Check here the most viewed posts of the week. This ranking is based on the most viewed posts in a period of 7 days.
#1 THE ROYAL KISS
Here are the two Royal kisses directly from Buckingham Palace balcony. Just beautiful. – 211 views
#2 VICTORINOX VISITORS CENTER OPENING
Victorinox, the makers of the Original Swiss Army Knife is finally opening a visitors center in Brunnen – Switzerland. – 128 views
#3 HENRI ROUSSEAU, PAINTER OF JUNGLE
At Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland, there is one of the most astonishing exhibitions about Henri Rousseau artwork – 39 views
#4 THIERRY MUGLER ANATOMY OF CHANGE The big question on everybody’s mind going into the Thierry Mugler menswear show on the opening night of Paris Fashion Week was whether Lady Gaga would be present – 37 views
#5 BALMAIN NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OLIVIER ROUSTEING
Balmain might be one of the most elegant fashion houses of all times. Today we have the appointment of Olivier Rousteing as the new Artistic director of the Fashion House. – 36 views
What is more personal than a fragrance? Nobody wants to wear the same fragrance than one’s neighbour, boss or best friend. We tend to believe a fragrance is part of our invisible fingerprint, our personality. So when we enter into a perfumery chain store or a perfumery area inside a Department store, we might feel a little lost. Each year, there are more than 300 perfumes launched in the world and unfortunately they are not all masterpieces. The segmentation of the perfumery market and the increase amount of launches dilute the creativity of perfumers and brands become more and more low profiles. Most of the time, perfumery brands think they have too much at stake to risk being out of the box of conservatism. So, where is real creation? Well, since the 90’s people started getting interested on what we called “niche brands”. Names like Joe Malone, Fresh, Serge Lutens, Comme des Garçons or latelly By Killian, made their way inside an international industry dominated by groups like L’Oréal, LVMH or P&G. For the past 10 years we assume the launch of 100 niche brands per year and often, they disappear in the sands of failure after 3 years. The reason? Well, most of these forgotten brands placed creation more on the marketing/PR side rather than in the Products. Fortunately a new kind of Brands appeared. I would not call them niche, as this descriptor would link them to a kind of elitism, but I would rather prefer “Alternative Perfumery”. This means that if you do not wish to wear a “mainstream” fragrance, you might want to discover different alternatives born in the heart of passionate people.
I decided to talk about INEKE perfumes. When I started my apprenticeship in one of the most creative Fragrance houses in Paris, I was lucky to share an office with a creative perfumer called Ineke Rühland. I do not know if she still remember me as our “office sharing” was quite short but what is sure is that I followed her during all these years. Ineke, after her studies at the prestigious Institute of Perfumery – ISIPCA, worked for this Fragrance House for 3 years. After this period, she moved to San Francisco where she founded her company and started to create her own fragrances in 2006. Her aim is to recover the elegant beauty of Artisan Perfumery. According to Ineke, her fragrance line is refreshing and imaginative, provokingy our senses with its mixed-media stories. Cleverly packaged with a keen attention to detail, each eau de parfum introduces its own scented vignette through photos, art, snippets of verse, and the fragrance itself. Using lyrical titles that evoke stories of romance, nature, chemistry and courage, Ineke fragrances are rooted in her perfumery education and apprenticeship in France.
Her main inspiration is taken from: her beautiful garden and her sensitiveness as an accomplished artist. Lilac, Angels trumpets or Japanese white lilies are a great source of olfactive creation. Her Fragrance collection is called an “Alphabetical collection of Perfumes”; In french: Un Abécédaire de Parfums. It is a very original name for a fragrance range. It reveals the aim for these fragrances to be, in a way, simple to be understood and yet interesting storytellers. By clicking on each Perfume, you can discover more about it. Try and get into a poetic journey in a magical garden.
Here is the first live performance of Lady Gaga’s Judas. This new song will be released on her new album Born this way. The album is scheduled for release on May 23, 2011. In this video you can see Lady Gaga at The Ellen Degeneres Show in the US. Enjoy.
This month was launched a book called Vintage T-Shirt. It was written by 3 masters of Vintage T-shirt in Hollywood, Patrick and Marc Guetta with the help of fashion magazine editor Alison Nieder. Mr and Mr Guetta are the legendary owners of a store called World of Vintage T-Shirts. Their store is located at Melrose avenue in Los Angeles. The book collects more than 600 T-shirts, real masterpieces of the genre. The interest of such artistic expression is that a simple object like a T-Shirt can easily become a self-expression living billboard. Between nostalgia and political views, this book offers a trendy journey that reviews the 70’s and the 80’s. These 2 decades were very rich in terms of Pop Art and Street culture. From the “Do it yourself” to the “cutting edge designers, through Brands and corporations, T-shirts are witnesses of the past, of Society evolution.
Almost 400 pages of graphic design and urban culture. If you are interested to buy it, just Amazon-it here.
