Monday 30 September 2013

"By Invitation Only" - Fashion - Fall 2013...


...is the theme for this October post:

"Choose 1 outfit from the FALL 2013 COLLECTIONS you LOVE."

"Choose 1 outfit from the same collections that you HATE."

"Explain why you love & hate them."   

"Tell us where you would wear the one you LOVE" 

"OK, now this is easy":    
 Marsha said!

Easy?

I have - as usual - "the agony of choice"!

- as we say in German:
 "Die Qual der Wahl"





So, I change the rules, just a little bit,

to several outfits 
from the

Valentino Couture Collection - Fall 2013

which I LOVE...


 because:

 For the fall 2013 Valentino couture collection designers 
Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli  
elaborated on the concept of

 "Wunderkammer"


File:RitrattoMuseoFerranteImperato.jpg
This is probably the earliest illustration of a natural history cabinet,  so called cabinet de curiosités.
 Engraving from Ferrante Imperato's Dell'Historia Naturale (Naples 1599)


"Wunderkammer" - the 16th, 17th and 18th century tradition of the  

Cabinet de Curiosités

File:Frans Francken (II), Kunst- und Raritätenkammer (1636).jpg
"Kunstkamer"by Frans Francken the Younger, 1636.
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

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The Cabinet de Curiosités
in which aristocratic collectors would display exotic specimens 
culled from nature (shells, sea creatures, taxidermy) and archaeological oddities.

That's how the motifs of scallop shells, coral, and fragments of ancient roman carvings 
made their way into many of the creations of these clothes/designs...




...and inspired the mother-of-pearl Miniaudieres with jeweled golden clasps 
cast in the shape of signs of the zodiac some of the girls were clutching


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 "In a Cabinet of Curiosities, the pieces are very unique, very one-of-a-kind.
 We've tried to make something that is not only special, but also surprising, unexpected," 
designer Pierpaolo Piccioli explained. 

With gowns requiring upwards of 800 hours of handwork, 
2000 freshwater pearls and luxurious neo-classical and baroque influences, 
the Valentino couture fall 2013 collection managed to be everything 
its creators hoped it would be, 
demonstrating the complex laws and ideologies that stand behind Haute Couture creations 
and which set them aside from any other type of lines.




Though Renaissance inspired gowns seemed fit for royal parties only,



the label also brings elegant daywear alternatives for the first time.

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 An amazing caped coat and dress in camel double-faced cashmere with neat, rounded shoulders, 
which had a fluidity in movement; 
a cape-backed gray tweed sheath-dress; 
a herringbone pencil-skirt with a matching coat and lace blouse.(see below)


Stripped of all padding and linings, impeccable in their proportions 
from shoulder-line to graceful, mid-calf lengths, 
they are riveting examples 
of exactly what traditional couture can offer to a modern woman....

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Now -
  all this explains already why I've chosen Valentino's fall collection,
 and why I love  the followings,
having in mind a cultural long weekend in Paris,
Theater, Opera, Ballet......



LOVE capes! and the whole outfit!

My only reservation:
In general - with some exceptions and depending on the design and textile -
I don't really like mid-calf-lengths for skirts/dresses.
So, the skirt about 10 cm shorter, covering the knees,
 and the cape-coat in the lenght as shown - simply perfect for me.



a "clear line" and of timeless elegance.

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for the Theater:

Laces and corals.....LOVE it

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"We believe that couture can be a private luxury -
not just for the red carpet or special occasions. 
So we wanted to really work on daywear for the first time," 
Maria Grazia Chiuri explained. 





Elegance for day? Yes, we need more of it! 




A woman wearing any one of these 
would cut a sophisticated swath through the crowd.


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Dislike:

  outfit???...


No, thanks!

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At last but not least.....

For Puccini's "La Bohème" or Mozart's "Zauberflöte" (the Magic Flute)...
...or...

at the Opéra Garnier:

File:Opéra Garnier - le Grand Foyer.jpg
le Grand Foyer, at the Palais Garnier, Paris

....just the right "frame" for this beautiful creation ....


