t>

20110429

THE COLOURS of spring


... I think I already told you about my trip to the People's Republic of Korea (aka North Korea, of course) last summer. On one of our countless excursions to notable sights, never without the appropriate dose of regime propaganda, naturally, we passed by one of the equally countless tourist shops (you never get to see any "normal" shop in North Korea, just like you never get to experience anything close to "normal" everyday life for you are not for one second allowed to wander off and explore anything by yourself, the point is that you basically GET SHOWN everything you'll ever get to see in that country) and I took a picture of this array of the fluffy-puffy dresses which represent the country's national costume. Apparently, it can also be worn in all kinds of SEESAW action ...


... aujourd'hui, inspiré par l'arrivée du printemps et par la gamme de couleurs que la saison déclenche habituellement, je voudrais vous montrer une photo que j'ai prise au cours de mon voyage en Corée du Nord l'an dernier. Je vous en ai déjà brièvement parlé, et laissez-moi vous assurer que c'était effectivement QUELQUE CHOSE, un voyage tout à fait hors du commun qui a fini par paraître complètement irréel car on n'a en aucun instant eu l'impression de ne pas se retrouver au sein d'une géante MISE EN SCENE faite exprès pour les touristes et qui concernait jusque dans les plus minutieux détails de tout ce que l'on a VU ou, pour être plus exact, de ce qui NOUS A ETE MONTRE, toute cette expérience, une interminable démonstration de ce que l'on pourrait résumer par les termes, pour le dire avec BAUDRILLARD, de SIMULACRE ET SIMULATION ...


performers in a North Korean restaurant in Cambodia wearing the fluffy dresses

... vi ho già parlato brevemente della mia esperienza coreana dell'anno scorso, cioè del viaggio che ho fatto in Corea del Nord. Visitare questo paese, lo si può fare esclusivamente nel contesto di viaggi organizzati, dal momento in cui si arriva all'aeroporto internazionale di Pyongyang al momento in cui si parte della stazione centrale della capitale, tutto ciò che vi si vede ricorda una gigante MESSINSCENA caratterizzata dalla paranoia del regime e un perfezonismo paradossalmente goffo. Qui, una presentazione di costumi nazionali in un negozio per turisti e un esempio di giochi di altalena ...



20110428

STYLIST fashion

Lou Doillon in Tila March / La Redoute beachwear and accessories

... some days ago I received a press release in which I was informed about the launch of a capsule collection created by the UPCOMING French accessory label TILA MARCH for La Redoute, yes, exactly,the mail order thingy. Well, of course I'd never heard of Tila March before, but it's not that I'm being unrealistic and would be expecting any of my American or French or Chinese readers to be familiar with all the Austrian fashion labels I frequently mention (actually, in a way, that's the point of this blog, to make these labes better known on an international level). As a matter of fact, Tila March was founded in 2006 by Elle fashion editor/stylist Tamara Taichmann who, unable to find the bag that she wanted and needed and sougth after, decided to get into fashion herself. What a nice story, isn't it. Today she's got points of sale in 19 countries, doing particularly well in France (of course), in Belgium, Japan and Italy. I mean, she wouldn't be the first fashion stylist to get into fashion (Patricia Field) or cosmetics (Anna dello Russo), and the collaboration with La Redoute will certainly make her name a more familiar one among a bigger fashion audience. Good job, then, in a way ...



... quand on m'a envoyé un communiqué de presse il y a quelques jours pour m'informer de la collaboration de La Redoute avec la jeune marque d'accessoires Tila March, cela ne m'a pas vraiment impressionné puisque je ne connaissais pas la marque, mais cela m'a rendu curieux, alors je suis allé chercher le site de la griffe établie en 2006, fondée par une rédactrice de mode du magazine Elle, Tamara Taichmann. Assez impressionnant, en fait, le succès de Tila March, dans sa cinquième année la marque est présente dans 19 pays (si j'ai bien compté), avec un assez grand nombre de points de vente en France, en Belgique, en Italie, au Japon. C'est intéressant, et je me demande si des stylistes, des journalistes, des hommes et des femmes d'affaires qui décident de se lancer dans la mode, n'auraient pas peut-être des stratégies plus concrète pour assurer le succès économique de leur entreprise ? ...

20110427

PLASTIQUE fantastique


plastic sculptures by Hans Kupelwieser (left) and Guner Damisch

... in 2011, Vienna celebrates ten years of the MUSEUMSQUARTIER area, and even though the institution's director left a few days ago to join the ministry of foreign affairs in a top position, celebrations will of course go ahead as planned. Now, one of the art events that will take place in the anniversary year is a special PLASTIC PUBLIC ART PROJECT outside the MQ, where temporary installations consisting of huge sculptures created by renowned artists and entirely made of plastic (or whatever you want to call it) will be put up, at three different moments of the year, the first pop-up-installation will be there from May 3 to 8 ... dix ans après l'ouverture du soi-disant MUSEUMSQUARTIER à Vienne, logiquement, il est venu le moment pour fêter cet anniversaire. Et même si le directeur de ce "quartier de musées" au cœur de Vienne vient de partir pour rejoindre le ministère d'affaires étrangères, les célébrations vont se faire comme prévu. Un événement spécial sera la série d'installations d' ART URBAIN en PLASTIQUE devant l'entrée principale du MQ, à trois reprises, la première installation se fera du 3 au 8 mai, à ne pas manquer, je dirais même ... dieci anni dopo l'apertura del cosiddetto "Museumsquartier" a Vienna, cioè il quartiere dei musei logicamente, un grande progetto urbanistico che ha avuto, direi oggi, un grande impatto sulla vita culturale della città, è venuto il momento per i festeggiamenti che si faranno come previsto sebbene il direttore del quartiere sia partito pochi giorni fa per raggiungere il ministero degli affari esteri. Una delle manifestazioni che si realizzeranno sarà una serie d'installazioni di ARTE URBANA fatta di plastica, con tre apparizioni puntuali durante tutto l'anno, le prime sculture potranno essere ammirate dal tre all'otto maggio ...

