Getting married away from home is a concept that has gained great popularity. Your friends and family will love a vacation cum wedding to attend. Have you decided that you want to get married somewhere warm, away from the uncertainties of UK weather? The US has some of the world’s top wedding destinations, ranging from beach locales, mountain villas and other locations perfect for the outdoorsy couple.
So get your ESTA approval, make the guest living arrangements done, hop on your flight and head off to one of these wonderful US destinations that are perfect for weddings.
1. Niagara Falls, New York
It is a foregone conclusion that a wedding with the Niagara Falls as a backdrop will beat most mammoth weddings you could plan at home. New York State’s Niagara Falls is of course the classic honeymoon destination. But these days it is also becoming more popular as a wedding destination. As a result there are plenty of venues that are capable of hosting weddings in this part of the state. Want to go a step ahead and get married on a boat? The Maid of Mist tour boat will take you and the rest of the wedding party through the Bridal Veil Falls towards the Niagara for the ultimate experience.
2. San Juan Islands, Washington
The state of Washington has its own laid-back and rustic island which is perfect for a quaint and private wedding ceremony in a Victorian chapel. The San Juan Islands lie in the northwest corner of the state and are forested and pastured. Charming and peaceful hamlets dot the islands. Eco tourism is only just taking off there, with plenty of cycling, kayaking, whale watching and hiking activities that your outdoorsy guests can enjoy.
3. Redwood Forest, California
The giant redwood forests of northern California make for a great wedding vacation with plenty of ancient, mystical atmosphere thrown in. The Redwood National Park will allow you to get married amidst the grandeur of the tallest trees in the world. And your guests can also enjoy hiking, biking and endless activities while they are there.
4. Kauai, Hawaii
One of the romantic Hawaiian islands with spectacular sunsets and snorkeling, Kauai has always been a honeymoon destination. But why not give your wedding a unique twist and have it there? You and the wedding party can take a boat out to one of the many waterfalls on the island. Have your guests enjoy some post-wedding cocktails and sunsets. And there’s plenty of sun throughout the year for you to get married any time of year.
5. Savannah, Georgia
If you want a more urban wedding with some Southern hospitality thrown in, why not head to the beautiful town of Savannah in Georgia? With plenty of old world romance in its historic districts, tree-lined public squares, you can have yourself a charming ceremony amid the cooing of turtledoves and the backdrop of Spanish moss.
Of course, getting married away from home does require some planning. But it may also turn out to be cheaper than a lavish wedding at home. If you do decide that you want to get married in the US, make sure that you get your ESTAapplication forms filled and confirmed. You may also need to help your relatives with their currency exchange and find out about international marriage laws. But at the end of it, you are bound to have a wedding you, your spouse and your guests will remember for a lifetime.
Emiley Jhones
Info sourced by the author for Luxuryactivist.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
Since Facebook established a very strict policy against unpolitical correct content, especially related to nudity and pornography, it settled the tone for the major social networks. So our children are safe. How true this is it? Actually, it is all about hypocrisy as all major social networks provide a safe place for pornography and sexual related content. Check it out.
FACEBOOK PORN, safe but not 100% perfect.
Facebook users can create an account with a minimum of 13 years old. Because of that, and a certain idea of American cleanliness, they do not allow porn, sexual content or any adult activities in the different pages. Users can flag unappropriate content and your account can be blocked. Of course, if no one report the content, it can continue online. With more than one billion users, it is quite difficult for Facebook to monitor everything. Here below what I found in a few minutes on Facebook. A 13 years old child can definitely be exposed to many things.
So what happens when Facebook see your inappropriate content? Basically the content is taken out from where you posted and you get a warning. If you continue posting sexual content, your account can be blocked and even erased.
Of course that many of these blocking processes are supposed to be automatic and even we do not really know how the content flagged is considered. Here below an example of a ad campaing against Breast-Cancer. It was completely banned by Facebook because the system considered as inappropriate.
Many photographers and artists are limited on Facebook. Nevertheless it is true that Facebook is the safest social network as certain extreme things are not present at all.
TWITTER PORN, free zone for naughty content.
Twitter is full of porn and millions of adult content. You can just browse for it and see all the different channels. Porn stars, sex companies and people sharing their own content. Twitter does not really take care of it and let people just post whatever they want. As Facebook, you just need to be at least 13 years old and you can open the doors of naughty naughty content.
TUMBLR PORN, pays the salaries at Tumblr.
Tumblr was founded in 2007,and since then became one of the most popular social networks among young artistic people. They claim 122 million of blogs and more than 55 billion articles shared in its platform. According to Technocrunch, 11% of total tumblr blogs are about pornography and 22% of total referral traffic to tumblr comes from porn websites. And it is true that you do not need to look too long to find adult content. There is even a tumblr called Best Porn on Tumblr. Can you imagine?
Since the start of Tumblr, it represented a true space for freedom. Many artists joined and young people looking for a non censured environment quit Facebook. So Porn just developed very fast and today represent a lot at tumblr. With the purchase by Yahoo, the search company would have a plan to start a war against pornography on tumblr. At the same time they would loose a considerable amount of traffic and around 12 million blogs. Frankly Tumblr, just accept what you are.
