Mario Testino: " Todo o Nada," a voyage from haute couture to nudity

Altaroma opens the July 2011 fashion week with the exhibition Mario Testino, Todo o Nada, in collaboration with Fendi, Gucci and Valentino. First shown in 2010 at the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza in Madrid, this exhibit now takes place at the Fondazione Memmo in the historic Palazzo Ruspoli in Rome, and brings together 54 photographs that reveal the two opposing concepts to be found in Testino's work, fashion and the nude.

For the Peruvian photographer, the essence of the exhibition lies in contemplating the process and implication involved in the act of removing one's clothes to become naked: a voyage from haute couture to nudity, including the intermediary process that implies baring the form.


From the glamour of top models, either nude or wearing haute couture  and photographed with a touch of irony and a sense of humor, to the beauty of friends and anonymous individuals, Todo o Nada is a tribute to " Testino's woman," an iconic image of woman that he has defined and redefined over the course of his career, a woman who moves at totally opposing poles.

Sienna Miller

American Vogue, Rome 2007

@Mario Testino / Art Partner Inc.

Doutzen Kroes

Allure, New York 2008

@Mario Testino / Art Partner Inc.

Sasha Pivovarova

British Vogue, London 2007

@Mario Testino / Art Partner Inc.

Claudia Schiffer

German Vogue, Paris 2008

@Mario Testino / Art Partner Inc.

Kate Moss

British Vogue, London 2008

@Mario Testino / Art Partner Inc.

Daria Werbowy

American Vogue, Los Angeles 2004

@Mario Testino / Art Partner Inc.

Courtesy Mario Testino

Todo o Nada is on view at the Fondazione Memmo - Palazzo Ruspoli

July 8 - November 23, 2011

Tutti Frutti at Joyce & Joyce

Welcoming the summer with these funny cherry headbands created by British designer Piers Atkinson exclusively for Joyce. When fashion eccentric and style icon Anna Dello Russo was spotted wearing a giant red cherry headpiece during fashion week, it immediately caused a fashion storm. Atkinson is the man behind this  iconic headband which embodies summer's fruity trend. This unique style has now become one of the milliner's signature.

The cherry headbands come in 6 colors, baby blue, pink, lilac, orange, yellow and one-of-a-kind red and black glitter. Each limited piece are available on Joyce.com

" Hats are decorative. They are little sculptures, little crowns; they are all about showing off in a very celebratory way!"
~~Piers Atkinson

Courtesy Joyce & Joyce

Melvin Sokolsky: " Fashion in a Bubble "

" Taking a photography is an unspoken conversation in a shared space where the sitter and the maker reveal their being in a kind of silent dance of escalating trust and affinity."
~~Melvin Sokolsky

Born 1938 in New York, Melvin Sokolsky was a major figure in the revival of fashion photography from the 1960s. He was only 21 when he started working at Harper's Bazaar for which he produced the "Bubble" series of photographs depicting fashion models floating in giant clear plastic bubbles suspended in midair above the Seine river in Paris. Alongside his steady collaboration with Bazaar, he also worked for  publications such as Vogue and the New York Times.
After over a decade as a professional photographer, Sokolsky started working in motion pictures in 1975, and decided to move to Los Angeles, where he began a parallel career as a filmmaker, mostly in advertising. In the early 2000s he resumed his photographic activity and developed projects with many overseas magazines.

Since it reopened in October 2010, Le Royal Monceau - Raffles has pursued an active role in the cultural and artistic life of Paris. For its first summer of Art District, the Parisian hotel has decided to celebrate the meeting between fashion and photography with a new exhibition, entitled Retrospective. 
This exhibition is showing Sokolsky's photographs from the "Bubble" and "Fly" series. Shot in 1963 and 1965, they rank among the classics of photography, emblematic images of Sokolsky's work, a light and playful world of enchantment.

