Blooming – Tales

Spring season is over, but not to far from coming back to the 2014 collections. This doesn’t mean we don’t get to see the blooming flowers around the fashion world right?

Imagine you go to Paris, to Milan, to London or to New York City, with the purpose of attending a Valentino, Dior, Lanvin or Saint Laurent runway show. When you’re almost there you feel this scent or perfume so exquisite, so natural that this smell makes you wonder what’s inside the show. Then, you go inside, ready with your Instagram, so you won’t miss a moment, and you run into this gorgeous and tall wall made out of flowers. You see roses, orchids, daisies, and they’re all real. They are all fresh and full of color. How crazy is that?

But, then you wonder… Who did that? Who was the one in charge of creating such a magnificent piece? Well, this is what this post is about. I’m going to introduce you to the four main artists (and geniuses if I may say) behind the flower art in the runway shows.

The first one is Marc Colle. He was discovered by Dior’s creative director Raf Simmons, after the designer noticed the wonderful plexiglass-encased bouquets pieces presented on the Jil Sander’s fall-winter’ runway show in 2012. After this show, Mr. Colle was requested to create the iconic and legendary flower arch wall at the Dior Haute Couture fall-winter 2012 show. Since that moment, Colle has worked with Dries van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester and Hermes.

The second is Rambert Rigaud. First hired as a flower artist by the Valentino’s creative directors, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, the former atelier director, and owner of Rambert Rigaud Fleuriste, was the artist in charge of decorating the label’s party at the Hotel Solomon de Rothschild in Paris for the fall-winter 2013′ inauguration event. Mr. Rigaud created white and blue flower arrangements, placed in Delft vases, channeling the 17^th century Dutch painting style vision that the designers had in mind.

The third is Raquel Corvino. While Miss Corvino was still in college, the artist was assigned to create the flower arrangements at the Mercer Hotel in Soho. Coincidentally, short after this assignment was completed, the Rem Koolhaas-designed Prada store opened in front of the hotel making itself aware of the flower pieces. Soon, Miss Corvino was hired to create the flower art for a private dinner that Miuccia Prada hosted at the same hotel. Since then, Miss Corvino has been working with different labels including The Row, Chloé, Helmut Lang, Louis Vuitton and Theory.

And last, but not least, Thierry Boutemy. Mr. Boutemy was the artist in charge of the flower art in the acclaimed film, «Marie-Antoinette» by the director Sofia Coppola. After his amazing work, Mr. Boutemy was called to work with well-recognized photographers and magazines such as Mario Testino and Vogue USA.

I hope you enjoyed the post. All the information was taken from the article, «In Bloom: 4 Florists Behind Some of Fashion’s Most Dramatic Sets» by Suleman Anaya of the Business of Fashion.

10 Things you Probably Didn’t Know About the Queen of Fashion

Marie-Antoinette… What a cliché subject right? But, hold on! This is not another cliché article! I promise!

While reading Caroline Weber’s «Queen of Fashion«, I found so many new things I didn’t know about the girl who changed the course of the fashion revolution. I started listing the interesting facts as I always do (click here for full list), and it turned out that I kept finding one fact after the other, even though I’ve known about this subject from a long time now. It was like a non-stopping conversation with a little piece of the history of fashion.

Now, before I list the 10 facts, I thought about a quote from one of my favorite movies. This quote is not only a little bit funny, but a little reflective of how timeless a face and an image can be, no matter the time or age that we’re living in.

The quote is from Simon Curtis‘ My Week with Marilyn, in the scene when Marilyn visits the royal library and opens a book full of Leonardo da Vinci‘s sketches. She stares at the women he sketched during his drawing period, and then she says: «I hope I look this good when I’m 400.»

Smiling after this quote, here comes the list:

1. Marie-Antoinette‘s complete and real name was Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna.

2. Marie-Antoinette was the youngest among her 10 brothers and sisters.

3. The team who not only spent most of the day-time around the queen, but who was in charge of designing Marie-Antoinette‘s clothes and outfits was called «the ministry of fashion.»

4. Before the opposition stormed Versailles, Marie-Antoinette‘s clothing and accessory’ collection occupied at least three entire royal rooms.

5. After Marie-Antoinette was beheaded, she was such an icon among the people, that the wealthy and royal ladies wore a red ribbon around their necks to remember and honor the French queen.

6. Marie-Antoinette was a descendant of the founder of the Roman Empire, Augustus.

7. The french court requested a special service for the queen and king, leaving Marie-Antoinette with 200 servants for her daily activities.

8. An iconic and fashionable item from the sixteenth century was the wig that both men and women used to wear. These wigs were called the poufs. Marie-Antoinette, as the fashion revolutionary that she was, had as main goal to be the most fashionable woman alive and what better way to be than demanding the design of the poufs unique and one of a kind? So unique in fact, that each pouf measured at least three feet high (91.4 cm) and usually, depicted historical scenes.

9. You probably know the basic features of a corset. But, during the sixteenth century, the corset was utilized for preventing the deformation of the human body and enhance the formation of a descent waist. From age two, children were forced to use this, no matter the gender, and Marie-Antoinette wasn’t an exception.

10. Marie-Antoinette was probably the first creative director of one of the first magazines in the world. What?! Yes! During the sixteenth century the french fashion designers, such as Rose Bertin, used to «publish» their work through «magazines» or catalogues called the Galleries des Modes. Bertin was one of the queen’s personal fashion designers and because of this, the queen, as maximum authority figure that she was, selected the styles and trends that were going to be distributed after she wore them. Who knew right?

10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Sofia Coppola

Lately, the Internet allows us to access almost any document of research, either if it is from a formal newspaper or an acclaimed magazine. Now, you can find online the main cover stories of some of the most famous fashion newspapers and magazines such as W Magazine, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. On the latest edition of W Magazine, one of the main stories features an intimate interview to the film director Sofia Coppola (click here for the full article). When I was reading it, I thought… Instead of writing down the highlights of the interview for myself, I should definitely post it as a new entry on my blog. Enjoy!

1. Coppola is the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, director of The Godfather Trilogy.
2. Coppola’s a photography graduate from CalArts University in L.A.
3. Coppola is the director behind the films: The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, Marie-Antoinette and The Bling Ring.
4. If you take a closer look, the majority of the main roles on Coppola’s films are female leads.
5. Coppola is currently married to Thomas Mars, the lead singer of the band Phoenix.
6. Coppola has two daughters, Romy and Cosima.
7. In 2008, Coppola designed a capsule collection line for the acclaimed fashion house, Louis Vuitton.
8. After 2008, in 2012, the acclaimed creative director and fashion designer Marc Jacobs invited Coppola to design the Louis Vuitton’s resort collection.
9. Coppola is NOT a loyal follower of the online world/community.
10. Her first role as an actress was in 1972, in the first movie of The Godfather, as an infant in the christening scene.
11.