity of the figures that populate his scenes of contemporary life and asserts a new, more potent relationship between Realism and Modernity. Manet: Portraying Life includes over 50 paintings spanning the career of this archetypal modern artist together with a selection of pastels and contemporary photographs. It brings together works from both public and private collections across Europe, Asia, Brazil and the USA.
The V&A has been given unprecedented access to the David Bowie Archive to curate the first international retrospective of the extraordinary career of David Bowie – one of the most pioneering and influential performers of modern times. David Bowie is (opening next spring), will explore the creative processes of Bowie as a musical innovator and cultural icon, tracing his shifting style and sustained reinvention across five decades.
The Crown Jewels at the Tower of London are a unique working collection of royal regalia and are still regularly used by The Queen in important national ceremonies, such as the annual State Opening of Parliament. Film footage showing the Crown Jewels in use on such occasions will bring this to life for visitors.
This week, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to witness a major new exhibition celebrating the life and work of Valentino at Somerset House which started this November 2012 ending March 2013
“Valentino: Master of Couture” glamorous exhibition focuses exclusively on haute couture created by the legendary Italian designer. With a 50-year career starting in the late 1950s this exhibition will showcase over 130 hand-crafted designs worn by icons such as Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren and Gwyneth Paltrow.