Marc and Patric Guetta have been working for the cinema industry. They also have launched different brands and right now they are working on the creation of Cartoon characters called Junglenuts. These characters appear on street walls, mailboxes, buidings or subways…
This month, BMW group announced the collaboration between 2 of their brands: Rolls Royce and MINI. The presigious timeless car manufacturer revamp the trendy MINI. Of course BMW ordered the collaboration between the 2 brands to launch MINI Inspired by Goodwoob edition at Shanghai Motor show. See here the story of the MINI by Goodwood. A 1,000 units production for a very exclusive and luxury limited edition.
This limited edition was created by Roll Royce ateliers based in Goodwood in England. At the head of this project : Alan Sheppard the Chief designer of Rolls Royce.
As you may know, BMW group owns both MINI and Rolls Royce. I wonder why british people were not able to keep such treasures under British flag? Nevertheless, the German brand respected both histories and concerning Rolls Royce they still have their historical factory in Goodwood, England.
So the collaboration between these 2 brands could be described as: “when british luxury meets cutting edge design”. So, the result is a beautiful hyper-luxury car.
In details, the entire dashboard, center console and seats are finished in Rolls Cornsilk leather and the dash’s wood veneers come from Rolls. The Rolls-Royce typeface is also used on the instruments. Under the skin, the Goodwood gets the 1.6-litre, twin-scroll turbocharged, 181bhp Cooper S engine and either a six-speed manual or a six-speed auto ’box. Adaptive xenon lights and a Harman Kardon hi-fi are standard. Pure luxury….
the current plastics from the standard model are replaced by a Walnut Burr finish on the dashboard and doors, with fine-grade Corn Silk leather covering most surfaces. Only the top of the dash is contrasting – it’s trimmed in black hide. The detail extends to the typeface found on the speedo and rev counter, which matches that of the Phantom and Ghost models.
Here some good views from the precious beauty:
Girard-Perregaux, the famous Swiss Haute-Horloger unvealed its new 1966 Blue Dial Chronograph. In order to celebrate the Brand 220th anniversary, they introduced to the 1966 collection a new Chronograph in white gold and with an elegant blue dial. The Brand named this collection as 1966 thanks to the Centenary prize they got from the Neuchatel Observatory. Their quest for perfection and precision brought them to Swiss Timepieces limelight.
In 1791, watchmaker and goldsmith Jean-François Bautte signed his first watches. He created a manufacturing company in Geneva grouping, for the first time ever, all the watch making facets of that time, which meant starting from the engineering of the watch all the way to the final hand assembly and hand polishing of each watch. In 1852, the watchmaker Constant Girard founded the Girard & Cie Firm in La Chaux-de-Fonds. He, then, married Marie Perregaux and the Girard-Perregaux Manufacture was born in 1856. In 1906, Constant Girard-Gallet, who took over control of the Manufacturer from his father, took over the Bautte House and merged it with Girard-Perregaux & Cie.Since then, the brand has pursued its activities by reinforcing from the 1980s its position in the domain of prestigious mechanical watches, Haute Horlogerie, under the lead of the Macaluso family (source wikipedia).
The new 1966 price is $29,700. It was built by Girard-Perregaux’s workshops.
REF : 49539-53-451-BK6A
Material : White gold
Dimensions / Diameter : 40,00 mm
Height : 12,05 mm
Case-back : Sapphire crystal, press-in
Water resistance : 3 ATM
The mecanism used is a GP030C0 from the Brand. It is a mechanical movement with an automatic winding, column-wheel chronograph.
Caliber : 10½”’
Height : 6.28 mm
Frequency : 28,800 Vib/h (4 Hz)
Jewels : 38
Power reserve : min. 36 hours
Functions : Hour, minute, column-wheel chronograph, small second
photo Girard-Perregaux
To finalize a gentleman’s elegant timepiece, Girard-Perregaux chosed a classic Alligator strap.
What do you think? Tempted?
LA
Balmain might be one of the most elegant fashion houses of all times. Today we have the appointment of Olivier Rousteing as the
Photo : Karim Sadli
new Artistic director of the Fashion House. He will supervise the design and development of the brand’s men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections. Mr. Rousteing joined Balmain in 2009 and was up to now leading the Women’s Wear design studio. Before joining Balmain, he worked for Roberto Cavalli as fashion designer for both men’s and women’s collections. He is 25 years old, french and he accomplished his studies at Paris’s École Supérieure Des Arts Et Techniques De La Mode (ESMOD) in 2003.
But the french house has a glamourous history thanks to its founder, Mr Pierre Balmain. He was born in 1914 in St Jean de Maurienne in France. He studied under the greatest couturiers of the time, Molyneux and Lucien Lelong. After Second world war, he opened his own Couture house and set up business in the Rue François 1er.
