reBIRTH:

spring...is almost here. It is still cold in Switzerland. I am back from hiatus with no regrets. Only a deep desire to get back into it. Here I am peeking forward from my nest after hibernating in adventures and melodies.

Speaking of melodies, my good friend Loren Lopez, an absolutely brilliant + talented girl, just released her first album - BLUE CANDY. Loren's voice is at once luscious, soft, rich, and tender. But it has strength & power to it. A bit of a jazz edge that reminds one of luminous evenings in the 1920's when subtle elegance was key. It's available on iTunes and her single "British Attraction" just got picked up by MTV, Virgin, MCM (French MTV) etc. I am bursting with pride. We used to be peas in the 9-5 pod but she broke away and concentrated full time on music, her true love. She always would sing and do gigs at night or on weekends after her day job. Little by little, she worked her way into her dream. That's the best story I think. Not the overnight success that makes it all seem like luck. But the very adult, real world story of working to pay the bills while chipping away at your dream one layer at a time. For many of us this is the one and only action plan.

So I am here to let you in on a sweet masterpiece by an emerging artist. The director and creator of the video is also a young, emerging French talent. They created the video with pretty much no budget. Just friends, a couple of plane tickets GVA to LONDON, a rented British taxi cab in Grenoble, France (for the interior shots), and maniac cool ideas. Oh, and some wicked fierce style from Miss Lopez courtesy of Zara and H&M (yes that's right! It doesn't cost much to look goregous. Don't believe what you hear!) If you dream of love affairs in Paris, luscious adventures around the world, and being a techincolor girl in a black and white world...Loren's music will take you away and inspire you.

Welcome to Spring! We're so glad you are here.

LOREN LOPEZ - "British Attraction" music video
envoyé par amourangora. - Regardez la dernière sélection musicale.

ciao bella...

The song "Ciao Bella"...by Rose came out several years ago...but I thought it would be lovely to introduce her to you if you don't know her. Rose is a French singer and reminds me a lot of Lauren. This song is about the passage of time and shows her dancing between screens where she is a child again with her grandfather...I love the visual juxtaposition of her going from who she is now as if she is dancing between the present and the past...pretty cool. Ciao Bella!...have a lovely Sunday...

A Frenchman in Shanghai...

Lions of Puxi...just heard about a band from Shanghai, China and saw an inspired video that made me smile. Their songs are sung in everything from English to French and Chinese. Combining my love of travel, making a life for yourself doing what you love living abroad, and music...especially the little-known...thought I'd share...

Gauthier Roubichou, Lion's lead singer, originally from France, did a cover - "with apologies to Sting"- of "An Englishman in New York" as joke with his friends. It's totally taken off in China and the Lions of Puxi are now set to sing the official song of the Shanghai Expo in 2010. The song, "A Frenchman in Shanghai" features slightly altered lyrics about eating baguettes...drinking wine...etc. Lions of Puxi do funky songs in Chinese with reggae, funk & groove beats and are squarely situated in the heart of Shanghai's famous nightlife....

KONG...

starck beauty... all done up in lucite and floor-to-ceiling graphics. KONG in Paris, France sits atop the LVMH building. I was there the last time I was in the City of Lights with clients....it's been open for awhile and definitely worth checking out if you're in Paris.

The stunning pop art colors and gorgeous graphics juxtaposed against lucite and massive ceilings overlooking Paris takes your breathe away. So does the chubby, little sumo boy who greets you as you leave the unisex loo. 

Sumo boy takes up the entire wall by the bathroom sink. Makes you jolt to a stop at first, then...smile. ;) Kinda what you want from design. Everyone has their own opinion about Starck but I fell in love with the interior design, ambiance, and lovely drinks at KONG. Food's not bad either...

KONG

1 rue du Pont Neuf

75001 Paris

France

Tel. +33 (0)1 40 390 900

ALL PHOTOS: KONG 

playing dress up...

in the spirit of spring...(above) is a photo of designer Alber Elbaz of Lanvin which I love...this photo reflects his gentle inventiveness. (below) is a quote from Pamela Love, whose designs I also HEART very much. (Just got her bear ring & I wear it everday as a talisman...) 

