Since I’ve been in an opera frame of mind, why not this? Perche no? It will make you smile, I promise.
It’s November! Do you know where your flowers are?
Check out these hydrangeas still in bloom just beneath my bedroom window.
Of course the hydrangeas are not at their peak, as in this picture:
But what the heck! It’s November and I am happy with this view.
Paint chips and house painting.
What color should we paint our palazzo (this is in my fantasy life, not my real life)? So many choices, so little time.
Or, Maybe we should break out of the mold and paint the house like this.
Whad’ya think?
Pocket coffee??? Trick or Treat?!
DOLCETTO O SCHERZETTO? Treat or Trick to be literal in the translation!
I would never trick you, so let’s just instead look at some classic Italian sweets:
The standard Perugina baci or chocolate kiss with a hazelnut inside, wrapped in a multilingual love note. These love notes are written in either Italian, English, French, German, Greek, Spanish, or Portuguese. What a great way to eat chocolate!
Next, another oldie but goodie, the original Kinder Sorpresa, or Child Surprise, a milk chocolate hollow egg which is not specifically made for Easter, with a toy inside. This was my son’s favorite sweet treat growing up:
Next there is my favorite candy, torrone or nougat, a confection, typically made of honey, sugar, and egg white, with toasted almonds, pistachios other nuts. I love the pistachio torrone:
And then last but not least–and absolutely no trick–is the latest candy to sweep italia and soon the world in Pocket Coffee, a shot of espresso in a chocolate candy (now why didn’t I think of that?):
Happy Halloween!
When is an Ape not an ape?
When it is in Italian, of course! Italy has its Vespas (translation, hornet) and its Apes (bee)!
Here’s a fun post from AnAmericanainRome.com. She includes great pix so check out the original.
PIAGGIO APE OBSESSION
“Ape” means bee in Italian.
Ape means “adorable” to me.
Born out of necessity and ingenuity post-WWII, the Piaggio Ape is ubiquitous in Italy’s small towns, and even Rome’s smaller side streets.
When it was created in the late 1940s, it was essentially a Vespa with an extra back wheel and a board in the back to create a small flatbed.
Now with a tiny cab that sits exactly 1.5 people, it still is essentially a Vespa with an extra wheel and a flat bed.
It gets it’s name from the buzzing the tiny engine makes and it hustles around, from the vineyard to the bar and back again.
Some lovely lads from London turned their ape into a mobile Italian pizza oven. You can find the Pizza Pilgrims here.
Now repeat after me: Ape. Ah-pay. This is a bee, not a monkey!
Because I’m happy! (a Roma) and Free Hugs in Palermo
and
Free hugs in Palermo
Recipe for magic…
Mix one part Pucci and one part antique landmark and what do you get? A moment of magic.
Step 1. Take a famous old Italian monument (Medieval is the best flavor if you can get it. It is hard to come by, so just do the best you can):
For the purpose of our post today, we will start with the Baptistery in Florence. It is the striped building in the front of this 3 part complex, which includes the Cathedral (il duomo), the campanile (belltower), and the octagonal Baptistery.
Step 2. Add a colorful vintage design from a later master, say something from the 20th century. The Marquise Emilio Pucci will do nicely for our demonstration. 
We’ll use this Pucci scarf today, which was created in 1957 with the Florence Baptistery as its central motif. Pucci created a series of silk scarves using the most famous world cities as inspiration. He was a Florentine, so it is quite interesting that, of all the structures in his native city, he chose the Baptistery above all others as his iconic symbol of his town.
Step 3. Put the ingredients into a large vessel of some sort, kind of like a giant cocktail shaker, while wearing a pair of vintage Pucci capri pants and a top fashioned from the same silk as the scarf you are shaking up, as seen above.
This next step is important to the success of your final product: Be sure to notice your background while you are mixing things up. You see one of your ancestors standing in front of the Baptistry and holding the scarf. This will get you in the right frame of mind to enjoy your dressed up monument.
Step 4. Shake, shake, shake. And eccola!
Step 5. Enjoy! You’ve got yourself a dressed up monument! A new masterpiece! You have breathed new life into an old item. Think of it as re-purposing on a grand scale. What was old is new again. You can see something old with new eyes. Whatever saying floats your boat.
Step 6. Stand back and look at your newly finished monument.
Be brave, because change can be hard…you can bet that not everybody will embrace it…
Step 7. Move all around your monument to see it from every imaginable angle…
And in every kind of weather condition…
You want to see it on sunny days…
See how it shines!