Melvin Sokolsky

Bubble Series
Over New York, New York 1963

On the Seine, Paris 1963

Le Dragon, Paris 1963

After Delvaux, Paris 1963

Du Taxi, Paris 1963

In Trees, Paris 1963

Fly Series

Fly High, Paris 1965

Fly Dior, Paris 1965

Sidekick, Paris 1965

Courtesy Le Royal Monceau - Raffles Paris

Melvin Sokolsky: "Retrospective"

July 7 - September 3, 2011

Reed + Rader's Animated Fashion Shoots, part II

 Witty duo Pamela Reed + Matthew Rader are back with another playful fashion story. The "Cheerleader" series was inspired by high school style cheerleading props and cheers.

"We thought this would be a fun way to put a new spin on designers having a fan base of consumers, becoming a cheerleader for them in the process."


Hope you will enjoy this hilarious photo shoot as much as I do, cheers !!

Fall / Winter 2011 collection

Courtesy of Pamela Reed + Matthew Rader

For Muse 

The 18th century back in Fashion at Versailles

When Marie-Antoinette meets Vivienne Westwood....  Le XVIII au gout du jour is an extravagant exhibition held in the apartments of The Grand Trianon in Versailles, and dedicated to the influence of the 18th century on modern fashion. Fifty models by great designers of the 20th century dialogue with costumes and accessories from the 18th century.

French culture of the 18th century was embodied by Marie-Antoinette, Madame de Pompadour and Madame Du Barry - paragons of frivolity that have always fascinated the movie industry, writers and the fashion world. With its huge powdered wigs, hoop petticoats, corsets, embroidered vests.... This extravagant style has influenced many designers of the 20th century.

Vivienne Westwood brings back brazen courtesans, fashionable Belles are corseted by Azzedine Alaia, Christian Lacroix drapes his queens with brocades lavishly gleaming with gemstones, and Olivier Theyskens summons up the ghost of Marie-Antoinette in a Hollywood film. With Yohji Yamamoto, court dresses are destructured and so does Rei Kawakubo with riding coats. While Thierry Mugler hides oversized hoops under the dresses, Jean Paul Gaultier puts them upside down.


All these pieces come from the archives of maisons de couture and from the Galliera Museum's collections.

Le XVIIIe au gout du jour

Collections Galliera@EPV / J-M Manai, C Milet

Collections Galliera, 1750-1760

@EVP / J-M Manai, C Millet

1750-1755

Collections Galliera @ EVP / J-M Manai, C Millet

1730

1785

Pierre Balmain, Haute couture Summer 1954

Collections Galliera @ EPV / J-M Manai, C Millet

Vivienne Westwood, Pret-a-porter S/S 1991

Collections Galliera @ EPV / J-M Manai, C Milet

Vivienne Westwood, F/W 1995/96

Collection "Vive la Cocotte" @ Marcio Madeira / Zeppelin

Vivienne Westwood, S/S 1996

Collection "Les Femmes" @ Marcio Madeira / Zeppelin

Thierry Mugler, Haute couture F/W 1997/1998

Collection Maison Thierry Mugler @ Marcio Madeira / Zeppelin

Thierry Mugler, F/W 1992, 1993

Collection Maison Thierry Mugler @ Patrice Stable

Jean Paul Gaultier, Haute couture S/S 1998

Collection Maison Jean Paul Gaultier @ Marcio Madeira / Zeppelin

Jean Paul Gaultier, Haute Couture S/S 1998

@Marcio Madeira / Zeppelin

Maison Christian Dior, Haute couture F/W 2004/2005

Collection Maison Dior @ Marcio Madeira / Zeppelin

Maison Christian Dior, Haute couture F/W 2007/2008

@Marcio Madeira / Zeppelin

Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld, Haute couture S/S 2005

Collection Maison Chanel @ Marcio Madeira / Zeppelin

Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquiere, S/S 2006

Collection Maison Balenciaga @ Marcio Madeira / Zeppelin

Rochas by Olivier Theyskens, Marie Antoinette for Sofia Coppola, F/W 2006

Collections Galliera @ EPV / J-M Manai, C Milet

Yohji Yamamoto, S/S 2011

@Marcio Madeira / Zeppelin

All images, courtesy Chateau de Versailles and Galliera Museum

Le XVIIIe au gout du jour - The 18th century back in Fashion is currently on exhibit at the Grand Trianon, Versailles, France.

July 8 - October 9, 2011
This post is also featured in the Huffington Post