VINE PORN, the biggest hypocrisy of all
Since the launch of Vine in January 2013, a lot of buzz went around this new social network. Bought by Twitter, Vine was considered as the next big thing. And we realized quite fast that it became the next big thing … for porn. They tell you that there is no Porn on Vine. Did you try to search for the tags porn or sex on Vine? Well if you try this is what you would get:
So how to find the adult content on Vine? Very simple. As Vine blocked all tags like porn, sex, oral, etc… people started inventing agreed tags and the most popular one is NSFW. This means Non Suitable For Work. People started using this tag for content posting. Then Vine discovered this tag and also tried to block it. So people created the tags NSFW1 and NSFW2. Endless. So if you search for this, you discover a hidden world made of many videos showing Adult content. You can also discover many variants of this tag, so it show how creative people might be when in comes to Social Media. Eg: #Pu55y #
So is Vine a Instagram killer? Not really, it is more a Chat Roulette killer. As Apple refuses to support any pornographic activity throughout iTunes, Vine app is now rated 17 years old. Do you need to give your true age to create an account ? Not really.
INSTAGRAM PORN, the dark side of the moon.
We could continue here for ages but let’s wrap up with Instagram. If you search for porn or sex, of course it will not work but if you try to be more creative you can search for instaporn or pornstagram, pornstagramned… And you will find tons of intagram adult content. And now that Instagram belong to Facebook, the war against porn might happen.
According to Forbes magazine, between 10 to 15% of total websites are related to pornography. And if we take the 10’000 most popular posts in internet, 5% is going to be related to porn. Since september 2011, pornographic content publishers can purchase domain names as .XXX This should help to regulate better the pornographic content but of course things are not that simple as most of the sexual websites are still in .COM and inside the social networks. So when it comes to protect children from non appropriate content, things start being complicated. Social media should have a more strict policy against this.
Social media might be one of the biggest revolution ever since the water-steam machine. So as a company if you wonder if you should move into Social Media or not, ask yourself the real question: How should I move on into Social Media. Several Brands are afraid of Social media, especially Luxury brands. Of course all these brands have a Facebook page, do not take me wrong, but do they have a true Social media strategy? What is the engagement of these brands with fans? Generally it is a one way conversation.
Why are Luxury Brands are so afraid of Social Media?
Social Media is a Mass-Media
Many luxury brands are not very tempted to invest themselves truly in social media. They think it is a non-qualitative channel for communication. Luxury Brands tend to believe that going for Social Media, they would open the brand communication towards too many people and mostly not part of their customers anyway. So why should a luxury brand communicate with thousands of people in the world?
Brand awareness: an established brand on a given topic gets a legitimacy on that topic. In emerging economies, this can be crucial as most of the new rich did not have the education on luxury as we see in the developed countries. So all the luxury brands that invest in communication and especially in Social Media, get their game on. Countries like Brazil, India or China has a great Social Media development and it is through Social media that people get connectec with brands.
Preparing the customers of tomorrow: Most of luxury brands in which their customer are in average 35 to 45 years old, will need to renew their customers in less than 30 years or they might die with their customers. It is mathematical. And the new generation, today 18 years old, they do not have the same communication habits than the previous generation.
Customer service is moving towards Social media: More and more people ask a question to a brand via Twitter and Facebook rather than connection to the brand website, searching for the customer support section, fill in the contact form, wait until a machine tells him that his request is being processed, etc…. So it is much easier to tweet your question and faster to get an answer (at least on the customer’s mind).
Social Media is a love – hate affair
It is easier to work on Social media for a company with a good reputation rather for a company with many issues. It is easier to manage social media for companies like Aston Martin than Walmart. We know that social media relationships with customers are mostly love-stories about romance and sometimes hate. At the end it is a matter of honesty and authenticity. If you decide to play the authenticity card, you should go for Social media:
to balance the positive and negative messages: People with a bad experience will always tell it everywhere possible. People with a positive experience about your brand will not necessary take the time to express it. So at the end you get only negative online messages about your company. The goal is to rebalance the situation by providing to customers and fans to bring their positive experience online.
To prove how good you are in Customer support: A customer who complains on Social media offers you the best and unique opportunity to prove how good you are on customer support. The worst thing that could happen is a unsatisfied customer who leaves your company universe in silence. But a customer who decides to use his time to send you a message, basically a help message, gives you the possibility to show the quality of your customer service to everybody.
Social Media changes all the time
One thing that is true is that traditional media like TV or Print did not change much in the past 20 years. Social Media and online communication is evolving every year, or rather every month. This makes the channel very versatile and hard to manage in a long term approach.
Every day there is a new social network: every day we hear about a new social network that everybody needs to be in. This makes things very complex as most of these networks have their own rules, ways of communication and might not concern the same people. After Facebook and Twitter, we got tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Pheed, Snapshat, Vine and let’s not forget the professional networks LinkedIn, Xing or Viadeo. How to define the Brand presence? You definitely need a clear positioning and good understanding on who are your customers.
Mobile also changed the way people communicate: 50% of Facebook users login via mobile, Instagram, Vine, foursquare or even Sina Weibo are mobile only. Every year mobile constructors bring to the market more sophisticated mobile devices that allow people to do more things and these change the way to communicate. Eg: 80% of total Facebook aps are invisible on mobile.
How should Luxury Brands communicate on Social Media then?
