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We're All About Italy

Style

Hey, Gucci! What's this Got to Do With Fashion?

3/19/2019

4 Comments

 
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In recent years,the fashion shows in Milano are getting more and more bizarre--even disturbing. One has to ask, "What does this have to do with presenting great style?" Nothing. It's shock value to grab cheap attention. Perhaps this attitude has always been around concerning high fashion, going back to Helmut Newton's often bloody and kinky photographic scenarios back in the 60s and seventies, for example.

But what point was Gucci trying to make with having models carrying their own heads, walking past medical examination tables or having deadpan faced models carry dead baby dragons?

What ever happened to beauty, elegance, classic style and timelessness?

--GVI
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Deadpan expressions, or just plain dead?
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Gucci must be a fan of old Twilight Zone Episodes.
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"Ok, George... let me squeeze the bunny... er... the dragon."
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Watch the film, The Water Horse to see how we are supposed to treat dragons.
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A David Bailey shot to sell a summer print dress... is he dead?
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Helmut Newton's way of selling lingerie
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The classic way to present lingerie--a murder scene by Helmut Newton
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Moda di Natale, 2018

12/24/2018

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The Tower of Peretti: Tuscan Tower Filled with Fantasy

4/28/2018

1 Comment

 
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Elsa Peretti danced the night away at Manhattan's Studio 54 during her days as a top fashion model. But she also is a jewelry designer and philanthropist. A lover of architecture, she is also largely responsible for the restoration of the village of Sant Martí Vell in Catalonia, Spain. Through her foundations, she supports a wide variety of cultural, social, and artistic causes. One of her more artistic endeavors proved to be a real challenge... 
Peretti's La Torre was a ruin of  a watchtower on the steep and craggy cliffs of Southern Tuscany--it was hardly a typical beachfront villa. Built by Spanish invaders in the 16th-century as a military lookout between the Tuscan archipelago and the island of Corsica, its remote setting appealed to Peretti but its decrepit condition was daunting. The tower contained awkward, spartan interiors with thick stone walls, cell-like rooms and thin slits as windows. Milanese architect Renzo Mongiardino helped change all that.
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The design could go take one of two possible paths: honoring the structure and its spartan shapes with whitewashed walls, simple wooden furniture and mattresses on the floor, or creating a three-dimensional fairy tale tower with tromp l’oeil effects.
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One of the main features is a fireplace mantle created by a copy of a gaping, monstrous mouth, inspired by the sculptures found at the 16th-century Bomarzo Garden of Monsters. Tromp l’oeil columns, pediments, and vines emphasize the fairy-tale-like quality of the tower, taking it back into the 17th century. Some of the effects include distorting perspective to make the spaces appear more spacious than they actually are.  Mongiardino designed the tower sitting room as a “Roman ruin” with trompe l’oeil coffered ceiling opening to sky.  The patterned floor incorporates terra-cotta, wood and marble.
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The influence of Bomarzo Gardens is obvious
1 Comment

Who Says a Casalinga Can't Be Sexy?

11/21/2017

1 Comment

 
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Christy Turlington for Vogue
Casalinga trimming the veggies.
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Photo by Pasquale Abbisttista for ELLE
Getting the shopping done.
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Superga, American Vogue, 1996
Settling in for dinner
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photo by Vincent Peters
Mama.
1 Comment

Elements of Italian Style

11/21/2017

1 Comment

 
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1 Comment

Colin Firth is now an Italian citizen

11/21/2017

0 Comments

 
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PictureLivia Giuggioli
from HelloGiggles:

Mr. Darcy would be shocked. Because Colin Firth is now an Italian citizen. He obtained dual citizenship because of Brexit — Britain’s plan to exit the European Union — and the political “uncertainty” that is happening across Europe. He was able to obtain citizenship because he’s married to Italian film producer Livia Giuggioli. Firth decided to make the move because his wife and their two children already have Italian citizenship. Both their kids were born in Rome, so they have dual citizenship. And now Firth does, too.
“We never really thought much about our different passports,” Firth told the BBC. “But now, with some of the uncertainty around, we thought it sensible that we should all get the same.”

READ MORE HERE...


