Guccio Gucci
Guccio Gucci (1881-1953) was an Italian business man and fashion designer, and I shan’t insult your intellects by asking you to guess which fashion house he is founder of.
House of Gucci was founded as early as in 1906, in Florence, and began as a small leather saddlery shop, expanding to Rome in 1938, Milan in 1951 and Manhattan in 1953.
Today Gucci is, with talented Creative Director Frida Giannini (1972 -) at the wheel, the largest selling Italian brand. Something went right.
Gucci did well up till the 1980s, when conflicts in the Gucci family threatened to bring the house down. Eventually it was sold to another company, a company which had the brilliant idea of bringing in Tom Ford, to restore the house’s glory. And restore it he did.
Since 1997, House of Gucci has acquired other awesome fashion houses, such as Yves Saint Laurent, and sharing with Stella McCartney – Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga.
And in 2005, Frida Giannini took over as Ford’s role as Creative Director. And that brings us up to date? What do you think?
Love, Hanna
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
In the mood for some lighthearted learning this Friday afternoon? If you are, then let me recommend the documentary The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011), directed by Morgan Spurlock, the man behind Supersize me (2004).
The concept: to make a film about product placement in films. The twist: to have that film completely sponsored by products, that is, to include as much product placement as possible. The goal: to make us as viewers aware of the amount of product placement in films.
The documentary is entertaining, easy-going and light-hearted. No shocking revelations are made, but you don’t always need the shock effect. Sometimes it’s just nice to watch something fun (and you do get to learn about products such as Head’n’Mane).
So if you would like to see a documentary, but can’t face the really heavy stuff, this is the thing for you.
Love, Elin
Leonard Cohen
I assume most of our readers are familiar with Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, musician and writer Leonard Cohen (1934-), at least through numerous cover versions of his amazing song “Hallelujah” (1984). Jeff Buckley’s version in particular comes to mind, but Cohen himself has done amazing version of the song – both studio and live.
Between the release of his debut album Song of Leonard Cohen in 1967 and his most recent studio recording Dear Heather in 2004, Cohen has released nine other studio albums, with a twelfth (Old Ideas) due 31 January of this year. In addition, there are live albums and tribute albums – most notably Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (2006) which features artists such as Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, The Handsome Family, Beth Orton, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, Linda Thompson, Antony, and Kate and Anna McGarrigle. I urge you all to check it out on Spotify or on a similar service. But he’s not just a great songwriter – he’s also a very stylish man.
Cohen is also a poet of note. His first collection, Let Us Compare Mythologies, came out in 1956, and he has continued to produce poetry to this day, with 14 collections published so far (although some of them are collections of song lyrics). In addition, he has published two novels – The Favorite Game in 1963 and Beautiful Losers in 1966.
Cohen is one of these rare people who seem to grow more and more handsome and attractive the older he gets. Not that he wasn’t handsome in his younger days…
- he really was!
…but there is something in his distinguished look now that is really attractive as well.
Check out the man, check out his style and check out his music!
Love, Mari
Art Deco
I’ve always associated the term art deco with jewelry, but it can be much more than that. The style was, according to Wikipedia, our trusted source of doubtful wisdom, an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s and into the World War II era.
At its best, art deco represented elegance, glamour, functionality and modernity, and the style influenced areas such as architecture, interial design, industrial design, visual arts, and our personal favorite: jewelry and fashion.
Art deco is different from its predecessor, art nouveau, in its linear symmetry, and the fact that the style included influences from many sources, such as the neoclassical, cubism and modernism styles of the early 20th century.
The style also became a profound influence on many later styles, such as Memphis and pop art. So I do thank you, Art Deco.
Love, Hanna
Christian Siriano
American designer Christian Siriano (1985 – ) is, as of yet, the youngest designer to be featured at our blog, and my heart does break with envy with the fact that we are the same age and he just a tiny little bit more successful than I am. Though, I must admit, he really is good at what he does.
Siriano has studied fashion at Baltimore School for the Arts and American InterContinental University in London. He has also interned for Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen – the last one being his favorite designer.
But it was through winning the fourth season of American reality show Project Runway (2008) he got the chance to open his own fashion line, Christian Siriano, which he did in autumn the same year.
I think his clothes are amazingly over the top, and really beautiful. It only I could wear this to work! See for yourself.
Love, Hanna
Derek Lam
Happy New Year to all our beautiful readers! Our New Year’s resolution? Become even better. Hard to believe that’s possible, I know, but we promise to try. Maybe there’ll even be an etsy store soon, but we’ll keep you posted on that one. For now, we encourage you to be patient and enjoy the work of another fabulous designer, American Derek Lam (1967 – ).
After graduating from Parsons School of Design in 1990, Lam worked on and off for designer Michael Kors for years. After spending some time in Hong Kong, and becoming Vice President of Design at Michael Kors, Lam finally launched his own line in 2003.
“Lam is known for his pretty, girly fabrics backed by clean, crisp silhouettes. Signature pieces include raw silk sheath dresses with plunging necklines, wide-leg trousers in various wools and dainty cashmere pea coats cinched with stiff silk belts.” (wikipedia)
In addition to running his own fashion house, Lam is also the Creative Director for Tod’s.
Lovely.
Love, Hanna
Vili Flik 