There is no miracle solution but there are a couple of points to be taken in consideration when you are a luxury brand selling high-valued products and services.
Internalize the expertise
You need a strong relation between your core activity and Social Media. The Social Media responsible need to have a good understanding of your brand and the way you treat your customers off-line in order to mirror it online. Working with an external company for this is feasible but tricky. And the added-value and experience will be lost to an external partner. Internalizing the thinking and the Social Media strategy will bring you better results in the future.
Experience is everything
If you think that a 24 year old social media manager will have the job done, you will miss the train. To settle a brand strategy towards social media, you will need at least a 10 year experience manager. Why? Because the social media person will need to convince, evangelize and defend many actions and topics and only experience will bring a certain legitimacy. Most of the time, the Social Media manager will cope with Customer service, subsidiaries, local partners and of course the general management. So you will need a lot of trust and self-confidence to make your way throughout the company’s labyrinth.
Info sourced at marketing week website, digital luxury and luxury activist expert team. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
While women are supposed to be beautiful and sexy, men are supposed to be charismatic and strong. But if you think that men do not have their own habits and beauty tricks, you would be wrong. Here are some of the things you always wanted to know about men’s beauty without never daring to ask.
Male Grooming facts
Since men are men, we could track in history many usage of beauty gestures, tools, products. From mud bath 3000 B.C. up to the wigs of Monarchy on the 16th Century, Men always took care of their appearance.
Nowadays, men are happy to spend more time to take care of themselves. It is a exponential growing market and many brands became experts on men skin.
Advertising by Philips
Here are the latest figures from Kline & Company and Mintel.
SALES MEN GROOMING MARKET
2012 USA = 2.6 Billion$
2016 USA estimation = 3.2 Billion$
2012 EUROPE = 0.5 Billion$
2016 EUROPE estimation = 1 Billion$
In emerging markets like China, every year the Men Grooming market has a growth of +20%. Brazil figures are even higher. But do you really know what are the main concerns of men? Well, take your notebook on and just pay attention to what follows. Everything you wanted to know without daring to ask…
The Hair
When Samson confessed to Dalilah that his power came from his hair, he did not know that she would cut them so that he would loose all his strength. That’s why men are so picky with their hair!!! Seriously, a man’s hair symbolizes a lot of his charisma, youth, dynamism, etc.. And all men are worried with:
Loosing the hair
Getting white hair
Having Dandruf
Some women like men with long hair, short hair or sometimes with no hair. It depends a lot on the person’s personality. A man, normally, washes his hair everyday while women every 2 days or so. Why that? Because we men believe that:
It is easier to do one’s hair
As we are under the shower, why not washing everything!
We will not attach our hair or put a shower cap… no we will not.
So what happens is that our hair in any case becomes fragile. We should normally wash our hair once every 2 or 3 days maximum, otherwise it looses the hydro-lipidic surface that protects it from daily aggressions. So if you wish to wash your hair everyday (which is my case) please use a soft product, not a harsh one, otherwise you will loose your hair before 40 years old.
Something that many men do, especially in winter is to wash their hair with very hot water, or at least the same temperature than the rest of the shower. This is a shock for your hair. We should always wash our hair with a half-warm water. Not too cold or not too hot. Otherwise your hair dies.
Our suggestion of shampoo, if you feel concerned about your hair, is Everyday Shampoo by Anthony Logistics for Men. Its formula was specially created for a intense hair wash. So your hair will be protected and clean.
About the white hair. Frankly, you can always try to hide them with colored hair shampoo but at the end you should live with it. Unless you are happy to renew your coloration every 3 weeks. To note that the more you have white hair, the drier it is. So you might need to use a complement to your regular shampoo, twice a week, in order to keep things up.
The Face
No matter what happens we, men, need to keep a happy and nice face. Grandma used to say: “we are responsible for the face we make, not the face we have“. She was right but we are also responsible for the face we have, especially if you know that now there are many great products to prevent your face skin to get old. If we have a pretty face, it is easier to accept aging, because people will say that we get old well.
One of the biggest concerns of men it is not the wrinkles, it is the eyes, meaning dark circles and puffiness. This makes you look old and tired. So men are ready to take care of their eyes, even to ask for plastic surgery if this would help. Dark circles and puffy eyes are not the same problem and same treatment. Dark circles are generally a problem of blood circulation. Lack of sleep and extreme tiredness are mainly responsibles for a bad blood circulation around the eyes. So nothing better than good nights of sleep to get rid of dark circles.
Puffy eyes are a diferent story. This is due to an accumulation of liquid around the eyes, which results in the creation of “pockets” below the eye. Some people are more exposed to this risk than others. This process of liquid retention can be solved with some good advices. Drink water, less salt, wash your face with cold water everyday. If this is not enough, and before opting for plastic surgery, you should try some good products, made just for that. Be careful with which product to use as the skin around the eye is not exactly like the skin of your face. So avoid any product containing essential oils and Fragrance, otherwise you might get into troubles. My champion is by far the Supremÿa Yeux La Nuit by Sisley.
Its formula fights dark circles and puffy eyes. Simple to use, just apply it just before going to sleep and let the magic operate.