20110425

A WHIFF of surrealism

Hartmann Nordenholz fall 2011

... long-standing readers of ParisVienne or those familiar with my newspaper and magazine articles will probably have realized that (a) I've got a certain penchant for surrealism (I wrote my first and very modest university paper about le mouvement surréaliste, as it were ...) and that (b) I'm impatiently waiting to find out whether the Schiaparelli label will be relaunched, and who'll be in charge if it is. Giles Deacon, rumour had it, was once considered as the one designer most likely to follow in Schiaparelli's footsteps, but of course he's now in charge of Ungaro. And when I recently talked to Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, an admitted admirer of all things surrealist, he mentioned "that London designer with an Italian name" as perfect match, apart from imself. I have reason to believe that he was referring to Peter Pilotto, now that's an idea, isn't it, Pilotto for Schiaparelli. But BELIEVE IT OR NOT, what I actually set out to talk about was the wonderful fashion duo from Vienna, Agnes and Filip from HARTMANN NORDENHOLZ, and I wanted to show you some images from their next winter collection, which features some quite Schiaparellesque shoulder flaps (so that was the association that got me going in the first place...). But of course, Agnes and Filip are always good for very fine, beautiful BAGS and ACCESSORIES, too few of them in my humble opinion, but what they've got to offer their customer is always very attractive, season after season, so I also included some images of accessories from their current summer collection. Besides all that, I was also very glad to hear when talking to Filip recently (I'd called him before when I did research for an article about the impact of the Japanese situation on the Austrian fashion scene, and he told me they were hoping for the best as the fall 2011 season might turn out to be their best ever, mainly thanks to orders from East Asia) that all their orders from Japan for fall 2011 were confirmed and that this is indeed going to be their label's most successful season to date. Isn't that quite something, a marvellous proof of steady growth? I'd like to think so ...



Hartmann Nordenholz summer 2011 - I bet you can't wait for their next sample sale to take place!

... je vais renoncer à toutes les reflexions que je viens de faire à cause du fait que quelques peu de détails, heuhm, "poilus" dans la très belle et très réussie (comme à chaque fois, d'ailleurs) collection d'hiver 2011 réalisée par Hartmann Nordenholz, le magnifique duo austro-allemand basé à Vienne, et ce sont donc les très adorables créateurs Agnes et Filip bien sûr, mais où en étais-je, oui, voilà, tout à fait, que donc il y a là-dedans quelques épaulettes en fourrure qui m'ont rappelé vaguement la mode surréaliste créée par la signora Schiaparelli, et je me suis donc souvenu du fait que Mr de Castelbajac, lorsque j'ai parlé avec lui il n'y a pas trop trop longtemps, a mentionné un certain créateur "de Londres avec un nom italien" qui serait capable de suivre à Elsa Schiaparelli, et j'ai donc réalisé plus tard que cela devait être Peter Pilotto, qui d'autre en fait, et pourquoi pas, qu'en dites-vous, Pilotto pour Schiaparelli, hein ?, cela ne sonne même pas mal, mais j'avais dit que je n'allais pas répéter tout cela, enfin quoi jamais, je voudrais donc vous montrer quelques images de la collection d'hiver 2011 de Hartmann Nordenholz, ainsi que deux looks avec les vraiment jolis sacs qu'ils savent faire si bien, de la collection actuelle, et je suis également très heureux d'avoir entendu dire que, grâce aux commandes japonaises qui n'ont pas été annulées, la prochaine saison sera la plus forte depuis que la marque existe, et ça, c'est tout à fait merveilleux, vous serez sans doute d'accord avec moi ...
two more looks from the Hartmann Nordenholz collection for fall 2011

... allora, la catena associativa è stata la seguente: SPALLINE di pelliccia (di gorilla?), moda surrealista, Elsa Schiaparelli, Peter Pilotto per Schiaparelli (un'idea di Jean-Charles de Castelbajac), eccovi tutto. Tutta l'introduzione, voglio dire. Perchè infatti cominciavo a parlare del duo di stilisti Agnes e Filip con il loro marchio HARTMANN NORDENHOLZ che, dopo ormai dieci anni "in business", stanno facendo un ottimo lavoro. Dunque, mi permetto di mostrarvi qualche immagine della loro collezione autunno/inverno 2011 accanto ad altre della collezione attuale (vi chiedo gentilmente di dedicare particolare attenzione alle borse - LUNARI, direi, no, effetto "croissant", dunque perfetto per le vacanze passate nel Sud della Francia). E poi, sono anche molto contento di potervi annunciare che la stagione autunno/inverno 2011 sarà la più forte, con le più grandi cifre di vendita, per questa giovane griffe che, dopo dieci anni, è più viva che mai e pare abbia maturato considerevolmente ...

20110423

BUNNY time!

(c) gelitin

... not new, I know, but always good to look at: the wonderful RABBIT land art installation by Austrian art collective GELITIN (meet them at the Venice Biennial this year...) - and HAPPY EASTER wishes from me. Now that I've finally moved, and the intensity of work may be cooling down a little, this blog thingy of mine should be back on track to a more regular activity ... BONNES PAQUES, mes lapins !

20110417

OF ROYALTY and missing height

... goodness gracious me! Diana, where did that height of yours go?
And no, it ain't the heels...


... oh, would you believe how incredibly LUCKY I was - some days ago, on one of my flea market trips, I found an original souvenir from THE Royal Wedding that marked the second half of the 20th century - I'm talking about Prince William's parents of course, and the couple that could have been Kate Middleton's parents-in-law. Well. 1981, at St Paul's Cathedral, this man and this woman were married, we all know about what Diana, herself apparently not an uncomplicated person, said about her marriage, and from the start: "there were three of us, so it was a bit crowded". Too bad, and the end was tragic of course. Now, my "The Royal Wedding. Official souvenir" gives readers insight into many wonderful details. Photographs were tsaken by Lord Snowdon, or simply Snowdon, who was of course the first husband of Queen Elizabeth's younger sister, Princess Margaret.

the beginning of a not so happy marriage...