"Francesco Clemente once said to me fashion is the quest for perfection and style is the acceptance of one’s flaws. I completely agree with this. I love style. I love seeing the way different people dress, how they put things together, how they deviate from the current trends, what they are referencing, and what this says about them and who they are. Style is a way of communication. Fashion has much more to do with money, retail and commercialism. You can buy fashion. You can’t buy style. It’s just something that is part of you. A girl can have style wearing a sweater she found in her mother’s closet and her boyfriend’s hat. It’s all about how you wear it and how you feel in what you wear." -- Pamela Love - NYC.

And, on the other side of the Atlantic...

just a little peek...at Pebbles London -- where stylists and well-known fashion designers go to get inspired and bring home exotic baubbles to mix and match with their collections. inspiring & fun...

The latest from Colette...wish I'd picked up The Selby's Paris exhibition book before it sold out...Colette always has something new and these helmets and shirt have me dreaming of zipping around on a moto or at least a moped this summer... :P

ALL PHOTOS: 

Lanvin

Pebbles London

Colettte

harlequin dreams...

anne valerie hash...reconstructs modern feminism from the str ucture of menswear and a kind of belle epoque beauty that mixes 80's super heroine fierceness in strong shoulders, hidden ruffles, and cinched waists. Her poetic opera of construction & grace mirrors a kind of romanticism and strength that reflect a modern girl's desire to be both feminine and at ease in her own personal sense of power. Perhaps it's Hash's eccentric, almost gothic beauty and origami like construction that has me both mesmerized and bemused. She's been a mainstay on the Paris fashion scene for handful of years. She started her first collection with very  minimal funds and has been deeply sought after every since. She recently held her "atelier de curiosites"exhibition at le palais royale in Paris along with publication of an exhibition book I am dreaming of owning....

ALL BLACK & WHITE PHOTOS: Fabrice Laroche

ALL COLOR PHOTOS (ABOVE) : Mixed plate of Anne Valerie Hash's 2008-2009 collections

LAST TWO COLOR PHOTOS (BOTTOM): 3 Suisses Collection by Anne Valerie Hash

yummy...seconds...

check! check! mate... if jan taminiau was serving up structured tiers of delicious tissued concontions, i would greedly ask for seconds! at least there is always another fashion season around the corner, another heady collection coming to inspire and spellbound me. taminiau is über-talented. i don't know how else to describe him. he interweaves fabrics in a meticulous and fluid way - mixing classical & innovative construction techniques - undoubtedly a reflection of his time spent training under greats like olivier theyskens and hubert barrere in paris (corsetiere to Dior, YSL, etc.). 

taminiau presents twice a year at paris fashion week and has featured installations at colette's in Paris.  taminiau's dutch hertiage mixes with cultures and influences from around the world both modern & antique. he recently launched his pret-a-porter line passe-partout SS09 and showed his couture collection check! check! mate. (see above). 

taminiau continuously seeks to bring forth the character of the wearer. he likes to leave behind what he calls the "fast-paced and fickle," modern world in order to return to something that is, in today's world, "almost a nostalgic source: security, respect for craftsmanship, and awareness of the importance of transience."

taminiau inspires with his blending of old and new, easy and tough. art inspires art no matter what it's form...whether it's your own finger painting with a child or music that helps you get up in the morning and go straight back into that 9-5 gig. taminiau inspires me to dream and sew again and write and to imagine a new image, a new thought, a new idea blending what has come before and never been done. he puts it best when he says, "i am continually translating the asymmetrical mirror of life." 

how lovely to do the same in our own lives. redefine what beauty and art and love and the best of ourselves is. what would our best look like?

jan taminiau 2008 collection below

ALL PHOTOS: Jan Taminiau

oh la! la! colette

chère colette...comment je vous aime! I've loved Colette ever since I first laid eyes on her back in 1999. I was studying at the Sorbonne in Paris when I heard of this lovely mother and daughter team who had just opened what essentially became one of the first concept stores in the world. They wanted a space that was filled with new designers from around the world....cutting edge fashion and accessories...unknown music groups and obscure design magazines. They installed an H2O bar... a big deal back then.. and within a year, all the fashion designers and models were flocking there like migratory birds during fashion week. It's been nearly 10 years now and although Colette is very much on the radar and no longer the *underground* spot it used to be...they still bring forth and rock the best mix tape of fascinating designs and limited editions....not to mention those obscure, cherry picked Colette compilation CDs. Chez Colette, it's always a delight to find hidden treasures not many people know about. Yet...

www.colette.fr - a classic then and now. If you peek closely, you may see Karl Lagerfeld or Agyness Deyn shopping in the background....

ALL PHOTO CREDITS: Colette