The Hands
Nothing more reassuring than the hands of a man. But you still need to have good hands. Generally men does not have much troubles with dry hands but if you have, you should carry with you a small tube of cream. Do not use any kind of cream but an appropriate one for hands, otherwise you might end up with oily hands. When you apply the cream on your hands make sure you cover both sides and also that you insist on the areas surrounding the nails, the cuticles. this area is often dry. There are several hand creams, I would advice the one from Clarinsmen, Soin Ideal Mains. This hand cream non-greasy with provitamin B5 and allantoin relieves irritation due to manual work and weather conditions.
The nails
Did you know that most of men do not like the way their nails are? Some men think their nails are too short, others not very large and generally most of men do not take good care of them. They cut them from time to time of course but that is it. There is a trend that brings men to do their nails for several reasons. Of course we talk about fashionistas most of the time but there are other cases. Check this article about male stars and their nails: http://monsieurmademoiselle.blogspot.ch
In South America, men having a manicure is a very virile thing. Women appreciate men with nice nails. It looks clean and shows how healthy, caring and of course wealthy the man is. Many business men get a manicure once a week. It is interesting to see that in countries like Brazil, where men tend to be still a little macho, male manicure is a trend for several years. See the difference for yourself. Which one do you prefer?
Some brands try to get into the nail polish for men, not from a fashion and ambiguous way but more related to certain themes, more manly.
Combat sports
Supporting your preferred Football team
certain manual hard work
One good example is the brand Alphanail. They developed specific colours away from the traditional themes, to help you in your daily men activities. They advertising visuals are quite amazing.
The body
“My body is my temple”. A man’s body is a precious thing. Many times we do not pay too much attention to what we do, how we dress or even what we eat. Times change as we know that staying in good health starts with a good quality of life. Men are generally obsessed to “look good in front of the ladies”. A part spending a lot of time doing sports and going on a diet from time to time, there is not much to do. If you did not know yet, I am telling you now: miracles do not exist. So you need to take good care of your body. Certain areas are more important for the men than others. Why? Because these areas are also very important for women 🙂
Shoulders
Arms
Belly
Buttocks
A part physical activity, I must say there is not much we can do with products. A few though that might bring an extra help, especially with the famous “Love handles”. The first and ever champion product in this category is the Abdosculpt by Biotherm. A pure cocktail of Caffeine and Ginseng.
The feet
This is an interesting matter. As we are lucky to not wear high-heels and we avoided the pointy shoes trend, men have generally quite good feet. They do not do much all year long and when summer arrives, we are quite good with it. As shoes must be always clean and perfect, it is the same for the feet. Your nails need to be perfectly cut and no hard skin. So here are 2 advices so that you can keep good feet.
First, use a Pumice-stone to get rid of the dead cells. At least twice a week, in the shower, after cleaning your feet, just use the pumice on the hard parts. This should make it disappear in a month or so.
Second advice, use a cream for dry feet. A moisturized skin is a skin which does not die. Everyday after the shower, take the habit of applying a moisturizing cream to your feet. There are several creams in the market you can use. Either a normal cream for the body or there are some special creams for the feet you might prefer. I would recommend the L’Occitane Dry-skin Lavender Foot cream. Practical and really efficient. 15% of Karité butter, Arnica and lavender essential oil. A perfect mixture between protection and caring.
So, now you know more about male grooming than before right? So do not hesitate to leave comments below, ask for an advice or just share your preferred male products. Beautiful women love beautiful men.
Info sourced at all the brands listed websites, wikipedia, other blogs listed in the article. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
Discover Mugler Follies, the new show by Manfred Thierry Mugler. It will take place at Le Comedia in Paris. And to describe what we think about this great initiative, only one word came to our minds: FABULICIOUS !
Manfred T Mugler revisit or I would say revamp the Cabaret Revue. He brings more glamour, more sexyness and a wild feeling of excitement.
Mugler Follies, the pitch
The show is about the story of an amazing woman searching for her inner balance. Accross multiple encounters, she not only discover herself but also transforms into a sublime and blooming woman. Step by step, we follow the journey of initiation of this young woman, her fantastic and unusual events, which bring such a chrysalis to become a sublime and radiant being, closer to the stars.
In a hot show creativity, joy Mugler blends eroticism, magic high-tech, light processing to bring the viewer into a whirlwind of emotions. Each number can pass from one universe to another, punctuated by original music and songs specifically created for each scene.
For this production, Manfred Mugler revisits the Revue, an artistic expression that gives him the greatest freedom. It allows him to display all of his follies, boldness and all forms of metamorphoses on stage.
A show rich in creativity, Mugler combines joy with eroticism, magic with high technology, lights with transformation, and transports the public into a swirl of emotions. Each number gives the opportunity to travel from one universe to another, with musical rhythms and original songs composed specifically for each act.
Manfred Thierry Mugler used to target the moon in everything he did because he knew that if something would go wrong, he would at least end up among the stars…
True genius or just megalomaniac ? The story of Herbert von Karajan is a very sulfurous one. Considered as the image of the romantic Orchestra conductor, he was one of the most proliferous conductor of all. Deutsche Grammophon released this month a collection of 82 CD’s recapitulating the 1970’s of Karajan. Titanic work!
On this amazing collection of 82 Cd’s you can find the best concerts of Karajan in one decade. From Christmas concerts, to operas and concertos, all the finest work of el Maestro. The collaboration is mainly with the Berliner Philamorniker.