... very amusing: in one of the portraits that shows the couple together, Prince Charles seems to be far taller than his future wife. Alas, you also get a portrait of the two of them together with the Queen, and not even the heel-situation could explain where that missing height of Diana's went. Mmmh. I also like the trail of the Queen's dress from when she got married, it seems like it were flowing down the stairs. And then we also get a particularly artsy photograph of Lady Diana's engagement ring - the same one that has now been put on Kate Middleton's finger, and Prince Charles' "Ich Dien" (my oh my) signet ring which he never takes off. And then there's a lovely portrait of the two designers of Diana's wedding gown (which was not done by Bruce Oldfield, interestingly, because that's what I'd ve thought, Elizabeth and David Emanuel. The married couple of designers later divorced, but David Emanuel still is in fashion, doing BRITISH COUTURE. Even if we may still be in the unclear regarding who will design Kate Middleton's wedding dress, I think it's a pretty safe guess that David Emanuel won't be the one ...

the Queen's trail is lovely, wonderful material, rich and soft. Prince Charles' parents married in 1947...

... il y a quelques jours, j'avais beaucoup beaucoup de chance en trouvant un exemplaire du "souvenir authentique" du mariage royal qui a marqué la fin du 20ème siècle, celui de Diana et Charles bien sûr (c'était en 1981). Le volume contient un grand nombre de photographies faites par Lord Snowdon le mari de la sœur plus jeune d'Elisabeth II, Margaret. J'ai trouvé particulièrement amusant la juxtaposition de deux images dont une montre Diana et Charles avec la reine, où l'on voit très clairement qu'ils ont à peu près la même taille, et quelques pages plus loin on en voit une autre avec Charles en version maxi, cette fois-ci. Trop drôle, non ? Car c'est bien cela, la CONSTRUCTION DU SEXE. Bon, sinon, on y voit aussi la bague de fiançailles portée par Diana (qui orne à présent l'annulaire de Kate Middleton) ainsi qu'une photo du couple de créateurs qui ont dessiné la robe de mariée pour Diana. C'étaient David et Elizabeth Emanuel, à l'époque, plus tard ils ont divorcé. Et même si Monsieur Emanuel continue à être actif dans la mode, j'oserais parier que lui ne sera pas le créateur honoré par le goût de Kate Middleton ...

the world currently marvels at the very same ring on Kate Middleton's finger...

... pochi giorni fa sono stato fortunatissimo perchè ho trovato, su uno dei mercati delle pulci che con tanta assiduità sto visitando, un esemplare dell'opuscolo che è stato prodotto per il matrimonio di Charles e Diana nell'81. Bellissimo, e anche abbastanza divertente. Per esempio, mi ha impressionato il fatto che vediamo un ritratto ufficiale della coppia regale dove Charles è nettamente più alto della sua fidanzata - mentre su un altra pagina, li vediamo accanto alla Queen con nettamente più o meno la stessa statura. Poi, mi è piacuta la foto (tutte le immagini sono state realizzate dal primo marito della sorella di Queen Elizabeth, Lord Snowdon) dove vediamo l'anello di fidanzamento di Diana sul suo dito che ormai (l'anello, e non il dito) è passato sulla mano di Kate Middleton. E poi e poi, c'è la foto degli stilisti David e Elizabeth Emanuel che hanno disegnato l'abito da sposa portato da Diana (figuratevi che io ero convinto fosse disegnata da Bruce Oldfield!) - anche questa coppia si spaccò più tardi, e mentre il signor Emanuel continua a lavorare nella moda, sono quasi convinto che non sara lui lo stilista invitato a creare l'abito da sposa per la bella Kate ...

Elizabeth and David Emanuel designed Diana's wedding dress - their marriage didn't last, either ...

20110416

SWEET occasion


... I just found out about the ebay-auction of UNIQUE PEZ DISPENSERS modelled after the royal finacés William and Kate - stunning! Whoever would like to be presented with their legendary Pez candy (after all, Pez is an Austrian product, and a world famous one too - ah, and I just found out, they've even got a corporate blog!!!) by Kate Middleton and Prince William, you have got until 2 pm BST tomorrow afternoon to bid for the dispensers (the auction will benefit Startlight's Children Foundation). The last time I looked, 8,000 GBP was the highest bid. Sweet'n'royal ...

20110415

VAMPIRE approved


... when I did research for an article that I recently wrote about the possible impact of the current situation in Japan on some of Austria's most forward-thinking and best-known fashion labels, I also visited Simone Springer and Yuji Mizobuchi in their rosa mosa studio in Vienna's fifth district. Although we had a very serious and preoccupying subject to talk about, I used the opportunity to marvel at their collection for fall/winter 2011 and, sure enough, liked a lot what I saw. Simone and Yuji have been congenial in picking up traditional craftsmanship (for example Austrian blueprinting techniques) or regional "specialities" which they went on to use in their own collections. Fall 2011 will be about TRANSILVANYA, which basically means, rosa mosa's shoes will be VAMPIRE SAFE. Seriously, I think that their upcoming collection is as refined as it is witty (because easy-going wit and humour are definitely a characteristic of Simone's and Yuji's work, for me), and I think that many fashion freaks will be eager to discover the vampire within ...


... je suis allé voir Simone Springer et Yuji Mizobuchi récemment, l'adorable couple de créateurs derrière la griffe ROSA MOSA, connue pour des collections de chaussures à caractère tout à fait unique - là, c'était pour un article que j'ai écrit sur le possible impact de la situation au Japon sur des jeunes marques autrichiennes qui dépendent très fortement de ce marché dynamique, mais à la même occasion, ils m'ont aussi montré leur collection pour automne/hiver 2011 que j'ai beaucoup aimé. Je dois dire, ces deux créateurs, ils savent vraiment se servir de l'idée des IDENTITÉS LOCALES devenant toujours plus importantes. Auparavant, ils avaient élaboré exprès une technique d'impression à l'indigo sur le cuir, et pour leurs dernières collections, ils ont voyagé à chaque fois en Europe centrale pour trouver des inspirations. La dernière à ce jour, c'était la Transylvanie, en Roumanie, région de laquelle est originaire le très angoissant Vlad Dracul. C'est donc fait par et pour des vampires, on pourrait dire, et c'est tout simplement merveilleux ...