 LOVE it! 
 including the mid-calf length!

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Exquisite and magic details, such as delicate feathers,
  

 












 ...precious endless beadings, 
golden thread embroideries or print intarsia, 


  

that's what make these gowns unique, ageless works of art.




VALENTINO 
Fall/Winter '13/14 Haute Couture.

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Please visit Marsha's blog for all the Creation-posts
of our BIO-group!
here


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A peep behind the scenes:




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 at the cat walk:



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And into:

File:Berlin Naturkundemuseum Korallen.jpg
An early 18th-century German Schrank (cupboard)
with a traditional display of corals (Naturkundenmuseum Berlin)

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Fashion-Photos and some description with thanks to  
Andrea Janke, here:

Saturday 28 September 2013

"Bachus - Dionysos" - and some Wine Myths...


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Some say we have to thank Bachus for inventing wine...

Bacchus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy.  He was one of the primary gods worshipped in Ephesus in Roman times.  The infamous celebrations of Bacchus, notorious for their sexual and criminal character, got so out of hand that they were forbidden by the Roman Senate.
The followers of Bacchus had a strong theology:  The more wine they drank, the more Bacchus filled them and controlled them.  They became like him.  Therefore drunkenness was to be highly celebrated as a spiritual experience.
So it is no surprise that the Apostle Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, draws a powerful comparison for the believers in that great city:
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery (dissipation, drunkenness, lasciviousness). Instead, be filled with the Spirit… (Ephesians 5:18).
- See more at: http://www.judydouglass.com/2011/05/holy-and-unholy-spirits-why-would-paul-say-that/#sthash.CrosBVtm.dpuf

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Bachus, 
the Roman name for the Greek god Dionysos.

This effeminate god of wine
madness and ecstasy,
often appears in scenes of revelry and licentiousness.

Bacchus is so famous he had his own festival named after him, 
  called Bacchanalia. 
This infamous celebration was notorious for sexual and criminal acts 
and was thus forbidden by the Roman Senators later on.

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Caravaggio's
BACHUS

 
produced in the 16th century,
 currently held by the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

Michelangelo Merisi or Amerighi da Caravaggio
29 September 1571? – 18 July 1610?) 
was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta
and Sicily between 1592 (1595?) and 1610.

His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, 
both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, 
had a formative influence on the Baroque school of painting

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Whether intentional or not, there is humor in this painting. 
The pink-faced Bacchus is an accurate portrayal of a half-drunk teenager
 dressed in a sheet and leaning on a mattress in the Cardinal's Rome palazzo,
 but far less convincing as a Greco-Roman god. 

Bacchus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy.  He was one of the primary gods worshipped in Ephesus in Roman times.  The infamous celebrations of Bacchus, notorious for their sexual and criminal character, got so out of hand that they were forbidden by the Roman Senate.
The followers of Bacchus had a strong theology:  The more wine they drank, the more Bacchus filled them and controlled them.  They became like him.  Therefore drunkenness was to be highly celebrated as a spiritual experience.
So it is no surprise that the Apostle Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, draws a powerful comparison for the believers in that great city:
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery (dissipation, drunkenness, lasciviousness). Instead, be filled with the Spirit… (Ephesians 5:18).
- See more at: http://www.judydouglass.com/2011/05/holy-and-unholy-spirits-why-would-paul-say-that/#sthash.CrosBVtm.dpuf
Bacchus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy.  He was one of the primary gods worshipped in Ephesus in Roman times.  The infamous celebrations of Bacchus, notorious for their sexual and criminal character, got so out of hand that they were forbidden by the Roman Senate.
The followers of Bacchus had a strong theology:  The more wine they drank, the more Bacchus filled them and controlled them.  They became like him.  Therefore drunkenness was to be highly celebrated as a spiritual experience.
So it is no surprise that the Apostle Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, draws a powerful comparison for the believers in that great city:
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery (dissipation, drunkenness, lasciviousness). Instead, be filled with the Spirit… (Ephesians 5:18).
- See more at: http://www.judydouglass.com/2011/05/holy-and-unholy-spirits-why-would-paul-say-that/#sthash.CrosBVtm.dpuf
File:Bacco.jpg
circa 1595

In his Bachus painting, Caravaggio shows the god as a 16th Century Italian teenager,
offering the viewer wine, spoiled fruit and perhaps something more.... 

