GENERAL | THE HARLOW

Enlarge

CUT THE RIBBON, HARDY AMIES

Posted on May 13, 2013 by admin

Sir Hardy Amies, born in London in 1909, was maybe the most successful and long-lived English couturier. His never ending interest for design and good manners emerged in his teen years and were mainly inspired by his mother a saleswoman for Madame Gray at Machinka & May, London. He was so in love with his “fashion” mum that he soon adopted his mother’s maiden name, Hardy – and always cited her as the inspiration for his chosen professional path. What is making this man an unique designer and consequently a Cut The Ribbon ? To start with, his being wonderfully snob and wicked sense of humor gifted . Then because he was HM Queen Elizabeth II dresser from her accession to his retirement in 1989. But also because he was one of the founders of ready to wear clothing for men: in 1961, Amies made fashion history by staging the first men’s ready-to-wear catwalk shows, at the Savoy Hotel in London. In 1967, Amies was also commissioned by director Stanley Kubrick to design the costumes for film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Yes, you are reading it well. It was him that collaborated in making that film a classic and a futuristic example of style. Hyper active “English man” also found time, between running his Fashion house, the men line and several licences, to wrote a regular column for Esquire magazine about men’s fashion that in 1964 was published as a book: “ABC of Men’s Fashion” , a pearl of wisdom that Victoria & Albert Museum reissued after July 2009, the date when the Hardy Amies designer archive was opened and his legacy, once more, spread.

“A man should look as if he had bought his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care and the forgotten all about them”

Enlarge

LOT OF SHIBORI PLEASE

Posted on May 9, 2013 by admin

After a period in fashion, the shibori is entering in our houses. Shibori is a Japanese term for several methods of dyeing cloth with a pattern by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, compressing it, or capping. Some of these methods are known in the West as the tie and dye process. In Japan, the earliest known example of cloth dyed with a shibori technique dates from the 8th century; it is among the goods donated by the Emperor Shōmu to the Tōdai-ji in Nara. Until the 20th century, not many fabrics and dyes were in widespread use in Japan. The main fabrics were silk and hemp, and later cotton. The main dye was indigo and, to a lesser extent, madder and purple root. Contemporaryy Shibori is finding new vibe with Australian girls Pepa Martin and Karen Davis that found a common thread in textile design and the Japanese art of shibori. Have a look at their website for advices and ideas and why not….know better this fantastic way of creating your on blends.

http://www.shibori.com.au/

0fcba47beeabbf2ce4fcdb2f25d0b4bfff6862ad

Enlarge

WHEN DéCOR GETS SELECTIVE: G&T

Posted on May 7, 2013 by admin

We love, love, love this design. So first of all, thank you Bethan Gray! She is best known for her elegant, contemporary and most of all timeless design. She has the ability to mix luxury with natural materials. In her design, leather falls in love with marble which is already in love with wood.. the result is pure craftsmanship. Her sources of inspiration are many, from everyday objects to travel discoveries. At the same time, G&T is a furniture collection and collaboration between British Bethan Gray and industry furniture developer Thomas Turner. The result is pretty intriguing. From marble-topped coffee or side tables with solid wood base, to unique patterns, endless variety of wood options, leather, elegant brogue detailing. You just have to choose, so choose!

http://www.grayandturner.com

401px-Montabone,_Luigi_(18..-1877)_-_Firenze_-_Margherita_di_Savoia_(1851-1926)

Enlarge

CUT THE RIBBON, MARGHERITA OF SAVOY

Posted on May 6, 2013 by admin

We know this can sound pretty kinky for a niche CUT THE RIBBON but Queen Margherita of Savoy deserves one! The reason is that she ate the very first, modern pizza! Pizza used to be considered a peasant’s meal in the past. For centuries, food historians agree that pizza like dishes were eaten by many peoples in the Mediterranean including the Greeks and Egyptians. However, the modern pizza has been attributed to baker Raffaele Esposito of Naples. In 1889, Esposito who owned a restaurant called the Pizzeria di Pietro baked what he called “pizza” especially for the visit of Italian King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. Boasting the three colors of the Italian flag, red (tomatoes), white (mozzarella cheese) and green (basil), the pizza was thus invented. The pizza`s birthday was due to a celebration and a parade that local aristocrats had organized for Queen Margherita’s arrival. Escorted in a coach, she had started a tour at the San Carlo opera house and snaked through the narrow streets of the old Spanish Quarter, stopped briefly in Pizza Plebiscito, next to the royal palace, and then ended up in front of the pizzeria, where the `Margherita` was invented. The Queen’s pleasure over the peasant dish was so high that a national delightful italian flavour was born. Since then, billions of people eat pizza. Wasn’t it a pleasent cut the ribbon? Hurray for Queen Margherita!

Enlarge

CUT THE RIBBON, BETTY BOOP

Posted on April 29, 2013 by admin

A flapper, a cliché, a person with more heart than brain (is this a crime?). Many things have been said about Betty Boop but let us tell you, and this is a Cut The Ribbon, that she was “only” the first sex symbol ever existed. Yes, the very first woman to be desired by masses, and she was a cartoon created by the genius mind of Max Fleischer and Grim Natwick. Fleischer wanted to create a new character to insert in his “Talkartoons”, a starlette supposed to dance that was designed on the image of the then famous singer Helen Kane. Natwick, in the beginning, designed a french poddle with the head of a woman but then floppy eared mutated in hoop earrings and the black poddle nose into a girl’s button like perfect nose. Betty was born and she appeared as a supporting character before making her way as a solo star. Her debut is dated 9 August 1930: she soon become “The Queen of the Animated Screen”, the symbol of the depression era and a reminder of the previous, hilarious, jazz era. She was a modern teenager, officially aged 16. The first fully defined woman in a cartoon and the very first who wore a short black dress, high heels and a garter. Her head was designed like a baby head but her body, her body was a bomb. She was the sexy combination between girlishness and maturity. Ever thought the sweetheart Betty was a record holder? Well, like it or not, she was first in many things. Tolerant, happy and goodhearted, Betty is still one of the enduring brightest star of Hollywood.

Photo: Boop, Bimbo and a friend.

Enlarge

FLORACULT 2013

Posted on April 26, 2013 by admin

Promoted and organized by Ilaria Venturini Fendi and curated by Antonella Fornai, known expert of gardens, FloraCult is an event created to help bringing nature back to the center of culture, in an integration process which today is unthinkable. From today till April the 28^th, FloraCult will host three days of nature, plants, gardening, bio ethics, ideas. With a school for re-inventors which proposes the idea of the garden as contemporary contemplative realm to live most of the time. An open air class surrounded by an orientalist garden. A school that will teach how to draw plants, to read and catalog them. In collaboration with artists and botanical illustrators, photographers, orientalists who celebrate the tea ceremony, but also with young inventors of new codes of the contemporary. Go green!

www.floracult.com

Enlarge

QUE LINDO! MICOMOLER DESIGN

Posted on April 23, 2013 by admin

Loving design, means loving shapes, ideas, creations. We love when it happens in juxtaposing materials, textures and colors, we love it when different combinations of ideas become just beautiful pieces of art work. We like clean lines, the careful design, the craftsmanship that shapes wood or other natural materials. The Madrid-based design studio Micomoler combines the tradition and the contemporary creating crafty objects. Everything is versatile and what seems a storage or a light solution is actually just a beautiful piece of work. Many are the awards that they have achieved and many are the claps of our hands in front of their design. Bravo!