Thursday, February 28, 2013

Milan: MFW – Corso Como 10 and Galleria Carla Sozzani - Alfa Castaldi - Anna Piaggi - Chloe Edition Anniversaire



 Photograph courtesy Galleria Carla Sozzani

Milan: MFW – Corso Como 10 and Galleria Carla Sozzani celebrate Alfa Castaldi, Anna Piaggi and Chloe Edition Anniversaire.  Upstairs in the Galleria Carla Sozzani an extensive retrospective of the photographer Alfa Castaldi, until March 30th. Whilst downstairs in the Corso Como 10 concept store, a cocktail party was held for the late Anna Piaggi and Chloe Edition Anniversaire event for a re-edition of a selection of sixteen emblematic pieces from the French fashion house, which celebrates it’s sixtieth birthday. The pop-up section features Anna Piaggi style statement signature pieces alongside illustrations by Antonio Lopez and photographs by Anna’s husband Alfa Castaldi.
Above: Anna Piaggi.


  Galleria Carla Sozzani – Alfa Castaldi.   Brilliant and Milanese, Alfa Castaldi was always seen as the sophisticated intellectual, the observer, the outsider when he sat with Ugo Mulas and Carlo Bavagnoli and the other artists and writers in the hot bed of intellectualism that burned at Bar Jamaica in the ‘50’s, where his first photographs were taken. 
Above: Alfa Castaldi self Portrait – 1975.

 
Photograph courtesy Galleria Carla Sozzani

Bar Jamaica – 1956

 Photograph courtesy Galleria Carla Sozzani

Moda – Firenze – 1958


Alfa Castaldi. Clearly destined for a career in the arts, he abandoned the traditional mediums to begin a lifelong exploration of photography. Taking his critical eye to Paris, London, Algeria and around Italy, he devoted himself to reportage. However, when he returned to Milan, he met Anna Piaggi, a feature writer for Vogue.   Anna encouraged him to use the vehicle of the fashion photograph as another means to explore his aesthetic vision. They were married in 1962 and their partnership would endure until Castaldi’s death in 1995.
 Above. Anna Piaggi – 1986.

 Photograph courtesy Galleria Carla Sozzani

 La Machine a Manger Les Huitres – Milano - 1972

 
Photograph courtesy Galleria Carla Sozzani

Alfa Castaldi. In the 80’s his shots for “Compagnia di Stile Popolare” convey both the fashion and analysis of the history of fashion for L’Uomo Vogue in an almost academic style unseen until Castaldi.
Above. Compagnia di Stile Popolare – Sardegna - 1980.
 
Photograph courtesy Galleria Carla Sozzani

Alfa Castaldi. His curiosity and need to understand the causes, as much as the results of things, has Castaldi going for “behind the scenes” reportage. From the inside, he is as likely to shoot the designers as the dresses, and his body of work, and more importantly his friendships, are reflected in the intimate portraits of Karl Lagerfeld, Ottavio and Rosita Missoni, Giorgio Armani, Laura Biagiotti, Andrea Branzi, Michele De Lucchi, the Fendi sisters, Gianfranco Ferre, Ettore Sottsass and many others.
Above.  GFT – Torino - 1983.

 
Alfa Castaldi. But his most enduring friendship was the one he shared with Anna Piaggi. The trust and fierce support they gave to each other is seen in this series of unknown, intimate photographs Castaldi took of Piaggi.
Above. Entomologia – Mugler  - Vogue D.P. – Milano – 1991.

 
 Geoffroy de La Bourdonnaye, CEO of Chloé and Carla Sozzani
 
 

Corso Como 10 – Chloe Edition Anniversaire.  A cocktail party was held in the Corso Como 10 concept store to commemorate the late Anna Piaggi and Chloe Edition Anniversaire. To mark the 60th anniversary celebrations, Chloé has re-issued sixteen of the archive’s most iconic pieces, which will be available at Corso Como 10.
 
A Chloe duck print silk cape with photos of Anna Piaggi wearing it in the background.


 Anna Piaggi wears Chloe


 
Corso Como 10. The Chloe Edition Anniversaire includes items such as Karl Lagerfeld’s Violin Dress of Spring/Summer 1983, Stella McCartney’s pineapple T-shirt of Spring/Summer 2001, the Paddington Bag introduced by Phoebe Philo in Spring/Summer 2005 and the cape and leather shorts by Hannah MacGibbon of Autumn/Winter 2009. 

 
 Paolo Castaldi


Corso Como 10. A section of the pop-up section of the Anna Piaggi Chloe Edition Anniversaire which includes drawings by Antonio Lopez and photographs of Anna Piaggi wearing Chloe by Alfa Castaldi.


