Make over!

My lovely room mate Gerta gave me a makeover. Grazie, Gertina! <3

Bella Venezia

Click images to enlarge.

I went to Venice today with the best intentions: walk around, take pictures, and see Palazzo Mocenigo, San Marco, Il Palazzo Ducale, and the Accademia all before the last regional train left at 7 PM. Well, Rome wasn't built in a day and even I have to confess that Venice simply cannot be done in one day. Unless you want to get the 8:00 AM train. (No.)

While attempting to find Palazzo Mocenigo, I found a restaurant called Alba Nova. It was cute and the menu was in Italian, so I went in and got papardalle with porcini mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and parsley. So fresh, and so good! I was even rewarded with a few locals walking in (including the guy who delivered the groceries!) to chat with the cook and drink a glass of wine at the bar.

My first stop was Palazzo Mocenigo, one of Italy's only historic costume museums. The palazzo also houses Italy's only Center of Textile Studies. It seems like the palazzo is more Center than museum, but that's okay because the few clothes they had were beautiful. All of the dresses were from the 18th century, Venice's last hurrah. The first room had two children's robes:

The dress on the right was a fantastic green silk moire with white, green, and teel embroidery. Drool-worthy. Although you can't see it in this picture, the dress also has a Watteau back. In my costume history class, I learned that this type of dress was called a robe francaise, but the Venetians and the French called it an adrienne. I also have a thing for fabrics, so as you can imagine, this piece was orgasmic:

The palace itself was also quite beautiful: a Rococo interior to match the Rococo clothes.

There was also a family library with 200 years' worth of fashion books on display. What I wouldn't do to revise and update this beauty from an 1886 fashion plate:

Oh, and there was a whole room dedicated to George Barbier prints. It's like they knew I was coming.

Next stop was Piazza San Marco and, naturally, Basilica San Marco:

San Marco is basically ridiculously beautiful and made my beloved Monreale (more on that soon!) look like Amateur Hour. Unfortunately, most of the church was closed off in preparation of Easter. Oh no I will just have to go back, woe is me, etc.

After that, I took a quick turn around the corner to the Palazzo Ducale. Tip: Don't get the audio guide because it's somewhat tedious and it's 5 euro. They don't give you a receipt so you can't get it reimbursed by ECCO. Boo. You also aren't allowed to take pictures inside and the guards are just bored enough to strictly enforce this rule. Poor things, they all looked so miserable.

When I entered the Palazzo Ducale I was like, "Yeah, yeah, Venice is really pretty and all, but I'm mostly over it." Then I turned my head to the right, saw the Renaissance Wing, and then almost burst into tears because it was so beautiful. The picture above is just one teeny, tiny detail of the Giant's Staircase, where the new Doge was crowned.

By the time I had done all of this it was almost 5:00, and what with the crowd and possibly getting lost, I wouldn't be able to go to the Accademia and catch my train. So I meandered around the luxury district for awhile and mentally flipped the bird at the Prada store because how dare Miuccia Prada say she's a feminist when she can't be arsed to design costumes for an opera for any actor above a size 2 so then the Met had to hire a ton of models instead and then this same bitch had a fall collection that purposely made the models look curvy my God what a whore. Ahem. Anyway.

So as I was walking back on the Rialto, feeling badly for myself for having been to both Venice and Florence twice and still not having seen a single famous Titian portrait, I heard a tambourine. And then:

LARPERS!!!! LARPers make the world go around. Of course, they weren't very good LARPers because their clothes were, ummmmm, 16th and 17th century? But we can't complain.

Oh, and there were so many bridges:

Did you know that the Rialto and the Ponte Vecchio in Florence are the only two bridges in Italy with stores lining the sides? How lucky that I have been to both tourist traps!

Does this count as a cultural experience?

I got an Italian haircut yesterday! It was weird. As you can see behind me, there are no counters like in an American salon. And they do not cut your hair with scissors--oh, no. They use a razor, which is somewhat terrifying when you're worried because your Italian is on the fritz (seriously, yesterday I couldn't speak our understand anything per niente) and you hope they don't shave you bald or something. And then they blew my hair out and they were like, "Do you want me to make your hair curly?" and I was all, "No, I want it to be natural." And then they blew my hair out anyway. What's with Italians and big hair? Discuss.

P.S. If I look tired/ hung over in this picture... it's because I am. Ooops.

Italy Adventures

Yeah, so, I haven't posted in awhile. (Whoops.) And I promised I would talk about Italy! (Double whoops.) So now I'm doing both. This post is a collection of weekend trips that I've taken.

Ravenna

Ravenna is somehow still a charming city even though its prime industry is tourism and mosaics. Mosaics? Yes, mosaics. Ravenna was a cultural center for the westernmost outpost of the Byzantine empire. When the Visigoths invaded Italy, the Byzantines retreated to Ravenna. Today, Ravenna has some of the best preserved Byzantine mosaics in the world, most notably in San Vitale (a UNESCO Site) and Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. The Tomb of Galla Placidia is behind San Vitale but alas, no pictures--they're not allowed. Also, one geeky thing to note: the mosaics in San Vitale are one of the most important sources on Byzantine costume.

San Vitale

 

San'Apollinare Nuovo

We also visited Dante's Tomb. Dante was exiled from Florence for the last years of his life. He eventually settled in Ravenna. Of course, now the Tuscans want the body back. (Still!) Every year, on the anniversary of Dante's death, admirers from Tuscany and Ravenna come to the tomb in period costume. The Tuscans put some Tuscan oil in the lamp as a sign of friendship.