And on cloudy days:
And even in the rain:
Step 8. Look, look, look. Looking can be hard work, but not when you have something this fun to gaze at. Look at your masterpiece at night:
And try to catch it with the moon in the sky…
Step 9. Then, look at it again in the sunshine, because…
Now you see it…
And now you don’t.
Poof! The cover is gone and you are back to your old monument. But, now you will have a better appreciation for it.
Ha ha. If you’re wondering what is up with all of this, it is very simple to explain.
Last June 17-20, for only 3 days, the iconic Baptistery in Florence was decorated with a reproduction of Pucci’s Battistero scarf, designed in 1957. Pucci’s scarf interprets an aerial view of Battistero San Giovanni in the brilliant hues of a Mediterranean landscape, using vibrant lemon yellow, orange, fuchsia and the emblematic Emilio pink. Never before had the Baptistery been so artistically reinterpreted, as it was for three days last June, in canvas printed with a Pucci design.
The Apse side of the Baptistery was clad in a scale reproduction of the original Battistero scarf design as a whole, having been reproduced and framed in large scale in its entirety.
The other seven sides of the octagonal building were covered in almost 2.000 square-meters of canvas, printed in a to-scale rendering of the famous Pucci design. Faithfully following the contours of the building, it was completely enveloped in rich and loud splashes of Pucci line and color.
The City of Florence was delighted to drape its iconic monument with a design by the famous Italian fashion House of Emilio Pucci, for the city has been celebrating this year the 60th anniversary of the Center of Florence for Italian Fashion. Several fashion labels, including Gucci, Ferragamo, and Cavalli also participated in the festival to help celebrate their Florentine heritage as a part of the Firenze Hometown of Fashion initiative. Palazzo Pucci opened its archives during the celebration as well and fifty photos from editorials shot by Vogue Italia were also on display in the city.
Pucci’s gigantic scarf building covering was conceived by Pitti Imagine, the branch of the Center of Florence for Italian Fashion that creates fashion events.
Fans could follow the unveiling of the Baptistery’s new look using the hashtag #MonumentalPucci on social networks. While the display was being put up, Pucci posted teasers of the finished product. This tag was also used to share archival images of the house’s fashions over the years.
Facebook post from Pucci
The Baptistery is currently being restored and Pucci, which is part of the LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) group, will substantially contribute financially to the restoration on the octagonal monument, in the same way that other design-related companies are supporting to the care and upkeep of the many of Italy’s monuments.
A detail of the scarf designed by Emilio Pucci in 1957
This temporary new landmark of the Baptistery wrapped in a Pucci design captured the attention of every tourist, who were seen gawking at and taking selfies in front of the monument. The whole atmosphere was a bit surreal. Lucky were all those who managed to see Florence with its Baptistery “dressed” in Pucci—such moments go down in the history of fashion and stay there forever.
Even if you weren’t one of the lucky ones who saw the dressed up monument in the flesh, you can experience a sense of it in these cool videos.
7.5 minutes of Italian high fashion from 1952
Enter 1952 if you dare:
There are some shots of Giovanni Battista Giorgini, who started it all in Florence, for those with eagle eyes.
Ciao a tutti!
What do Steve Jobs and the Marquese Emilio Pucci have in common?
They both appreciated fine design and they both attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon. How about that!
I’ll be posting on Pucci presto. Steve Jobs is outside my area of expertise though I use nothing but Apple products!
Viva il Reed College!
How Italian high fashion found its groove. Part 2
Resuming the fashion story from Part 1 and all photographs are from the Giorgini Archivio in Florence or from Google Images:
Once Count Giorgini got the Italian high fashion ball rolling on the heels of the highly successful catwalk shows he initiated in Florence in the early 1950s, buyers from all over the world were knocking on the doors of the new Italian ateliers, placing orders around the clock.
In this photo from the Giorgini Archive in Florence, we have Count Giorgini and the buyer from an American department store, c. 1952. (Is it just me or does everyone wonder how a woman dressed like this could be entrusted as a buyer for a leading American department store? It’s hard to see how her look is one that should be duplicated.)
Simultaneously, Hollywood royalty likewise descended upon Italian fashion houses. Stars such as Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor; directors like Alfred Hitchcock; and even politicians including President Harry S. Truman (President of the US from 1945-1951) all found their way to the Italian fashion shows and supported the new ateliers.
The photo above, also in the Giorgini Archivio, Florence, shows Count Giorgini with the American actress Gloria Swanson.
Elizabeth Taylor was seen on and off the set in Rome where she was filming Cleopatra.