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Milan: MFW – Marni Fall/Winter 2013-2014



Milan: MFW – Marni Fall/Winter 2013-2014. Strictness, texture, a sparse sense of melancholia all describe the new Marni collection which is austere, with a romantic edge. It plays with ideas of un-balanced balance: volume and flatness, severity and grace, opacity and shine. Protagonists are the precision of the lines, assertiveness of the cuts, density of the surfaces. They unfold and interact, creating an intangible narrative.

 
Marni’s Conseulo Castiglioni and American Vogue’s Anna Wintour

 

Marni Fall/Winter 2013-2014.  The silhouette is streamlined, to the knee or below, expressing an idea of romance with puritanical rigor. Volumes are exact and firm, flaring slightly from the waist down or falling straight. The body is both protected and offered in glimpses. Shorts bare legs under sculptural blousons; sleeveless coats and tops draw attention to the elongated delicacy of the arms.

 
Renzo Russo and Gianni Castiglioni


 

Marni Fall/Winter 2013-2014.  The masculine element is apparent and prevalent in the coats and jackets closed by zips as aviator attire, in the bonded leather jackets and cropped knife-pleat pants. It is lightened up by transparent slices hidden inside the folds of pleated skirts.


 

Marni Fall/Winter 2013-2014  - hair.  Hair stylist Paul Hanlon checks the models hair before they go out on the runway, “The hair is melancholy, masculine. A low side part.  It is dry looking sticking to the head.  Very weathered. I have put lots of mousse to dry the hair out.” He explains.  
  

 
Marni Fall/Winter 2013-2014 –make-up.  Makeup artist Tom Pecheux designed the makeup, “I was inspired by Sarah Moon’s photos.  The face is blurry, very pale matt skin. Smoky peach and taupe eyes with a little transparent gloss on top and below the eye.  The lips are smudged with a “dried blood” color.

 
Backstage at Marni


Marni Fall/Winter 2013-2014.   Fur is used profusely, as a graphic element or a color accent: a band on a skirt or a cape, long stoles, wide collars. Otherwise, it adds another layer of intricacy to the narrative weaving of textures: beaver, alpaca and longhaired shansi create an organic storm that works as tactile contradiction.  

 
 Carolina and Gianni Castiglioni

 

Marni Fall/Winter 2013-2014.  Prints are graphic yet atmospheric: branches, forests, landscapes intrigue the eye, suggesting backdrops and scenarios for other stories. The color palette is severe, with turbulent peaks: black, charcoal, deep blue, grey, touches of oily yellow and oxblood. Compact fabrics enhance the cuts: tweed, bonded velvet/leather, men's suiting wool, brushed mohair, felt, crêpe.    


Marni Fall/Winter 2013-2014 – the sunglasses.    Sunglasses conceal the eyes behind over sized round shapes with excavated details.



  Marni Fall/Winter 2013-2014 – the bags. Bags have an adventurous edge: softly streamlined angular rucksacks with padlock closures, geometric duffels, folded bags in leather and fur or clutches in craquelè napa leather with crystal embroideries. 


 
Marni Fall/Winter 2013-2014 – the shoes. Pragmatic accessories put the balance further off-kilter feel: calfskin or beaver riding boots; flat sandals; flats with metallic leather toes.


 
Backstage at Marni


Milan: MFW – WSJ. Magazine and Saks Fifth Avenue with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana party



Milan: MFW – WSJ. Magazine and Saks Fifth Avenue with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana party. WSJ. Magazine and Saks Fifth Avenue with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana party was held in the magnificent rooms of Palazzo Clerici.  Constructed in 1745 by the Clerici family who commissioned the famous Venetian artist Giovambattista Tiepolo to paint the ceilings of the palace's galleria, a false vault with trompe l'oeil and a gilded stucco frame, as well as dadoes painted with light blue landscapes.



WSJ. Magazine and Saks Fifth Avenue with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana party.  The dinner party was held to introduce and celebrate the WSJ’s Magazine neo editor in chief Kristina O’Neill.


WSJ’s Magazine neo editor in chief Kristina O’Neill and Sak Fifth Avenue’s Terron Schaefer.  O’Neill writes “In reimagining the magazine, we decided to celebrate what makes WSJ. Exceptional – innovative thinking about the people and ideas shaping our world, presented with simplicity and elegance.”


 
Orchids galore




Supermodel Karlie Kloss talks to Saks Fifth Avenue’s CEO, director and chairman Steve Sadove.  Karlie is featured in the WSJ. Magazine, in a story called “Meet the Parents –The Klosses”.

 
The legendary president of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana Mario Boselli and his wife Pucci.


 Editor, socialite, and style icon Shala Monrogue



With seven offices worldwide international PR Karla Otto talks to The Gentlewoman’s magazine art director Veronica Ditting and its editor in chief Penny Martin.


In the dinning room lit “a luci rosse” (red lights) Patrizia and Antonio Marras 



 And … more orchids