0 Comments

The Most Beautiful and Sexy Italian Women

11/20/2017

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Maria Grazia Cucinotta: an Italian actress who has featured in films and television, also a film producer, screenwriter and model. Best known for her roles in Il Postino and as a Bond girl in the The World Is Not Enough.
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Monica Belluci: Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Malena, Matrix: Reloaded
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Caterina Murino: born in Cagliari, Sardinia, and initially wanted to be a doctor. She has appeared on stage in Shakespeare productions and as a Bond Girl.
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Carla Bruni-Sarkozy: an Italian-French singer-songwriter and model, married to Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France.
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Giada Di Laurentis: an Italian-born American chef, writer, and television personality
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Asia Argento: an Italian actress, singer, model, and director.
Argento is best known for the role of Yelena in the action film xXx.
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Elisabetta Canalis: was born in Sassari, Sardinia and is a dancer,
television hostess and actress.
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Sara Tommasi: an Italian actress and television personality known
for dating soccer stars and posing nude.
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Melita Toniolo: born in Treviso, she is a film actress.
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Vanessa Hessler: an Italian-American model and actress since she was 15. Hessler has appeared in many publications throughout Italy, Germany and France.
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Is Alyssa Milano Really the "Sexiest Actress Alive"?

10/10/2017

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Then
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Now
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According to the so-called "experts" at Glamour magazine, she is--for the second year in a row. The 44 year old Alyssa Milano is known more recently for her role on the television series Charmed, and back in 1984 (to a whole different generation) in Who's the Boss with Tony Danza (Lord, that's a long time ago). Earlier, she started her career at 7 years old with a role in Annie on Broadway.

I mean, yes. For a 44 year old actress, she's held up well. But using a critical eye she's a bit worn at the edges. For instance, her make-up has gotten heavier and heavier over the years--along with her hips. Speaking as a photographer, her best looks are done as still shots in the studio using what we in the industry call "beauty lighting", with large banks of flat lighting that mask any age lines. Before being printed, retouching is the norm. To check out her "sexiest" looks in a critical way, look for shots captured candidly on the street with natural lighting, or harsh on-camera flash shots done by paparazzi.


Ok, here's my choices, but not for "Sexiest Actress Alive". That's a pretty tall order. Instead, my list for actresses over 40....
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Marisa Tomei
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Naomi Watts
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Salma Hayek
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Jennifer Connelly
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Tea Leoni
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Cate Blanchette
--Jerry Finzi
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Vespa: Fuel Injected Chic

9/27/2017

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Besides just being the cutest means of transportation on the Planet Earth, the Vespa Piaggio is now planning to introduce fuel-injection technology across its entire model range in the near future. Currently, the Vespa scooters get an old-school carburetor. With a carburator a Vespa (depending on the size of the engine) should get between 60 and 90 miles per gallon! With fuel injection, it can only get better. And depending on the model, you can go Slow Italy style at a top speed of 40 mph, or if you're more the Ferrari type, up to 80 mph on the larger models.
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Roman Holiday
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1960s Vespa chic with Anthony Perkins
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Using a Vespa to rediscover life
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Liev Schreiber on his Vespa
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When you see a Vespa in an old B&W film, you get all warm and fuzzy and romantic. You might even think of how Gregory Peck got driven all around Rome with Audrey Hepburn's precocious princess character (Roman Holiday) doing the driving... and the famous scene where they put their hands into the mouth of La Bocca della Verita (The Mouth of Truth, GVI's mascot!).

When you see the newer breed of chic jelly bean colored scooters, you think, "Sexy, hot, chic! I want one!" You might have also seen the Italian film Ciao Diario (Goodbye Diary), in which director and actor takes a Voyage of discovery on his trusty Vespa to cure his discontent--much as Ulysses (in Greek, Odysseus) did. As Tennyson put it in his poem, "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield". Perhaps a Vespa is just what you need to look at your life from a different perspective--while having loads of fun.