Herbert Karajan, the man
Like him or hate him, this man does not leave you completely insensitive. His reputation of super-star attitude make a lot if ink flowing in newspapers and magazines. Nevertheless, it is quite complicated to summarize such man in a couple of words.
The early years
Herbert von Karajan was born in Salzburg, Austria in April 1908. He was a child prodigy at the piano and with only 8 years old he studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. His teacher pushed him to become a Orchestra conductor as he spotted exceptional promise in that regard. At 21 years old he conducted his first opera, Salome at the Festspielhaus in Salzburg. In 1935, Karajan’s career got a real boost as he was appointed Germany’s youngest Generalmusikdirektor. He was only 27 years old. Since that year, he performed in all Europe.
1933 to 1945, Karajan complexity
A lot of stories talk about the membership of Herbert von Karajan to the Nazi party in 1933. Musicologists as Richard Osborne or even Harvey Sachs never proved any active relationship between Karajan and the fascist party. Historically speaking, Karajan has a member card since 1933 but he has always denied any support. Probably what makes things suspicious is the great ascension of his career from 1933 to 1945. We let historians deal with this topic as we would not dare going in this direction for now.
Herbert Von Karajan in 1938 – Bundesarchiv
The Post-war period, 1950’s and 60’s
In 1955, Herbert von Karajan was appointed Music Director for life of the Berliner Philamorniker. He kept his connection to Salzburg as Artistic Director of the Vienna State Opera. This period was an important one as it was when Karajan started to pay attention to recording and staging. It was during these years that the “Karajan style” was founded. From this period, he kept his specific musical signature and attitude towards the orchestra.
1970’s, the marathon with the Berliner Philarmoniker
The 70’s was a hyper-activist decade for Karajan. He recorded so much during those years that we wonder when he rested. The new release by Deutsche Grammophon covers that period in which his name was for ever associated with the one of the Berliner Philarmoniker. The highlights of this decade:
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: The Hebrides, Op.26; Symphony No.3, Op.56
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op.20 – Suite; The Sleeping Beauty, Op.66a – Suite
Here is the full video in HD of the last Mozart Requiem that Karajan accomplished. A masterpiece.
Until his death in 1989, he performed at the best opera and concert houses in the world, from the Scala di Milano, to Vienna Opera House, Berlin, London, Lucerne, Paris… He is probably still one of the most well known orchestra conductor by the public. His style will last for ever.
The Karajan Style
Herbert von Karajan changed the way people would listen to music. Not only he worked every single detail with the orchestra in order to fullfill perfection at stage during a concert, but he also helped to improve a lot the recording techniques.
The Maestro rules
Everybody knows that playing in an orchestra under Herbert von Karajan was a true challenge. Everything needed to be perfect. He was very dictatorial and nothing could be left without control. Discipline and strong leadership were his secret to accomplish a virtuoso impression. When Television got interested on concert’s recording, Karajan saw the opportunity to use this new media at his advantage. Every camera, every movement was perfectly operated and this would contribute to his image as a Romatic Orchestra maestro. The gestures, the eyes closed, the haircut and the famous black neck-pull-over. Never before, or even after, a Maestro was so highlighted.
He used to say: “Those who have achieved all their aims probably set them too low“.
The Karajan Sound
Many music experts used to say that Karajan had the gift for extracting the most beautiful sounds from an orchestra. His style was considered as:
Highly refined
Lacquered
Calculatedly voluptuous
Exaggeratedly polished
Some experts would define this style as artificial because it would not respect the original will of the composer. Herbert von Karajan used to apply his style on every concert, as if it was his signature. From Bach and Puccini, or Mozart. Was he the inventor of “Remastering” ?
Here in this video from 1965, you can see how Herbert von Karajan worked with the Orchestra. We can see he had a precise idea of the sound he wanted to accomplished. It is impressive how strong his vision was. Very interesting video.
Original video source: www.karajan.org
Concerning the collection released by Deutsche Grammophon, please visit the official website for more information and details. You can also see where you could buy it in your country.
Genius or not, Herbert von Karajan finger-printed the history of classical music and Opera by opening a modern window into the great classics. He inspired many generations of Orchestra Conductors and also the presence of classic music concerts on television.
Info sourced at Deutsche Grammophon website, wikipedia, karajan official website, youtube. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
Mudac, the Contemporary Applied arts and Design museum in Lausanne, revealed a new exhibition called “Coup de sac!” This new installation recaps all arts and design around the plastic bag, our shopping companion for years. This so banal object entered our lives in many ways. This exhibition will make you face different aspects of the plastic bag, from conceptual art, towards a more day-to-day approach, up to ecological matters.
Iconic object or… just garbage? In the past 50 years, the plastic bag became part of our daily lives, inspiring advertisers, salesmen and even artists.
Many people would guess that Americans invented the plastic bag. despite some patent applications in the 50’s by some american companies, it was the Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin, who invented the modern lightweight shopping bag. It was in the early 60’s. Thulin developed a production methodology of forming a simple one-piece bag by folding, welding and die-cutting a flat tube of plastic. He used to work for Celloplast at that time. The company patented the idea worldwide in 1965. A couple of years later, several companies succeeded to overturn Celloplast patent and the boom of plastic bags started. We were in 1980. Since then, plastic bags went everywhere, representing the cheapest and strongest way of carrying your things.