all Photos by: Manfred Veigl/littlestars.at; concept & styling: Mana Furuyama



... sono andato a trovare Simone Springer e Yuji Mizobuchi, i due stilisti del label ROSA MOSA, nel loro studio qualche settimana fa - abbiamo soprattutto parlato della situazione attuale nel Giappone e delle possibili conseguenze per dei marchi di moda (austriaci) fortemente dipendenti di questo mercato. Una volta che ero andato lì, non abbiamo perso l'occasione di parlare della loro collezione per autunno/inverno 2011. Devo dire, e tutti i lettori di ParisVienne lo sapranno, che apprezzo moltissimo il lavoro di Simone e Yuji, e per una semplice ragione: loro due hanno capito cosa vuol dire l'accentuazione d'identità locali. S'interessano di tradizioni artigianali, viaggiano in Europa Centrale (certe regioni d'Austria, Ungheria...) per trovare nuove tecniche da essere utilizzate nelle loro collezioni. L'estate scorsa, sono andati in Romania/Transilvania, il risultato è una collezione a tenuta di vampiri - e molto molto raffinata ...

20110413

SEMI precious

... here she comes, in all her splendour ...

... when I wrote about Tilda Swinton's appearance in IO SONO L'AMORE a few days ago, I remembered reading a Financial Times article about the Italian jewellery brand POMELLATO which became famous for its (rather, I must say, that's always relative) affordable products, more often than not using semi-precious stones, and thereby beckoning out to WOMEN who buy jewellery for themselves - the point of the article was basically that Pomellato had landed a coup by buying full-page advertisements in Gazzetta dello sport in December, thereby addressing an obviously decidedly rather MALE public and hoping to create a new profile for itself. Interesting indeed. On the Pomellato homepage, and Mrs Swinton is the official face of Pomellato of course, you'll find a little fashion film starring the Scotch actress, and again, it's all about her being wonderful and a young man passing by with who she falls in love with AT FIRST SIGHT, as if she were STRUCK BY LIGHTNING (>>> a "colpo di fulmine" that would be), and all of this to advertise the new jewellery collection that goes by the same name, and again, it's all about Mrs Swinton's endless beauty, but since this is a video produced explicitly to advertise Pomellato, it's all the more understandable ...

... and rests on her ottoman, to await ...

... après avoir laissé mon petit commentaire sur le film AMORE (Io sono l'amore) où la performance de la merveilleuse actrice écossaise TILDA SWINTON ne m'a pas vraiment convaincu, je me suis souvenu d'un article que j'ai lu sur FINANCIAL TIMES dans lequel il était question d'une stratégie originale de la marque de bijoux italienne POMELLATO pour attirer de nouveaux clients : apparemment, juste avant Noël de l'an passé, Pomellato a acheté des pages entières dans le quotidien GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT, lu, non, dévoré par des millions d'hommes italiens tous les jours. Cette astuce était conçue pour faire appel à un public masculin, tandis que Pomellato a fait sa fortune avec des anneaux ornés de pierres fines achetés principalement par des femmes, ce qui représente un cas assez unique pour ce segment du marché. Or, pour revenir à Madame Swinton, puisqu'elle est le visage (et le corps, visiblement) de Pomellato, on peut la voir dans une petite vidéo sur le site de la marque - où elle est emportée par le coup de foudre en rencontrant un joli jeune homme. Vous reconnaissez le schéma, eh ben, IO SONO L'AMORE et COLPO DI FULMINE se déclinent au mieux ensemble ...

... a Prince Charming who she embraces eagerly. If you're into Swinton's charming Italian, at the end of the video you can hear her read the catchy line "Colpo di fulmine, il nuovo anello di Pomellato" ...

... dopo aver parlato della magnifica TILDA SWINTON recentemente quando mi sono interessato alla sua apparizione nel film di Guadagnino IO SONO L'AMORE, mi sono ricordato di un articolo uscito sul FINANCIAL TIMES britannico recentemente e nel quale venne menzionato il fatto che il marchio di gioielli italiano (che sicuramente tutti i lettori della parte italiana di PARISVIENNE conosceranno...) aveva comperato delle pagine intere su GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT prima di Natale dell'anno scorso per attrarre un nuovo pubblico, piuttosto composto di uomini ovviamente, e per posizionarsi al lato di marchi tradizionali come Bulgari, Tiffany o Cartier. Ora, siccome la Swinton è il viso di Pomellato, sul sito ufficiale si trova anche un video che conta sulla sua apparizione. L'azione? E be', vedasi IO SONO L'AMORE, infatti: la Swinton, dopo aver fatto una grande entrata, sdraiata su un'agrippina, poi entra un bellissimo giovane (ma sì, ma sì...), lei s'innamora di lui, lui s'innamora di lei, è il COLPO DI FULMINE - e "colpo di fulmine" è anche il nome dell'ultima creazione di Pomellato, e il cerchio si chiude ...

20110411

NEWCOMERS and nominees



a rather oriental look by Manuela Baumgartner, I had to think of opium caves, for some reason ...

... you can say what you may, in terms of PIZAZZ, the annual festival for fashion & photography is probably the most striking event on the Vienna fashion scene, as it comes complete with some glimpses at the REAL fashion world out there (even though the DRAMATIS PERSONAE are very similar to those at competing events such as the Vienna Awards for Fashion and Lifestyle or the annual MQ Vienna Fashion Week). Last week, Marios Schwab came to Vienna for the kick-off-event and I was lucky enough to meet him for a long interview, but that's another story. What I wanted to tell you, right here and right now, is that the nominees for this year's AUSTRIAN FASHION AWARDS were also made public, and there is, IMHO, at least one surprise and one new appearance. But first of all I'll give you the complete list and would like to congratulate all nominees: for the Award sponsored by the Austrian Ministry of Cultural Affairs, George Bezhanishvili (no stranger to readers of ParisVienne...) will compete with Manuela Baumgartner; for the Fashion Award of the City of Vienna, it's meshit (do read that "mesh-it", and not "me-shit", which is not what Ida Steixner and Lena Krampf had in mind) vs. Diptych (Ali Zedtwitz and Valerie Lange); and for the Award for international PR, it's Christina Berger vs. Michaela Buerger.

more by Manuela Baumgartner ...