Composition:

One of art historian's favorite topics when discussing Caracaggio's Bachus
is the still-life of fruit in the foreground.
The artist's early years painting fruits and flowers
for the Cavaliere d'Arpino definitely paid off,
as the Caracaggio's mastery of still-life elements shines brilliantly.

Like the dirty fingernails, many have wondered if this basket of bruised,
overripe, wormy fruits could also have a symbolic message,
such as a warning of the fleetingness of youth and eminence of death,
or if Caravaggio was just painting what he truly saw.

After the Bachus was restored, conservators discovered
that Caravaggio even painted in a tiny reflection
of himself on the carafe of wine.


Cropped - Bacchus

Once again, the careful observer can spot the familiar face
of the model who is probably Mario Minniti, who can also be seen
in  The Fortune Teller as well as several other early paintings.

Although the purported subject of this painting is a Greek (or Roman) god,
Caravaggio makes no effort to uphold the illusion.

 *

 

The model's vaguely antique toga is recognizable 
as a contemporary man's shirt pulled down over one shoulder,
and the artist even shows the dirty mattress 
peeking out under a none-too-clean sheet.

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http://www.artble.com/imgs/8/d/0/821051/731089.jpg

The basket of fruits in the Bacchus is sometimes interpreted as a vanitas. A vanitas is a type of still-life painting especially popular in Dutch and Flemish art of the Renaissance and Baroque, which is intended to remind the viewer of the fleeting nature and meaninglessness of earthly life.

Common vanitas symbols include skulls, timepieces (to show that time on earth is running out), bubbles (for their fragility), and, as here, wilting flowers and rotting fruit.

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Due to the way in which Bacchus' offers the wine with his left hand, which requires a great deal of effort, many have speculated that Caravaggio used a mirror to help him while working, to avoid the need for drawing.

                

 http://www.artble.com/imgs/8/d/0/821051/852730.jpg

This means that the boy actually offers the wine with his right hand.  This supports a comment by artist Giovanni Baglione, Caravaggio's early biographer, that the artist did some early paintings using a mirror.

This is also reinforced by the fact that after the painting was cleaned, a tiny portrait of Caravaggio working at his easel was revealed in the glass' reflection. Also, Bachus' reflection is evident on the surface of the wine in the glass he is holding.

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 As was generally the case with Caravaggio's works, 
Bachus is striking for the artist's careful attention to realistic detail.
  
text source:   here


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File:Canestra di frutta (Caravaggio).jpg

 Canestra di Frutta, circa 1599, Abrosiana Library, Milan

Much has been made - again - of the worm-eaten, insect-predated, 
and generally less than perfect condition of the fruit. 
Possibly Caravaggio simply painted what was available; 
or possibly it has some meaning along the general lines of 'all things decay'

 (Another still-life of Caravaggio, also one of my favorite ones) 

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The Vine of Dionysus

 Like the myth of Ariadne, the vine of Dionysus has been important in Christian art. 
In archaic and classical art Dionysus or his followers are wreathed with vine leaves or ivy. 
In early Christian art (especially in mosaics) 
the vine appears as an allegory or symbol of eternal life, 
in part because of Christ’s saying "I am the true vine" (John 15:17).

It is shown on the wall mosaic of Christus Apollo in the Vatican cemetery,
  and the vine and the vintage are repeatedly shown 
in the mosaics of the fourth century A.D. 
on the vaults of the church of Santa Costanza in Rome, 
built to house the sarcophagi 
of the emperor Constantine’s mother and family.
All these images appear in post-classical art with great frequency.