The exhibition of Mudac will give you a snapshot of all of these, and more. The plastic bag reinforces our identity as consumers, allows us to take with us our dearest possessions and yet weakens the environment and make you wonder about the use of certain resources.
The exhibition presents around 30 propositions made by international artists and designers. Many of this installations highlight some of the questions raised today in a society that struggles to solve many issues related to waist, pollution and consumption. Here are some of the installations that you will be able to discover at Mudac in Lausanne.
Among the artists in the exhibition, Marie-Claire Baldenweg chose the theme of the plastic bag and made the main protagonists of her paintings from the 1970s, addressing social issues in a critical tone, sometimes with subtlety and irony and most direct way at other times. It echoes Marx plastic bag with 24K gold Baptist Debombourg and David Marin confronts luxury and precarious as handicrafts and industrial, or the delicate sculpture of alabaster and marble Andreas Blank representative a plastic bag. Number of rooms present interesting works, like ceramic garbage bags by Maude Schneider, who opposed disposable items and imperishable material.
The exhibition is not limited to contemporary creation. It also has unique parts and complete sets of plastic bags that tell a story of culture and everyday life. These parts pro-come largely from private Swiss collections, conscientiously made over many years. Often kept as a souvenir, these bags write history per se and have acquired the status of art and icons, like the famous bag created by Joseph Beuys during the Documenta Kassel 1972 for installation Büro für direkte Demokratie durch Volksabstimmung [Office for Direct Democracy by popular vote] bag worship of a jeans shop in the image of James Dean, the bag designed by E + U to Hiestand ABM distribution group, or the first plastic bag Globus / Innovation in the mid 1960s.
Coup de Sac! Art and design around the plastic bag has been designed to Gewerbemuseum Winterthur by Susanna Kumschick and Ida-Marie Corell. The exhibition has been adapted and expanded to its submission to mudac, including designers and artist Hendrik Kerstens, Jeremy Scott, Maude Schneider, Lea Ricorday Baptiste Debombourg and David Marin, Rada Boukova and Verena Sieber-Fuchs.
From June 19th to October 6th 2013
mudac – musée de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains
Place de la Cathédrale 6
CH-1005 Lausanne
t +41 315 25 30 / f +41 315 25 39
Info sourced at the Exhibition official presentation and press release, wikipedia, inhabitat.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
Miuccia Prada worth 12.4 Billion $ according to Forbes Magazine. She is also the 3rd most rich person in Italy. But what describes Miuccia Prada is her attitude to see beyond the boundaries of luxury. Flashback on the carrier of one of the most influential woman in fashion today.
Miuccia becomes Prada
Prada, the origins
When the Prada brothers, Mario and Martino, founded Prada in 1913 in Milan, no one could guess that 100 years later, Prada would be one of the most influential fashion brands in the world. Mario Prada was a tuff man. He believed that women should not participate in business and for a very longtime, all the family’s women were not connected to the brand.
He developed a solid and promising leather good business. Unfortunately for the co-founder, his son did not have any interest for his father’s business and the only solution was to give the company to Luisa Prada, her sister. She ran the company for almost 20 years and started opening the doors to the women into Prada’s leadership. Her daughter, Miuccia Prada, joined the company in 1970.
Her creative mind was already at work, as she launched the first ever fashion collection of bags made in Pocone, a strong plastic nylon. It was the first water-proof fashion bags.
In 1977, an important date, Miuccia Prada meets her husband Patrizio Bertelli, an italian man who was also in the leather business. He started giving advices to her, like the advice to stop importing english leather goods and start doing Prada’s own business.
The Miuccia Prada Era
Miuccia Prada get the family business from her mother in 1978. At that time, Prada sales were up to $450.000. With Patrizio Bertelli as Business general manager, she could dedicate her full time and passion for creativity and design. Since then, Prada became one of the most influential fashion houses in the world and a premium status symbol in the 90’s.
In 1992, Prada launches a new brand MiuMiu, which is Miuccia Prada nickname. This settles for good the importance of Miuccia Prada in the creativity activities around the Prada Brand and group.
Prada creativity Pygmalion
One of the secrets of Miuccia Prada, is that she is obsessed with the power of an idea. She is definitely one of the most visionary minds in fashion today. She sees connections among different arts at the service of design. For this, she developed several collaborations and brought fashion creation into a different level.
Prada’s collaborations and Joint-Ventures
To develop and support Prada’s different activities, Miuccia Prada joined forces with the best people she could find. So for many activities, she developed with the help of her husband many joint-ventures.
Eyewear: In 2000, the Prada Group developed the first Prada and MiuMiu branded sunglasses and in 2003 it signed a licence agreement with Luxottica group, a world leader in eyewear. An italian story.
Fragrances: In 2003 Prada got an agreement with Puig Beauty & Fashion Group to create a joint venture for the production, distribution and development of Prada perfumes
Mobile telephones: In 2006, the Prada Group got a partnership with LG Electronics, one of the world leaders in mobile telecommunications technology, to develop an innovative and iconic mobile telephone. It was the first ever telephone with a completely touch screen interface. Since 2006, every 2 years this collaboration brought to the market highly inovative phones. According to the Brand’s documents, Prada sold more than one million units up to now.