Now, two things - I find it very interesting to see a new name appear on the list of nominees and potential award winners, and that is Manuela Baumgartner. She studied at Vienna's University of Applied Arts under Raf Simons and Véronqiue Branquinho and graduated in 2008, which was followed by her getting some work experience in London, at Marios Schwab's eponymous fashion label. Always good to see that the Vienna fashion scene isn't completely ebbing off, and that there are new labels appearing on the city's fashion scene (I mean, of course there are always new labels, but some of them seem to be more into producing nice lookbooks and organizing launch events than about making interesting fashion that is more than sloppy floppy drapings that look like heaps of cloth thrown onto a mannequin, if you know what I mean ...). On the other hand, and I know that it's not always been very easy for hard-working and very ambitious Michaela Buerger as part of the
extended Austrian fashion scene, I find it a very good signal that the name of this designer, who has lived and worked in Paris for years where she built her own label, who is represented by the same showroom as Marios Schwab and Peter Pilotto, who is successfully collaborating with international brands like Maison Fabre for gloves, Anne Valérie Hash for select knitwear, and Vienna's Mühlbauer millinery, is about to break into a sphere where some official recognition may be hers. At least that's what being a first-time finalist for one of the country's most important fashion awards could stand for, no? ...

and even more by Manuela Baumgartner ...

... le festival de la mode et de la photographie de VIENNE (et ouais, pas Hyères...) va avoir lieu en juin, mais pour être sûr que tout le monde est averti, une soirée spéciale a été organisée la semaine dernière au cours de laquelle le public intéressé a pu assister à un défilé de Marios Schwab (un jeune homme particulièrement charmant d'ailleurs, que j'ai eu la chance d'interviewer le jour avant...) ET les nominés pour les AUSTRIAN FASHION AWARDS 2011 ont été faits publics. Ce sont donc GEORGE BEZHANIsHVILI (que vous connaîtrez sûrement) et MANUELA BAUMGARTNER pour le prix du ministère de culture ; MESHIT (Ida Steixner et Lena Krampf) et DIPTYCH (Ali Zedtwitz et Valérie Lange) pour le prix de la ville de Vienne ; et MICHAELA BUERGER et CHRISTINA BERGER pour le prix "presse internationale". Félicitations à tous ! Et deux remarques : d'un côté, je trouve rassurant et positif qu'il y ait encore de nouveaux noms qui apparaissent sur la scène de la mode viennoise, je me réfère tout concrètement à Manuela Baumgartner, qui fait son entrée dans l'engrenage viennois (une fois dedans, on est normalement recyclé à l'infini ...). Et je suis tout aussi content que MICHAELA BÜRGER, dont j'apprécie, vous le saurez, particulièrement le travail et que je considère comme la créatrice autrichienne de mode féminine avec de loin le plus de visibilité et de poids à l'échelle internationale actuellement (il suffit de penser à ses collaborations avec la maison Fabre et avec Anne Valérie Hash, ainsi qu'à la collection réalisée pour Mühlbauer, et au succès de sa propre marque...), puisse finalement se réjouir d'un peu de reconnaissance en Autriche où on n'a pas toujours réagi de façon très chaleureuse à son travail. Peut-être les AFA 2011 vont marquer le début d'un changement, finalement. Il serait grand temps, je trouve ...

some glimpses at Michaela Buerger's first accessory collection for men for fw11 - wow!

... sebbene l'annuale FESTIVAL DELLA MODA E DELLA FOTOGRAFIA a Vienna si celebri nei primi giorni di giugno, l'evento di lancio ha avuto luogo la settimana scorsa - ed venne completo con sfilata del marchio MARIOS SCHWAB, il celeberrimo austriaco a Londra. A questa occasione e ovviamente come prima tappa di WARM-UP sono stati presentati i nomi dei nominati a questa edizione dei AUSTRIAN FASHION AWARDS. Felicitazioni a tutti, eccovi la lista dei nominati, seguita da due piccole osservazioni: i finalisti per il premio di moda del ministero della cultura sono George Bezhanishvili (già così spesso menzionato su ParisVienne...) e Manuela Baumgartner; i nominati per il premio della città di Vienna sono i labels MESHIT e DIPTYCH, ambedue fondati da un duo di stiliste: Lena Krampf e Ida Steixner per meshit, Ali Zedtwitz e Valerie Lange per Diptych; e poi c'è il premio per INTERNATIONAL PR, le finaliste sono Christina Berger e Michaela Bürger. Auguro il meglio a tutti i finalisti, ma volevo ancora raggiungere che sono contento che vediamo ancora, qualche volta, dei nuovi nomi apparire nel contesto viennese, cioè il caso di MANUELA BAUMGARTNER che, dopo aver studiato all'Università delle Arti Decorative a Vienna, ha fondato la sua griffe nel 2009. E poi, il caso di MICHAELA BUERGER è tutt'altro: lei, per me, è senza dubbio in questo momento la stilista austriaca con la più grande presenza internazionalmente, e non sarei sorpreso se lei ce la facesse di diventare davvero grande un giorno. Da quando ha cominciato a lavorare in Francia nel 2006 (mi pare), si è imposta con la sua propria collezione ma anche grazie ai progetti (continui) realizzati per maison Fabre, Anne Valérie Hash e Mühlbauer a Vienna. Il fatto che lei è appena stata nominata per me rappresenta una prima tappa ad un più ampio riconoscimento anche in Austria ...