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Depictions of Dionysus in Art:

Dionysus, like Apollo and Heracles, 
is one of the most frequently represented figures in ancient 
and postclassical art. 
No more than a very few selections can be given here 
from the thousands of surviving works of art...
from:
Representations in Art
 text source - and more here:
http://www.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780195397703/student/materials/chapter13/rep_art/


DIONYSOS (or Dionysus) 
was the great Olympian god of wine, vegetation, pleasure and festivity.

He invented wine on Mount Nyssa and spread the art of tending grapes around the world. He was said to bring joy and divine ecstasy as well as brutality and rage reflecting both sides of wine’s nature. Dionysus was a popular deity and most of his followers were women-the maenads. They were said to engage in ecstatic dancing during celebrations.

He was depicted as either an older bearded god or a pretty effeminate, long-haired youth. 
His attributes included the thyrsos (a pine-cone tipped staff), 
drinking cup, leopard and fruiting vine. 
He was usually accompanied by a troop of Satyrs and Mainades (female devotees or nymphs).
Some of the more famous myths featuring the god include:

Bacchus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy.  He was one of the primary gods worshipped in Ephesus in Roman times.  The infamous celebrations of Bacchus, notorious for their sexual and criminal character, got so out of hand that they were forbidden by the Roman Senate.
The followers of Bacchus had a strong theology:  The more wine they drank, the more Bacchus filled them and controlled them.  They became like him.  Therefore drunkenness was to be highly celebrated as a spiritual experience.
So it is no surprise that the Apostle Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, draws a powerful comparison for the believers in that great city:
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery (dissipation, drunkenness, lasciviousness). Instead, be filled with the Spirit… (Ephesians 5:18).
- See more at: http://www.judydouglass.com/2011/05/holy-and-unholy-spirits-why-would-paul-say-that/#sthash.CrosBVtm.dpuf
Bacchus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy.  He was one of the primary gods worshipped in Ephesus in Roman times.  The infamous celebrations of Bacchus, notorious for their sexual and criminal character, got so out of hand that they were forbidden by the Roman Senate.
The followers of Bacchus had a strong theology:  The more wine they drank, the more Bacchus filled them and controlled them.  They became like him.  Therefore drunkenness was to be highly celebrated as a spiritual experience.
So it is no surprise that the Apostle Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, draws a powerful comparison for the believers in that great city:
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery (dissipation, drunkenness, lasciviousness). Instead, be filled with the Spirit… (Ephesians 5:18).
- See more at: http://www.judydouglass.com/2011/05/holy-and-unholy-spirits-why-would-paul-say-that/#sthash.CrosBVtm.dpuf

Bacchus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy.  He was one of the primary gods worshipped in Ephesus in Roman times.  The infamous celebrations of Bacchus, notorious for their sexual and criminal character, got so out of hand that they were forbidden by the Roman Senate.
The followers of Bacchus had a strong theology:  The more wine they drank, the more Bacchus filled them and controlled them.  They became like him.  Therefore drunkenness was to be highly celebrated as a spiritual experience.
So it is no surprise that the Apostle Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, draws a powerful comparison for the believers in that great city:
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery (dissipation, drunkenness, lasciviousness). Instead, be filled with the Spirit… (Ephesians 5:18).
- See more at: http://www.judydouglass.com/2011/05/holy-and-unholy-spirits-why-would-paul-say-that/#sthash.CrosBVtm.dpuf

File:Titian Bacchus and Ariadne.jpg

read full history here:




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'Grab' a bottle of wine - enjoy your weekend,
the last one in September, 
don't get mad - don't get drunk!


 

Alla Salute - Yamas - Cheers...

Sante!

A bientot..... 


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Remark:
large painting of Dyonysus and Ariadne 
by Titian, 1520-23, full History  here
National Gallery, London,








Wednesday 25 September 2013

Hommage à Paul Kuhn...