The Prada Foundation
In 1993, Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli took an important step into their growing interest for contemporary Art. They established “PradaMilanoArte”. It was a exhibition space in Milan dedicated to contemporary painting and sculpture. Miuccia Prada herself described this project as: “The most profound and thought-provoking art projects of our times“. Just that.
Several artists exhibited there, like Eliseo Mattiacci, Nino Franchina or David Smith. These artists were strongly connected with the installation in the building.
In 1995, the PradaMilanoArte was reorganized as the Prada Foundation, Fondazione Prada. With the help of expert and art curator Germano Celant, they charted a complete reorganization of this art project, in order to provide a sustainable future. This reorganization would focus on many themes like Architecture, photography, cinema, design, or art in general. The amazing point is that rather than make exhibitions on artists existing work, they would co-produce a site specific project that the artist had always dreamed to build.
Since 2007, the Prada foundation extended its projects to urban environment and culture. They partner with Tribeca film festival and the Biennal of Venice. Lately Prada participated in the movie The Great Gatsby by creating the clothes that the main characters would use. Brilliant video:
As we can see, Miuccia Prada is gifted with a creative mind that always took her away from the standards. She always pushed the limits of pre-concepts making her brand one of the most successful worldwide fashion business ever. Check the brand official website to learn more about this amazing woman: http://www.prada.com
2 interesting books are recommended. One is a biography written by fashion expert and journalist Gian Luigi Paracchini. It is called the Prada Life.
This biography shows a sophisticated Milanese woman with a history as an active feminist and details her involvement in the Prada brand—a company no longer considered simply a fashion industry leader, but the symbol of a conceptual style that has brought aesthetic standards under scrutiny, and created new trends that have become a lifestyle.
The second book is called the Little Book of Prada. It was written by fashion and beauty journalist Laia Farran Graves. The Little book is an interesting fashion book collection.
The book follows a biographical chronology detailing the origins of the brand as a leather-goods manufacturer, then follows the life and career of Miuccia Prada, with chapters organized into collections, collaborations and themes such as art influences and the perfume and beauty lines. Beautiful photography of her finished designs, along with close-up details, portray the innovation of this influential fashion house and the woman behind it.
When passion hits the heart of a visionary, it releases a creative force that could be considered as… unstoppable.
Info sourced at the brand website, wikipedia, Vogue, Youtube, Elle magazine, Barnes & Nobles and LeMonde.fr. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
Every summer we start smiling when we see our holidays to arrive. And despite the fact that very often we have many things to prepare, one important question always remain: what should we read by the swimming pool this summer?
Here is a short yet edgy selection of what you should read this summer. This selection was made based on three sources: Amazon books, Huffington Post, Barnes & Nobles and Fnac.
#1: Nelson Mandela auto-biography
If you did not read it yet, now it is the time. As the editor say’s on his review, every one in this planet should read it. Discover one of the most inspiring stories of the 20th century, written by the hand of the one who lived it. Nelson Mandela, A long walk to freedom is a testimonial of bravery, determination and hope. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the first democratically elected president of South Africa, Mandela began his autobiography during the course of his 27 years in prison.
#2: The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
As many people went to see the movie with Leonardo di Caprio, you definitely need to read the Fitzgerald book.
Jay Gatsby is the man who has everything. But one thing will always be out of his reach … Everybody who is anybody is seen at his glittering parties. Day and night his Long Island mansion buzzes with bright young things drinking, dancing and debating his mysterious character. For Gatsby – young, handsome, fabulously rich – always seems alone in the crowd, watching and waiting, though no one knows what for. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life he is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled. And soon this destructive obsession will force his world to unravel.
#3: Inferno by Dan Brown
Remember the character of Robert Langdon? Dan Brown signs here a new best-selling book in which we meet again with Professor Langdon. In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno. Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.
#4: A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams
Memorial Day, 1938: New York socialite Lily Dane has just returned with her family to the idyllic oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island, expecting another placid summer season among the familiar traditions and friendships that sustained her after heartbreak. That is, until Greenwalds decide to take up residence in Seaview… You cannot miss this one. Masterpiece.
#5: The Stranger by Albert Camus
2013 is the 100th anniversary of Albert Camus’ birth. The perfect time to discover or re-discover The Stranger. A great classic. Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed “the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.” First published in 1946.
This summer, rest your body and muscle your brain.
Every month, you can discover a new Brand here at Luxuryactivist.com. This month we met the owner of an amazing brand called Valeur Absolue. It was launched just now and has already a brilliant future ahead.
What is Valeur Absolue?
The concept of the brand
Valeur Absolue is a Swiss beauty brand with the originality of blending what nature and science have at its best to serve one and unique purpose: make women feel good and happy. Life is hard, so you should “do-you-some-good”. Basically, the birth of this brand came on the analysis that we have less and less things or situations that could make us happy. Everything tends to be a little “black”. Women face everyday a complex situation in which they need to accomplish several tasks under several roles. Of course we do not speak anymore about the “Power-woman” of the 80’s but more a “multi-facetted woman” in the years 2000. She is much more aligned with who she is and wishes to refuse any limitations on her desires. What we call in french “Femme-plurielle”.
These are the real women, not several of them, just one. But what happens when we check what the Fragrance industry proposes as vision of this woman? We realizes that it is always the same song. Women, in the perfume advertising, are perceived as seductress, as if a fragrance could only serve one purpose: “to seduce”.