20110410

CONCRETE forms


... Sunday is the perfect day for taking a walk, isn't it? Well, as they say, there's no accounting for taste, nor, apparently, for concepts of what a weekend could be like. Therefore, let's say, it's not always easy to decide what to do on a weekend when the weather is good and SOME PEOPLE would just love to run outside while OTHERS are a bit more reluctant about too ambitious ideas for excursions of any kind. ANYHOW, we recently found just the right destination that met everybody's expectations, we went South, to Vienna's 23rd district, and visited the church of the Holy Trinity erected in the 1970s according to plans conceived by the famous Austrian sculptor Fritz Wotruba. A really marvellous building, I should think, which reminded me the slightest little bit of Niemeyer's daring (albeit somewhat repetitive...) architecture in Brasilia and of course the endlessly wonderful building that houses the library, art collection and concert hall of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, right opposite the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, where I was lucky enough to spend a year as an exchange student, but that's a totally different story of course. Ah, yes, and another thing that I wanted to say - you'll find it as little surprising as I did when I was there that the curch was literally besieged by photographers-to-be, right? ...


... quand il fait beau, après des mois et des mois de froid et de jours où il ne fait pratiquement jamais jour, on s'apprête vite vite à quitter la maison et, disons, à faire une petite excursion. PAR EXEMPLE, en parlant de Vienne, on pourrait, et c'est bien ce que nous avons fait la semaine dernière, prendre la direction Sud vers le 23ème arrondissement viennois et visiter l'église de la Sainte Trinité conçue par le fameux (enfin, sur place...) sculpteur autrichien Fritz Wotruba dans les années 70, peu avant sa mort, survenue en 75 effectivement. J'ai adoré la construction (même si on voyait clairement que le béton était déjà en train de céder sous le poids de ses trente ans), et elle m'a un peu rappelé les bâtiments dessinés par Oscar Niemeyer que j'ai vus à Brasilia, et, bien sûr, le merveilleux édifice qui abrite la Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian à Lisbonne, juste en face de la Faculté des Sciences Humaines de l'Universidade Nova de Lisboa dans le site avenida de Berna, où j'ai eu la chance de passer une année en tant qu'étudiant étranger. Et sinon, ouais, à Vienne, la semaine dernière, l'église, elle, était entourée de jeunes photographes ambitieux cherchant le bon angle, la parfaite prise de vue. Un tout petit peu, j'ai fait semblant d'être un d'eux ...


... siccome ho appena imparato la parola CALCESTRUZZO, devo subito utilizzarla: la settimana scorsa, siamo andati a visitare (sì, infatti, persino nella città dove si vive da più di quindici anni ci sono ancora dei canti da scoprire) la chiesa della Santa Trinità a Mauer, nel Sud di Vienna. La chiesa è stata progettata dallo scultore Fritz Wotruba negli anni settanta, poco prima della sua morte, che avvenne nel '75. Ora, la chiesa consiste di blocchi di calcestruzzo (appunto, ogni nuova parola si dovrebbe ripetere sette volte per essere davvero memorizzata, mi hanno detto in facoltà...) di taglia variabile, e la costruzione, molto impressionante (che attrae anche un grande numero di giovani fotografi che cercano l'angolo perfetto, dunque, per dirlo con Henri Cartier Bresson, "l'angle décisif"...) mi ha ricordato tanti edifici che ho visto a Brasilia, dunque i lavori di Niemeyer (non tanto l'imparagonabile museo eretto da lui a Niterói, vicino a Rio de Janeiro, bellissimo!), ma anche il museo della Fondazione Gulbenkian a Lisbona, accanto alla facoltà di lettere dell'Universidade Nova de Lisboa dove ho passato un anno come studente Erasmus, tanti anni fa, un edifico anche lui fatto interamente di calcestruzzo (terza volta!), e progettato da Alberto Pessoa, Pedro Cid e Ruy de Athouguia ...

20110408

BODY spikes

all visuals: screenshots from Eberharter's TOTEM video ...

... Austrian jewellery designer Andreas Eberharter/AND_i so assiduously made everyone aware of his new image video via Facebook that I COULDN'T HELP IT and HAD TO CHECK IT OUT, and so I found out that this is definitely a nice piece of fashion film (directed by Markus Gasser and produced by "Die Filmemacher" - as it were, we featured them in the newspaper last week...). The video is called TOTEM (or the collection? or both?), and Eberharter is definitely wise to keep on doing what brought him to the attention of Lady Gaga and the likes in the first place: show pieces such as skull-masks (I had very clear MUGLER déjà vu moments there, MEMENTO MORI and everything...) and eye-patches or spiked helmets and armours (in that case Lisbeth Salander came to my mind). Good job, and the US are definitely a market eager to welcome Mr. Eberharter ...



... puisqu'il a très assidument éveillé l'intérêt de ses fans sur Facebook, Andreas Eberharter, créateur de bijoux tout à fait extraordinaires du label AND_i, a bien mérité une petite mention dans ce blog, car j'ai regardé la vidéo qu'il vient de faire produire (dirigée par Mark Gasser suivant un concept élaboré par Eberharter lui-même - d'ailleurs je trouve intéressant que le créateur ait choisi de collaborer avec ALEX WIEDERIN pour le concept graphique, Wiederin est bien sûr l'un des mieux connus Autrichiens à New York...) et je l'ai beaucoup aimée. Enfin, il continue à faire ce qu'il fait le mieux et ce qui lui a valu l'attention de plusieurs vedettes (genre Lady Gaga ...), à savoir des bijoux à être portés sur scène ou au moins, à des occasions très très spéciales. Sinon, les masques-crânes m'ont fait penser aux défilés de la maison Mugler qu'on vient de voir, et le casque ainsi que l'armure à épines m'ont vaguement rappelé la VERY WONDERFUL Lisbeth Salander ...


... tutti i lettori di VOGUE ITALIA hanno già avuto l'occasione di familiarizzarsi con il lavoro di Andreas Eberharter, designer dietro al marchio AND_i che esiste da qualche anno e ha conosciuto un successo fulgurante nelle ultime stagioni, grazie alla diligenza e all'intelligenza dello stilista che ha trovato una via d'accesso a una WORLD STAR come la ormai un po' over-exposed Lady Gaga con i suoi gioielli da esser portati sul palcoscenico. Continua a fare ciò che sa fare meglio di tutto, e per mettere in scena la sua ultima collezione TOTEM ha scelto di realizzare un video tipo FASHION FILM (che si trova sul suo sito ed è stato diretto da Mark Gasser), con qualche momento che mi ricorda l'estetica della protagonista della trilogia di gialli svedese scritta da Stieg Larsson, LISBETH SALANDER, e un po' le sfilate della maison Mugler che abbiamo appena visto a Parigi. Bello lo stesso ...

