Oprah Winfrey Biography, the perfect book for summer holidays…

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oprah winfrey biographyNow, one of the most expected books arrived. The Oprah Winfrey biography. Kitty Kelley is a very well known biographer, passionate about those people who became more than an ordinary human being… they became legends or symbols for America. She wrote about Elisabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagen, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis or even the Bush Dinasty. Her new challenge : Oprah Winfrey, one of the biggest icons of the 21st century in US TV. Here the text from Amazon : “For the past twenty-five years, no one has been better at revealing secrets than Oprah Winfrey. On what is arguably the most influential show in television history, she has gotten her guests—often the biggest celebrities in the world—to bare their love lives, explore their painful pasts, admit their transgressions, reveal their pleasures, and explore their demons. In turn, Oprah has repeatedly allowed her audience to share in her own life story, opening up about the sexual abuse in her past and discussing her romantic relationships, her weight problems, her spiritual beliefs, her charitable donations, and her strongly held views on the state of the world. After a quarter of a century of the Oprah-ization of America, can there be any more secrets left to reveal? Yes. Because Oprah has met her match. Kitty Kelley has, over the same period of time, fearlessly and relentlessly investigated and written about the world’s most revered icons: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, England’s Royal Family, and the Bush dynasty. In her #1 bestselling biographies, she has exposed truths and exploded myths to uncover the real human beings that exist behind their manufactured facades. Turning her reportorial sights on Oprah, Kelley has now given us an unvarnished look at the stories Oprah’s told and the life oprah winfrey biographyshe’s led. Kelley has talked to Oprah’s closest family members and business associates. She has obtained court records, birth certificates, financial and tax records, and even copies of Oprah’s legendary (and punishing) confidentiality agreements. She has probed every aspect of Oprah Winfrey’s life, and it is as if she’s written the most extraordinary segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show ever filmed—one in which Oprah herself is finally and fully revealed. There is a case to be made, and it is certainly made in this book, that Oprah Winfrey is an important, and even great, figure of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. But there is also a case to be made that even greatness needs to be examined and put under a microscope. Fact must be separated from myth, truth from hype. Kitty Kelley has made that separation, showing both sides of Oprah as they have never been shown before. In doing so she has written a psychologically perceptive and meticulously researched book that will surprise and thrill everyone who reads it.

A perfect book for summer holidays.
LA

Louis Vuitton, The Tribute patchwork bag, new spring itbag!

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Marc Jacobs might had a crisis of extreme creativity or there was a crazy wind inside LV creative studio… in any case the world knows now the Louis Vuitton new ITbag, the Tribute Patchwork bag. Only 25 units were created at the price of $42.000. This incredible bag is the combination of 15 LV bags from the spring-summer collection. All the best parts from these 15 bags concentrated in one! The result is quite astonishing :
Louis Vuitton The Tribute Patchwork Bag

Today, we know that actually only 24 are left because Miss Beyonce had one in avant-premiere. As you can see, you need 3 things to wear this special LV bag in the street : A nice bank account, a body guard and a hell of a style! Well Beyonce has it all, so well done.
Beyonce and Louis Vuitton The Tribute Patchwork BagBeyonce and Louis Vuitton The Tribute Patchwork Bag
photos : bagsnob.com

This summer will be patchwork or it will not be!

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Taylor Momsen, between the Grinch and Kurt Cobain.

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Taylor MomsenIf you watched in the cinema, The Grinch, and on TV Gossip Girl you might know Taylor Momsen. Actress, model but also singer of the rock group The Pretty Reckless. It is an Alternative rock band formed in 2009. The band got known thanks to the soundtrack to the 2010 movie Kick-Ass. The song called Make me Wanna Die was previously available as free download from the record company Interscope Records. In the Band we have :
– Taylor Momsen: vocals, rhythm guitar (2009–Present)
– Ben Philips: lead guitar (2009–Present)
– Mark Damon: bass (2009–Present)
– Jamie Perkins: drums, percussion (2009–Present)

Taylor Momsen

So, Mrs Momsen is very often compared with Courtney Love, wife of the legendary leader of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain. Definetly in a physical aspect but also in the way she behave herself. Taylor Momsen answers very often that she would prefer to be compared as Kurt Cobain as she is one of his biggest fan.
Discover this band directly on their website : http://www.theprettyreckless.com

So is she more Courtney Love or more Kurt Cobain? Boy, what a question! 🙂 I think the answer is not so important after all.
LA

This Video was forbidden in the USA… too sexy!!!