The first time I was ever on a Vespa was in my early twenties, popping the clutch and nearly flattening the thing against a parking garage wall. I was always more of a motorcycle guy anyway. I never got the hang of having to keep both feet flat on the floorboards of a scooter... preferring the horse straddling riding style of a motorcycle instead. But lately, I've been waxing poetic about trying a Vespa for myself... as classic as pizza Margarita, gelato or Bolognese!
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Emma Stone & Andrew Garfield in Rome
Here's a sampling of Vespa models and what they'll set you back...
  • 2017 Vespa GTV 300 ABS from $6,999 -$7,599
  • 2017 Vespa GTS 300 Super Sport ABS. $6,799.
  • 2017 Vespa GTS 300 Super ABS. $5,099.
  • 2017 Vespa Primavera 150 ABS. $3,799.
  • 2017 Vespa Primavera 50. $5,099.
  • 2017 Vespa Primavera 150 ABS Touring. $5,499.
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This Vespa GTV 300 is all tricked out with luggage racks, windscreen and 2-piece seat

A Brief History of Vespa
The first Vespa scooter was produced in 1946 by Enrico Piaggio. Inspired by the Cushman scooters used by the American military during WWII, designer Corradino D'Ascanio first produced a scooter design for Ferdinando Innocenti (Lambretta), but after a disagreement, took his design to Enrico Piaggio, an aircraft manufacturer. Vespa, meaning "wasp" in Italian, was attributed to Piaggio's first sight of the design, exclaiming that it looked like a wasp. Production started in December 1946.

But if you want a genuine feel-good reason to get a Vespa, check out the collaboration between Piaggio Group and (RED)®, which has created Euro 4 VESPA 946-RED, a Vespa clad in shiny red, designed to benefit the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, promoted by the organization founded in 2006 by Bono and Bobby Shriver. For every VESPA 946-RED purchased, $150 will go to the Global Fund to fight AIDS with (RED)®, which can provide more than 500 days of lifesaving HIV medication to help prevent a mother living with HIV from passing the virus to her unborn baby. Forget chic.... this is just plain solid! And how's a 90+ mph top speed and

The Vespa also joined with fashion guru Giorgio Armani to produce a version of the 946 called the Emporio Armani, but when I weigh whether I'd rather have some of my cash go into Armani's very full pockets or toward helping the helpless of the world... well, there's only once choice. What goes around comes around, you know?

--Jerry Finzi
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The retro look of the Vespa 946-RED
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1946 Vespa 98, the first Vespa and inspiration for the 946-RED
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Madonna's Birthday in Puglia: Not so much Like a Virgin

8/17/2017

0 Comments

 
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Madonna wearing a Dolce and Gabbana floral dress while with her 11 year old son
To be honest, when my wife Lisa and I were first getting to know each other, I used to hide her Madonna CDs under the front seat of her car where she couldn't find them. I never really liked Madonna or the nasal sound of her voice. I also though her dancing was pedantic at best. But when I heard about her spending her 59th birthday in Puglia, I thought perhaps there's hope for her celebrity soul yet. Puglia is one of the most interesting and beautiful places on the planet, and one of the most under-rated regions of Italy.
PictureHeading to church wearing Dolce and Gabanna
Nowadays, she juggles her jet-setting lifestyle, aging music career and six kids, always with entourage in tow. She is known for taking whirlwind birthday voyages and this past summer was no exception... she spent her 59th in Puglia. She does have some nerve, though... The 16th of August is MY birthday. I'm supposed to be the special one on that day. (My son Lucas' was born just before midnight on August 15th). I should have been enjoying my birthday in Puglia--not her.

Sometimes still a Catholic, she was even seen taking in a visit to a church in the baroque city of Lecce with her son and twin daughters tagging along--a white sweater covering her shoulders, as is the custom for women in Italian churches. The sweater also covered her very expensive Dolce & Gabanna floral print dress, too.

Well, "Mamma didn't preach" when they went to church, and afterwards par-tayd all night long at a huge outdoor birthday party where she arrived on top of a white stallion who appeared very happy to see her, nudge, nudge, say no more...

Later in the evening when everyone was considerably loosened up with local Primativo wine, she danced an odd flamenco to the southern pizzica (similar to the tarantella) music and the beat of the tamborello. Happy birthday, fellow Leo.

(Wondering if those old CDs got traded in with that car...)

--Jerry Finzi
How to Achieve an Even Better Look... for much less cash.
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Madonna's Dolce & Gabanna for thousands
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Similar and sunnier for $40 at H&M
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J. Crew packable for $55 vs Madonna's $500 Panama
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Piatto Shopper tote for hundreds rather than thousands
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An Amalfi Lemon tote from Target
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