The problem here is that every brand proposes only one vision of women. This makes the market complicated as all these ads are similar. We could exchange logos, brand names and even products. No difference. After a while, women have more than enough to see the same old song proposed. Why brands do not get rid of this stereotypes and explore a different femininity? Probably they play the safe card. Don’t understand me wrong: women wish to seduce of course, but not all the time and not being considered and defined by this exclusively. They have different aims and moments.
Brands like Clarins or Shiseido tried in the past to bring something else, something more than just sexy fragrances for sexy women. Fragrances like Eau Dynamisante by Clarins marked a full generation of women with the idea of “Eau de soin”.
Valeur Absolue is trying to replace well-being in the heart of the fragrance industry. So, based on the historical roots of perfumery, when fragrances were used to protect people from diseases, Valeur Absolue plays with 3 interesting aspects:
Aromachology
Mineral therapy
Neurocosmetics
In each of Valeur Absolue fragrances, they use the best qualities of Essential oils, also they use minerals, precisely dosed and selected for their well-being properties. Final but not least, each fragrance contains Areaumat Perpetua, Immortelle extract, that simulates the production of beta-endorphins, a neurotransmitter by the keratinocytes. It generates naturally a well-being sensation by acting directly in the brain. To achieve these, Laure Alphandari from France Lab and Marie-Aude Bluche from Firmenich, joined forces to bring the best formulas to the brand.
The concept of “Plus que Parfum”
There is an idea that says that if you wear a fragrance, it should procures you more than just a nice scent. As you wear it directly on your skin, it should bring you more. That’s the concept of “Plus que Parfum”, More than a fragrance in french. So Valeur Absolue presents a Fragrance collection that is more than a perfume. Each formula is a concentrate of well-being without compromises. Please note that all perfumes are Phtalates and PCM free.
Who is behind Valeur Absolue?
Bénédicte Foucart, the soul of Valeur Absolue
Behind the brand is Bénédicte Foucart, president and founder. Ex-Elisabeth Arden and ex-Firmenich, Ms Foucart has strong vision about what women want today. In deed, when you ask her what does she wants to accomplish with Valeur Absolue, she will answer you: “I wish to put a smile in every women’s face“. She has a great experience in the luxury area and her aim is to develop this brand worldwide, yet, without short-cutting every step. She gives attention to details and wishes to have a high qualitative approach. She is starting the sales in Switzerland at Bon Génie. She explained that Switzerland is a qualitative market and for her, this is a market test that will help her to create the positioning of Valeur Absolue. Le Bon Genie in Lausanne is one of the most elegant Department stores of Switzerland and it is clearly the place to be.
Let’s also highlight that Bénédicte Foucart also collaborated with Brazilian Graphic designer, Gustavo Piqueira. He is one of the most rewarded Graphic Designer in Brazil. He runs his agency in Sâo Paulo and London. He is the artist behind the Monogram of the brand and the packaging.
Valeur Absolue, The product range
The brand launched 3 fragrances this year. All under the same idea but translated into different facets or variants and emotions. We got the 3 creations, so that we could judge for ourselves on the magnificent quality of the products. Check it out.
Like flashes of joy and femininity, the collection of fragrances are like sunshine for the point o sales. Year by year perfumeries became a quite boring place and the aim of Valeur Absolue is to bring a burst of new energy to the store shelves. 3 variants are launched this year:
Harmonie
Sensualité
Joie-Eclat
Valeur Absolue HARMONIE
Valeur Absolue Harmonie has a soft aura. The fragrance is a beautiful play between the sparkling freshness of Bergamot and Neroli with the tender warmth of woody and ambery notes. I would highlight the quality of the Bergamot and the Jasmine in this formula. Other key ingredients:
Visible Amethyst crystals
Manganese and Potassium for balance and serenity
Areaumat Perpetua which stimulates the release of Beta-endorphins
Valeur Absolue JOIE-ECLAT
With Valeur Absolue Joie-Eclat, we have a more vibrant and dazzling fragrance. The top notes of Grapefruit contrasts with the elegant freshness of Cardamom. But the true power of this fragrance comes from the amazing Vetiver note that structures the formula. It’s been a while that no one brought to the market a good Vetiver. Other key ingredients:
Visible encapsulated Diamond powder
Magnesium
Potassium
Areaumat Perpetua which stimulates the release of Beta-endorphins
Valeur Absolue SENSUALITE
Valeur Absolue Sensualité is a celebration of the most beautiful flowers in perfumery: Jasmine and Rose. This super-feminine fragrance reveals a vibrant Sambac Jasmine dancing around her majesty the Rose de Mai. Other key ingredients:
Visible Mother-of-Pearl
Calcium
Potassium
Areaumat Perpetua which stimulates the release of Beta-endorphins
Fragrances that you would love to wear
By looking to the entire collection of 3 fragrances, you definitely will be seduced. You want to have them all. The flacons are beautifully designed, the visible parts of Amethyst, Diamond Powder and Mother-of-Pearl are definitely original.
Next year the brand will launch 2 new variants, VITALITE and ZENITUDE. So it is a story that just has stated.
You can also join the Facebook community of the brand here below. They post many news about the brand and also some interesting quotes of the day: https://www.facebook.com/Valeur-Absolue-Parfums