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This lingerie TV advertising was forbidden in the USA because it was considered too sexy. The exact reason is that the model has too big breasts… For once that a real women was on stage and very elegantly highlighted… It is hard to understand. Some people say it does not “fit” ABC or FOX criteria for advertising. Let’s not forget ABC belongs to Disney. That might explain some restrictions in terms of censure. I think this ad is not more shoking than some scenes of Desperate Housewives or Greys Anatomy or even Scrubs (series displayed by ABC). Too bad, at least you can see it here. What do you think ?

The Brand LANE BRYANT is an american women clothing focusing on plus-size clothing. It is a century brand as Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin started her business of Maternity designs in the early 1900’s. She developed her business throughout Mail order catalogs, so she would bypass local discrimination. Today, Lane Grand sons are holding the family business and want to help over-size women to feel beautiful and simply treated like normal seductive women. I vote for Lane Bryant !
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Who said guys do not talk about fragrances?

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Here check this video about a young guy who make regular reviews about fragrances… isn’t it that incredible?

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Dior J’Adore new advertising, back to roots?

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After introducing Charlize Theron in a beautiful parisian apartment, Dior proposes a new advertising for its best-selling fragrance J’adore. Now Charlize rediscover the gold bath. Let’s remember together here the J’Adore Saga :

It is really impressive the work of renewal for J’adore. The key visual changed 7 times in 10 years. 3 models and 2 photographs. Is this the recipe for success? And this time we can see Charlize Theron in a gold bath. Back to roots?

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Ambre Nuit, and Dior makes it again just sublime

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Colognes Dior HommeChristian Dior or today La Maison Dior launched in 2004, three beautiful creations called La Collection des Colognes Dior Homme. We had Bois d’Argent, Cologne Blanche and Eau Noire. This last one became cult because we know it is the prefered of Hedi Slimane himself. So each Dior’s employee had a Eau Noir Candle at home. Religion is Religion.  At that time Dior called perhaps the 2 most talented perfumers under 40 years old : Annick Menardo and Francis Kurkdjian. What a dream team. Annick Menardo created a couple of years before one of the biggest olfactive Bombs of the last 10 years : Hypnotic Poison. And Francis Kurkdjian : Le Male Jean-Paul Gaultier. What a team! From this beautiful collaboration, were born 3 magnificient fragrances.

Francois_DemachyAmbre NuitToday, Dior called the inhouse perfumer, François Demachy (previously one of the Chanel’s perfumers moved to LVMH a few years ago) to accomplish the exquisite once again. Being a big fan of ambery notes, Ambre Nuit is more than an invitation, it is a call for pleasure. At first sight we could imagine that the word Ambre and Cologne would be incompatible, but here François Demachy proposes an elegant story : The Chic à la française… An intriguing oriental fragrance with a facet of a woody masculine Rose. And let’s notice that although the financial crisis, the perfumer used Ambre Gris, one of the most mysterious, sexy and intense scents in perfumery. 65,000 euros the kg also contributes to the rareness of such material. Very original although we might miss the edge of the first 3… but not so sure…  To now more, check the Brand website : www.beautydior.com.
Mr Christian Dior said : “I became a perfumer so just by opening a flacon we might see emerge all my dresses and that each woman I dress will be able to leave behind her the trail of desire…” Well, Mr Dior we can say that your House is well kept.
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Maison Martin Margiela… untitled and unrated…