20110406

TILDA, CATHERINE and the "potiches"

screenshots from the "Potiche" trailer, directed by François Ozon, starring Catherine Deneuve

... I guess the thing about being a film DIVA is that your reputation, charm and of course your endless beauty easily outshine a not so brilliant performance when necessary. Anyhow, a film you're starring in will get a lot of attention because of your appearance, regardless of whether it deserves it or not. Such is the case, in my opinion, with POTICHE, François Ozon's latest not-so-much-of-a-masterpiece with which he finally proves that he is really UNABLE to do decent cinema (he has always been very much into props and costume... this time he overdoes it a little bit...), and, maybe to a lesser degree, with IO SONO L'AMORE (the film came out in Austria in early 2010, I am aware of the fact that it was produced almost two years ago and that I'm a little late on commenting). Catherine Deneuve as well as Tilda Swinton are the BIG NAMES that provide a lot of interest, and they are of course very fashionable women who mingle with the fashion flock. As a consequence, they are also magnificent billboards for product placement. A look at Potiche: isn't it (from a marketing point of view!!!) genial for ADIDAS that ever so glamorous Catherine Deneuve wears their vintage tracksuits, yes, Catherine Deneuve, best friend and muse of Yves Saint Laurent (TUXEDO!!!) in his heyday and definitely not the highstreet fashion kind of person... As for Swinton, in the first few scenes of the film directed by Luca Guadagnino (Raf Simons was involved in costume design for the film, a whiff of the current Jil Sander collection is certainly there ...), she constantly carries Hermès shopping bags, when climbing the DUOMO DI MILANO for example, or when visiting her (quite obnoxious mother-in-law) - that's so obvious and so clumsy that I had to start asking myself whether she does it like those women who carry around their GROCERY SHOPPING in a bag with the name of a luxury brand stamped onto it ...

"QUANDO SONO ARRIVATA A MILANO, HO DOVUTO IMPARARE A ESSERE ITALIANA" ... Swinton's Italian with an English accent is really ravishing ... not to mention her pidgin Russian ... uhu?
screenshot from the "Io Sono l'Amore" trailer, directed by Luca Guadagnino, starring Tilda Swinton

... je n'étais déjà pas fan du film AMORE (Io sono l'amore) dirigé par Luca Guadagnino et qui vivait de l'apparition de la grandiose (c'est-à-dire : en général, dans ce film-là elle ne m'a pas convaincu en tant qu'actrice, ni par son italien au pseudo-accent russe, ni par son russe à l'accent, euhm, écossais ?) Tilda Swinton (think Pomellato ? think right ...), je le suis encore beaucoup moins de la dernière oeuvre de François Ozon, POTICHE (le film vient de sortir en Autriche, c'est pour cela que j'en parle ici...). Pourquoi les comparer ? Eh ben, parce que les deux films vivent de l'apparition d'une vraie vedette, Tilda Swinton d'un côté, et Catherine Deneuve d'un autre, et dans les deux films, les costumes occupent un rôle très important (si c'est Raf Simons qui a collaboré à AMORE, POTICHE vit d'une esthétique décidément "vintage). Génial pour certaines marques, je dois dire (et je ne parle même pas de la similitude dans le choix de couleurs des vêtements portés par Tilda Swinton et la collection printemps/été 2010 de Jil Sander, savamment assurée par Mr. Simons). Ainsi, Mme Swinton porte constamment des sacs en plastique(et en cuir, naturellement) signés Hermès dans les premières scènes de AMORE, elle nous signale donc où elle vient de faire son shopping, et Madame Deneuve, eh ben ouais, on la voit en survêtements ADIDAS à plusieurs reprises - la Denevue en adidas, là aussi, c'est l'un des effents de la vague de BEST AGING qui se déploie sur nos têtes, hein ? ...

screenshot from the "Io Sono l'Amore" trailer, directed by Luca Guadagnino, starring Tilda Swinton - I swear that there's a Hermès shopping bag tucked away somewhere on the sofa ...

... ho visto recentemente - e lo so che sono usciti in Italia e in Francia tanto tempo fa, ma lo saprete sicuramente quanto tardano certi film finché escano all'estero - IO SONO L'AMORE (di Luca Guadagnino) e POTICHE (di François Ozon). Nessuno dei due mi ha convinto, anzi, POTICHE è stato una grande delusione perchè è stato l'ultima prova che Ozon non è più capace di fare film buoni, no, scusate, SOPPORTABILI. L'opera di Guadagnini è stata un po' meglio, ma non tanto. E tutti e due vivono, almeno per ciò che si tratta della pubblicità, dell'apparizione di GRANDI SIGNORE, cioè Tilda Swinton e Catherine Deneuve. Se l'effetto dello strano italiano parlato dalla Swinton (all'accento che si vuole russo, siccome, come lo dice lei stessa nel film, "quando sono arrivata a Milano ho dovuto imparare a essere italiana") impedisce che si sviluppi l'immagine di un carattere convincente, il problema della Deneuve è che, a 68 anni, si è fatta iniettare non so che cosa e ovviamente dappertutto, e ciò certamente non facilita il suo lavoro di attrice. Comunque, due grandiose attrici, due film, e un po' di moda, un po' di product placement. Non parlo neanche del lavoro di Raf Simons in IO SONO L'AMORE ma piuttosto dell'apparizione, qui e lì e costantemente, di certi marchi. Ad esempio tutte queste buste firmate HERMÈS portate ovunque dalla Swinton (forse con dentro la sua merenda?), sia sul Duomo di Milano sia dalla sua cattiva suocera. E la Deneuve? Come se fosse credibile che stesse facendo il suo workout (la Deneuve pare abbia del male a muoversi...), porta delle tute di ginnastica ADIDAS. Inverosimile, no? Oppure semplicemente un regalo marketing alla generazione dei BEST AGERS di cui ci parlano da tutte le parti? ...