..."den Mann am Klavier"  


 

"The man at the Piano" 

German singer, jazz pianist and band leader Paul Kuhn has died.



Musican Paul Kuhn performs at his As time goes by music tour night at the Theater am Gaertnerplatz on March 13, 2008 (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/ Getty Images)

Paul Kuhn (12 March 1928 - 23 September 2013)
was a German jazz musician, band leader, singer and pianist.
He was the band leader of the SFB Big Band,
the orchestra of the Sender Freies Berlin, the TV-Station of West Berlin.

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Fans of  "Paulchen" would know him, "the man at the piano,"

 

also for such hits as

"Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin"


and

 "Es gibt kein Bier auf Hawaii" ("There's No Beer on Hawaii"),
 his television series "Paul's Party" and
the 1960 TV special "Hallo Paulchen" ("Hello Little Paul").

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"Ich bin der Pia-Pianist vom Grand Hotel
und ich verlieb mich leider immer viel zu schnell
bei jedem Foxtrott, Bossa Nova oder Twist
hab ich im Geiste schon den ganzen Saal geküsst

Mach ich um kurz nach zehn Uhr meine erste Pause
bring ich in meiner Fantasie gleich zehn nach Hause
ja ich verlieb mich leider immer viel zu schnell
ich bin der Pia-Pianist vom Grand Hotel


Ich bin der Pia-Pianist vom Grand Hotel
doch für die alten Damen spiel ich viel zu schnell
und dennoch mögen mich die alten Damen sehr
ich bin zwar Pianist, doch kann ich noch viel mehr"....


Paul Kuhn - 1996

".....Ich sing die Lieder aus der guten alten Zeit
bewundere jeden Hut und jedes neue Kleid
Doch nur zum Tanzen spiel ich für sie viel zu schnell
ich bin der Pia-Pianist vom Grand Hotel

Ich bin der Pia-Pianist vom Grand Hotel
und darum trink ich auch so gern, doch viel zu schnell
wenn mir einmal ein Gast 'ne Flasche Wein spendiert
ist kurz danach die Katastrophe schon passiert

Nach fünf Minuten bin ich dann so gut wie voll
und alles was ich spiel, klingt dann nur noch nach Moll
ja alles was ich mach, geht leider viel zu schnell
ich bin der Pia-Pianist, der Pia-Pianist
der Pia-Pianist vom Grand Hotel"


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He played all over the country and abroad
at such venues as the London Royal Festival Hall
and the late-spring Wiener Festwochen series in Vienna.

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Paul Kuhn



Ausschnitte aus seinem Leben als Musiker 
1945 - 2003


Born in Wiesbaden, Kuhn helped to popularize Swing in postwar Germany,
starting by playing in US Army clubs after the end of World War II
and then getting a fixed Gig with the military broadcaster Armed Forces Network, the AFN.

 In the early 1950s, Kuhn was a member of the German All Stars,
which would go on to boast such great musicians as Max Greger and James Last.
He later served as the big band leader
for the former Radio Free Berlin and released numerous recordings.


Datei:Paul Kuhn - Der Mann am Klavier.jpg

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Paul Kuhn Quartet - Route 66



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Paul Kuhn Trio


Konzert mit dem Paul Kuhn Trio




am 4. April 2011 im Theaterstübchen in Kassel.

Paul Kuhn: der Mann am Klavier
Martin Gjakonovski: bass
Gregor Beck: drums

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Mackie Messer - Mack the knife, 2012



Paul Kuhn, Hugo Strasser & Max Greger

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He turned 85 in March
and had been scheduled to perform a Birthday Gala
 at a Jazz Festival in the North Rhine-Westphalia city of Leverkusen 
in November this year.


File:Paul Kuhn FFM13 001.jpg

 "in action"...March 10, 2013



 He had canceled several concerts earlier this year,
and by the beginning of September his health had worsened
and he had been placed in a care facility.
Monday, 23 September, Paul Kuhn died overnight.




Paul Kuhn


I grew up with his music and will miss him.