Reading Time: 3 minutes

margiela_exhibitition momaMartin Margiela is a belgium fashion designer and represented with Rei Kawakubo the important leaders of desconstruction. Today he became a mystery, specially after the Diesel company had bought the brand. An article in New York Times dated October 1, 2008, gave many in the fashion world their first glimpse of Margiela’s face, as well as breaking the news that he allegedly offered to hand the reins of his company over to Raf Simons, who appears to have declined the offer. In October, 2009, Margiela majority stakeholder Renzo Rosso finally made public: “Martin has not been there for a long time. He is here but not here. We have a new fresh design team on board. We are focusing on young, realistic energy for the future; this is really Margiela for the year 2015.” A press release announced in December last year, that Margiela “has left the business. No replacement creative director will be appointed. Maison Martin Margiela will continue trading but the company declined to comment on the reasons for Margiela’s exit. Can Martin Margiela survive to Martin Margiela ? Not sure… We all know that only a few brands survived in such situation. Wait and see. For the moment L’Oréal, who also possess the Fragrance License for Martin Margiela portraitDiesel, has launched this year the first Fragrance under Martin Margiela. They wanted to capitalize on the discrete, almost mysterious and enigmatic personality of the creator. By the way, it is very rare to see Martin Margiela’s face because he refuses photos and celebrity. Here is one of the rare pictures of him. Infortunately the fragrance is not a masterpiece. The name of the fragrance is “untitled”. Easy but still let’s say it is coherent with the brand. And martin margiela untitledthe white colour too. But that’s it basically. It is a product not so interesting. A would compare it to Yohji Yamamoto fragrances. This brand was previously developped by Procter & Gamble, another giant in the fragrance business. We can say that these huge groups do not have the right people to develop such brands. These are too intellectual and need a big marketing and creative work to bring them at a level of interest and desire that is shared with customers. I can easily say that untitled of Martin Margiela will not last for ever although it is a beautiful brand and a beautiful name. The scent is either too intellectual or too minimalistic. Ok, I know that “less is more” but there are limits… here the video of the perfumer who explains the fragrance approach.

The funny thing on this video is the man at the beginning that ONLY get out fragrance brands that only belong to competion… is there a hidden message ?
LA

Marina Abramović: The body as medium

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marina Abramovic
marina Abramovic

Marina Abramović is a serbian artist based in new york. She has been very active since she started her career in the 70’s. All her work is based on the relationship between Art and Performance. When the limits of the body reach the possibilities of the mind.
Exploring the physical and mental limits of her being, she has withstood pain, exhaustion and danger in the quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. She is an incredible artist, not so known in Europe but one the main references today. She is what we call a multifacetted artist. She always blend performances, sounds, video, sculpture… She presented her work in all the greatest places for the Art in the world. This year Marina Abramovic will be in a major retrospective at the MoMA in NY. It is until the 31st of May 2010.

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Ulysse Nardin, a beautiful high tech masterpiece

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Ulysse Nardin logo
The luxury brand Ulysse Nardin, presented last month at Baselworld its new mobile creation. Do you know this brand ?

Founder, watchmaker Ulysse Nardin, was an accomplished watchmaker who studied horology under his father, Leonard-

Ulysse Nardin
Ulysse Nardin

Frederic Nardin, Frederic William Dubois and Louis Jean Richard-dit-Bressel, in Switzerland. Before the advent of quartz timepieces, merchant and military ships relied on highly accurate mechanical timepieces known as marine chronometers. The best known of these was the M,GR.F model by Ulysse Nardin. Similar of this model, were used by Hamilton to supply the US Navy and by Seiko for the Japanese navy. Of the 4,504 certificates for marine chronometers issued 4,324 were issued to Ulysse Nardin (Lucien F Trueb, Watchtime).

Rolf Schnyder
Rolf Schnyder

In 1983 Ulysse Nardin was acquired by businessman Rolf Schnyder who, in conjunction with watchmaker Dr. Ludwig Oechslin, relaunched the brand with other investors. Schnyder, Oechslin and the staff of Ulysse Nardin, design and create complication timepieces using modern materials and manufacturing techniques. The base movement used on all version of complication watches is the ETA.

Today Ulysse Nardin proposes the best and exceptional mobile phones in the world in terms of luxury and added-value. Each mobile phone has a watch automatic mecanism that allows us to charge the phone battery just by the movement of the mobile phone inside a pocket or in a bag.
Here some images of the latest Chairman model, 1,843 units available all around the world.
With the new Chairman line, the brand hopes to connect to the world of Timepieces. Of course not everybody will be able to buy a Ulysse Nardin watch in the future but it is a good example of state of art.

Source: Wikipedia
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