20110404

BEAUTIFUL buzzing BARCELONA

furniture by Andreas Thaler - an explosion of flashy (80s?) colours and dissolution of shapes

... I was lucky enough to spend a day in Barcelona recently where I attended the opening of the exhibiton INGENIO SORPRENDENTE, which showcased an interesting mix of designers, global brands and highly innovative technology companies from Austria. The whole thing was organised, financed and put together by the Austrian Foreign Trade Promotion Organization (phew! what an overly complex term, and on a Sunday at that!!!) - the Barcelona-based office is directed by Robert Punkenhofer, who selected the designers and brands that took part in the exhibition hosted by the Fomento de las Artes y del Diseño in Barcelona. FAD director Viviana Narotzky told me that she considered this mélange to be very interesting since it may well attract the attention of any Catalan woman familiar with the Austrian brand Wolford (also part of the show), which basically means ALL CATALAN WOMEN, as well as design aficionados drawn in by the quality of experimental, playful, even radical design objects. Well ... I also had the chance to talk to Isabel Roig, who directs the Barcelona Centro de Diseño, an institution that closely collaborates with companies which it tries to convince of the advantages of working with creative people.

also on display: jewellery by Andreas Eberharter/AND_i

Isabel sees the potential of such group exhibitions based on local identities since "local identities grow ever more important as the overall economy becomes more global". Needless to say that I was also very happy to be in Barcelona (a city I am rather familiar with since it occupies a very prominent place in my STILL TO BE WRITTEN doctorate) for the occasion, for a little Medditerranean breeze is JUST what you need to start your spring in style, don't you think ? ...

a rather interesting solution for the display of Wolford stockings - did you know that the Vienna branch of Madame Tussauds opened a few days ago? maybe that was an inspiration, who knows ...

... j'ai eu la chance de pouvoir assister à l'ouverture d'une exposition dédiée au design, à la technologie et à l'innovation autrichiens il y a quelques jours, et ce, à BARCELONE, oui, la capitale catalane, tellement MODERNE, tellement radicalement modifiée lorsqu'elle a accueilli les JEUX OLYMPIQUES en 1992. Depuis, pas de doute là-dessus, c'est une des villes-phares en Europe pour la créativité (et le savoir-vivre méditerranéen du côté nord du Mare Nostrum). Bon. Alors plein de choses à voir, dans le cadre de INGENIO SOPRENDENTE, une expo réalisée dans le Fomento de las Artes y del Diseño, dirigé par Viviana Narotzky. J'ai eu l'occasion de parler un peu avec Viviana, c'était très amusant, et intéressant, elle était retournée en Espagne après avoir passé de longues années à Londres où elle travaillait à la fac. L'occasion de diriger la division de design industriel du FAD s'offrait à elle lors de son retour, et elle était contente de pouvoir donner une nouvelle orientation à sa carrière tout en restant fidèle au domaine du design.

flying (Thonet) chairs, staged by Liquid Loft

Le fait d'acccuieillir une expo dédiée à la production créative d'un seul pays, dans ce cas-là l'Autriche, lui paraissait tout à fait pertinent vu que, à son avis, la réalité physique qui entoure une personne a une influence sur le travail que cette personne fait et que, aussi, l'histoire culturelle de chaque pays comprend des épisodes et des étapes qui assurent une certaine identité locale, même esthétique, à long terme ...

who said that a soother can't be no aesthetic masterpiece? the ones on display are by the Austrian brand MAM

... por una sola vez, voy a añadir un parágrafo en castellano en vez del italiano al cual os habráis ya acostumbrado, vosotros, lectores asiduos e incansables de ParisVienne. Bueno, la verdad es que lo hago porque estuve en España hace unos días, y para ser más exacto, en Cataluña, en Barcelona. Fui allí porque se abrió una exposición intitulada INGENIO SORPRENDENTE que reune varias posiciones de diseñadores austriacos, de marcas muy conocidas de Austria (como KTM, Swarovski o Wolford por ejemplo - marcas que, me lo comentaron varias personas con quienes he hablado, son muy conocidos en España pero no necesariamente reconocidas o identificadas como siendo austriacas ...) y algunos ejemplos de empresas altamente innovativas (como AVL o Böhler Uddeholm). Ingenio Soprendente fue realizado por la división internacional de la cámara de comercio austriaca, y además de ser acogido por el Fomento de las Artes y del Diseño/FAD, hubo también un partenariado con el Barcelona Centro de Diseño/BCD, la institución con el objetivo de relacionar los creativos con las empresas y de hacer realizar las empresas las ventajas de una colaboración estrecha y eficaz con diseñadores u otros creativos.

artsy (and rather hairy) pieces created by Dejana Kabiljo;
and an installation created by artist Gilbert Bretterbauer


Además de encontrar a diseñadores austriacos como Dejana Kabiljo, al artista Gilbert Bretterbauer o a Harald Gründl/EOOS, encontré también a la directora del FAD, Viviana Narotzky. Ella me comentó que algunas de las marcas presentes en la exposición son de hecho muy conocidas en España, por ejemplo Wolford, "que todas las mujeres de Barcelona conocen muy bien" y que así se puede esperar que habrá un efecto de visibilización para las otras posiciones estéticas menos conocidas a través de una difusión mas amplia. También tuve la ocasión de hablar con Isabel Roig que dirige el BCD y que, por eso, es también responsable de la organización de Barcelona Design Week en octubre. No sólo hablamos de la creciente importancia de las identidades locales en el contexto de una economía cada vez más global, mundializada, me comentó también que es posible, gracias a una colaboración con la cámara de comercio austriaca, que Austria será el primer país invitado de Barcelona Design Week desde que existe este evento - eso tambien es un ejemplo de ser ingeniosos, ¿no os parece? ...

the lounger "Sun Cloud" created by Austrian designers EOOS for Dedon;
and again those legs growing from the ground, I obviously felt very attracted to them ...