The 50’s was the return into the timeless elegance. Dior had his “New look” and Balmain the “Jolie Madame”. Luxury and good taste was at honor.
We needed to wait for the 60’s to get a hint of modernity in the use of new materials and shapes. For Pierre Balmain, the 1960s were an occasion for renewal and the use of fabrics to explore pared-down shapes, in which structure acquired its full meaning. It involved a clashing and melding of new shapes and styles. It was also a sumptuous period for stage and theatre costumery (source: balmain.com).
Pierre Balmain was the couturier of the stars. All beautiful and famous women dressed with Balmain: Brigitte Bardot, Marlène Dietrich or Katherine Hepburn. Pierre Balmain represented a certain idea of elegance and a clientele of queens, princesses and starlets, but as a label it was also very firmly established in the everyday world. The 1970s gave birth to the Ready-to-wear phenomenon, which secured a solid foothold in the market and which is currently producing some particularly satisfactory results with over 200 licences.
After Pierre Balmain’s death in 1982, the house was led by Erik Mortensen, described by Vogue as Pierre Balmain’s “right hand.”Oscar de la Renta led the house between 1993 and 2001.Under Pierre Balmain, Mortensen, and de la Renta, the house was known for its classic, luxurious design. In 2008 and 2009, the clothing line became extremely popular both among fashion magazines, runways and celebrities.His 2010 collection, shown during Paris fashion week, was said to be “totally retro” and brought back the glitz and glitter of the 70s disco era. Unfortunately, the Spring/Summer 2011 collection has been heavily criticised as “nothing new”.
Today, the appointment of Olivier Rousteing represents a new start. Is Balmain going to get back on track? We bet it will!.
Here is one of my preferred look of the latest collection A/W 2011-2012. For more information check the brand website.
Victorinox, the makers of the Original Swiss Army Knife is finally opening a visitors center in Brunnen – Switzerland. Just a few miles away from the historical factory and by the beautiful Lake of 4 cantons, the Visitor center will open its doors on the 21st of May this year.
Each year, thousands of people come from all parts of the world to visit the historical Swiss knife valley. There, they can find Victorinox historical factory and factory shop. For safety reasons, tourists cannot visit the factory (knives are everywhere) and the making of a Swiss Army knife is one of the most kept secrets too 🙂
In order to share the passion for great products and also for a 127 years success story, Victorinox will welcome all visitors on his new center in Brunnen. The location is great. Brunnen is a beautiful lake city. It is just by the famous 4 cantons lake. you may find a store in the ground floor and the first floor will have a place for exhibitions and to welcome all visitors.
Check here the first pictures of the new visitors center in Brunnen:
If you are looking for great holidays in Switzerland, you need to go there. If you are looking for a hotel around, try the famous Waldstätterhof. It is an incredible hotel built in 1870. The hotel is just a few meters from the Victorinox visitors center and it dominates the lakeshore. For more information, you can check the hotel website here.
I discovered a new Art gallery. Its name is galerie mor . charpentier. It was founded by Alex Mor and Philippe Charpentier, and it opened its doors the 14th of October 2010. We could ask ourselves, why another Art gallery? Well, why not? But moreover, because the mor. charpentier gallery supports the contemporary Latin American Art. And this is rare, almost unique. They are based in Paris, in the 3rd District. They say from themselves: “Constantly exploring new trends and accompanying the emergence of new territories, our program is structured around contemporary Latin American art, in order to generate a stimulating and dynamic dialogue between local and global realities.”
Todays exhibition is called “The Fourth Cordillera”. It is the first exhibition in France of Colombian artists Rodrigo Facundo, Luz Angela Lizarazo and Rosario Lopez. Far away from the colombian clichés, these 3 artists express different and complementary vision of their culture heritage at the service of contemporary art. We can consider these exhibition as a celebration of the “other” Colombia, away from drug dealers or Shakira 🙂
Rodrigo Facundo explores time and space thanks to a series of photographies. The nostalgic vision of the artist blended with specific scenes makes us travel into times we would like to share a few moments…
Menosunomasuno by Rodrigo Facundes – Inkjet on cotton paper. 100×235
The second artist is Luz Angela Lizarazo. Under the work around Panseys flowers, the artist expresses a poetic yet dramatic vision of our own human condition. A feminine and soft touch under a strange feeling that this work reflects.
Porcelaine – 35 x 29 x 29 cm
Last but not least, Rosario Lopez is a multi-talented artist. Different expression channels are used and the artist tries to express a singular world where the object is as important as its role. Rosario Lòpez, through his ” wind traps,” is trying to capture the movement and precarious brightness of the wind. It aims to capture the ephemeral and imperceptible dimension of things. An ode to the hidden track of things. Bombas BN8 – inkjet pigment print 42×49 cms
The exhibition started already and will stay until the 7th of june. For more information, please check the gallery website: http://www.mor-charpentier.com
Other exhibitions will come and will talk about it here… LA