Audrey Hepburn filmed Roman Holiday in Rome in 1952 and was a general jetsetter throughout the 1950s and 1960s
The picture below shows Alfred Hitchcock and his wife boarding a plane in Rome in the 1960s.
Above, Hitchcock at a press conference in Rome, mid 60’s.
Above, Hitchcock in Italy. Below he directs Birds, and from the way his actresses are dressed, you know he was highly interested in high fashion from Italy and elsewhere.
Above is President Harry S. Truman and his wife landing with friends in Naples. Below is proof that the President knew how to shop!
Count Giovanni Battista Giorgini played a major role in all the high fashion shows in Italy until 1965. Every year he made sure that new ideas and new talents were showcased in his shows.
The photo below, from Giorgoni Archivio, shows the Count with his models and other principal players in the fashion extravaganzas.
In the 1960s, Giorgini took a gamble on another new challenge, the development of a market for Italian design in Japan. Some of the relationships he began that far back are still important for the Italo-Japanese relationship today. Among the most important Japanese clients is Isetan, one of the largest department stores in that country.
The Isetan flagship store in Shinjuku is considered to be one of the most influential department stores in Japan. The store is often first with showcasing new trends and new products. In particular, the fashion and food floors are thought to be very trendsetting.
Once again, Count Giorgini successfully called the Japanese market place for high western fashion long before any other westerner even thought of the idea. Proof is the fact that Vogue magazine developed a very successful Japanese edition.
The section below attests to the Japanese interest in Italian design:
Dolce and Gabbana Alta Moda for Vogue Japan
This stunningly beautiful editorial, La Canzone Del Mare, showcases the latest Dolce and Gabbana Alta Moda collection for Vogue Japan’s October 2014 issue. Photographed by Boo George, it was shot in Capri, Italy – also where the Italian design duo presented their fall collection in July.
The ultra luxurious fashions were modeled by Dalianah Arekion, Nadja Bender and Kinga Raziak, with styling by Anna Dello Russo and Giovanna Battaglia.
Getting back to what 1960s fashion looked like in Italy, the following section is (taken from this site: http://www.moda.com/fashion-history/60s-italian-fashion-1.shtml) a perfect way to enter the period.
1960s Italian Fashion  Red pants and top with black shoes, from 1966. White with green and purple flowers dress and coat, from 1960. Morning dress of red fuchsia wool, corded silk hat. By Sarli fashion house in Rome. Inspired by the Russian line. Evening dress yellow satin, printed big red and pink flowers. By Eleanora Garnett fashion house in Rome. From 1960. Hot pink wool ensemble. Collarless, cardigan jacket straight-lined and slashed across the hips with a giant bow of pink velvet. By Fontana Sisters’ fashion house in Rome. From 1960. Black dress with multicolored flowers. By Cesare Guidi. From 1960. Two-piece sports dress, pants of elastic jersey, loose shirt of laminated silk. By Emilio Schuberth fashion house in Rome. From 1960. Evening dress, made of pink silk, embroidered with silver paillettes. By Fabiani fashion house in Rome. From 1960.
Afternoon dress, white silk jersey with blue flowers, blue woolen jersey overcoat. By Mirsa fashion house in Rome. From 1960.
Evening dress, emerald-green, golden and black brocade. By Renato Balestra fashion house in Rome. From 1961.
Golden tan cape, made from shantung organdy. By Renato Balstra fashion house in Rome. From 1962. |
||
It’s hard to pinpoint any stylistic strengths from the 1970s from Italy or any place else. According to Wikipedia, things just fell apart stylistically in the “me decade.” I lived through it and even I can’t think of anything to write home about about clothing from this decade, except for Diane von Furstenberg and the wrap dress (which I posted about recently)! Maybe all of this was because Giorgini died in 1971?
It is abundantly clear that Giovanni Battista Giorgini was an incredibly important catalyst in establishing Italian fashion throughout the world in the years following WWII. He was less involved after 1965, so with all the fashionless fashion of the 1970s, it is obvious his influence was sorely missed!
And while Los Angeles has Rodeo Drive; London has Bond Street; New York has Fifth Avenue, Florence is equally at home in that list. In Florence you will find “the Golden Triangle,” luxury shopping right in the middle of the town, where three famous Florentine streets, the Via Tornabuoni, Via Strozzi and Via della Vigna Nuova intersect.
It’s hard to imagine what the Italian fashion scene would have been like without the genius of Giorgini.
Update on November 12, 2014: I am grateful to Neri Fadigati, President of the Archivio Giorgini in Florence, for reading my blog and bringing some mistakes to my attention. The current post is better because of his kind assistance.
get back, lauretta! 
You must be logged in to post a comment.