  

 

 

 

Oh, and I ate this stuff:

 

Ferrara

Ferrara is a beautiful city, but I have to admit there isn't all that much to see. We went to the Castello Estense, the castle of the extremely powerful d'Este family. It's hard to believe that at one point little Ferrara was one of the prime centers of the Renaissance world.

 
 

  

The view from the Tower

 
 

I also got this thing, which is the Ferrara specialty. I don't know what it's called but it's a pastry filled with beschamel,  macaroni, and sausage. HOW CAN THAT BE BAD? EXACTLY.

 

 

New York Fashion Week Update: Everything Old is Old Again

I have to say that being in Italy has made me really appreciate New York fashion so much more. Italian fashion seems, at least to me, almost vulgar--it's very playful, which is a nice change from sober New York, but at the same time it's more about flash--fur, shiny leather, intricate knits that verge on ugly and deformed--then about looking elegant or classy. I still can't decide whether or not that's a good thing.

This Fashion Week proudly shows what makes New York so special: lots of designers are presenting a strong, studiously casual woman. She can wear a blazer to a bar or to a boardroom meeting and always look chic without the fuss of Paris or the noise of Milan. Many designers are continuing familiar silhouettes--big shoulders, harem pants, pleated pants (why???), sequined minis. We're also going to see some trends that are already big in Italy: chunky knits layered over turtlenecks and wide-legged pants. It's also becoming pretty apparent that the staid optimism and subdued femininity of this spring will be gone by September. (Sigh.) Instead, lots of designers are showing a woman who is tough but vulnerable. Perhaps subconsciously following their 16th century peers, who were similarly living in a time of great upheaval, many designers have used slashing to express social upheaval. Altuzarra, for example, presented neo-Goth clothes. Much of the collection looked like it was Frankensteined together or were otherwise slashed. Even the ankles were exposed.

Altuzarra

Alexander Wang took the power suit and tore it to shreds. His woman had powerful shoulders but bared some of the most vulnerable parts of her body.

Alexander Wang

There's more than one way to show vulnerability. Prabal Gurung's collection had some admirable color-blocking. The forms were large and powerful, but ultimately ellusive. For example, this coat was white in the front and black in back--the wearer presents two faces to the world.

 

Prabal Gurung

Another emerging trend from New York Fashion Week is the use, or appearance of the use, of found objects. Unlike the past few seasons, when designers lazily copied stuff from the 80s  were inspired by vintage, designers really are being inspired by old, grungy things. Both Altuzarra and Alexander Wang incorporated velvet into their shows, and most designers this season have used textured wool, leather, fox fur, and, on a few occasions, faded-looking prints. This fall will simply be a hodgepodge of materials, as if New York designers raided a Salvation Army and repurposed whatever they could find. Maybe these designers have had the recession on the brain, but if that's true, then they haven't exactly been optimistic.

 

       Gary Graham                                     Karen Walker 

One of the only collections so far to have any joie de vivre was Peter Som's. Som, an industry favorite, has been struggling since his extremely bitter and unfortunate departure from Bill Blass. This has been his first runway show since his departure from Bill Blass. The theme, apparently, was Woodstock, and not a single surface was left without a print or a texture. Som continued the somber color palette that other designers have been putting out but added some rich jewel tones and some surprise neons into the mix.

 

Peter Som

Of course, this is only the beginning of Fashion Week. It'll be interesting to see what themes other designers develop. 

All images via Style.com. Click to enlarge.

Reposted from Contrast.

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

So I promise that I'll stop posting Rahm porn (for now) and actually start posting about Italy and stuff. But before I swear off Rahm for, like, a week I might as well give you an update on Retardgate, courtesy of Wonkette. Tim Shelby, the CEO of the Special Olympics, claims that he did not actually accept Rahmbo's apology because he didn't feel comfortable accepting it on behalf of all mentally disabled people (but he clearly had noooooooooo problem refusing it for them!) As penance, Rahm will have to host a roundtable for advocates of people with mental disabilities, join a bunch of promotional stuff for the March 3rd Spread the Word to End the Word campaign, and take something called the R-Word Pledge. Imagining Rahm doing all of this will surely bring tears of laughter to your eyes, dear reader. It must also be noted that, according to Wikipedia, Rahm's wife teaches special needs children. So, clearly, this past week must have been a comedy of manners.

Also, for those of you who don't really know that much about our lovable Chief of Staff, let me throw out a few facts for you: he's a trained ballet dancer and almost went pro, but decided to go to Sarah Lawrence instead--he promised his mother that he would continue dancing while there, but well, we know what happened. He also worked at an Arby's when he was a teenager. He cut his finger on a meat slicer, did nothing about it, went swimming with his buddies in Lake Michigan on prom night, promptly got a blood infection and was in the hospital for the entire summer and had to get his left middlefinger amputated, the stub of which he now proudly flashes to everyone who pisses him off (which is...everyone). Let's see, what else? He's a foul-mouthed motherfucker; his mother calls him Rahmbo; he once sent a rotten fish to a political enemy (with the help of David Axelrod); once, upon hearing about some defectors from the Clinton campaign, started yelling about how they were traitors and stabbed a table with a knife when he mentioned their names; he's a total baller when it comes to fundraising; he's somewhat awkward and totally adorable; and he is insanely sexy, which is a 100% true and objective fact and I don't know how anyone can deny that. If you do, I'll go Rahmbo on you.

Oh hell no

I cannot believe that Sarah Palin is trying to pick a fight with my man. Oh helllllll no. That is not happening.

Here's the scoop: in a profile in The Wall Street Journal from last Friday, in which a bunch of super liberal progressives whined that Rahmbo was too political and wasn't helping the left enough (which is exactly why they went crying to that liberal bastion The Wall Street Journal), a story was mentioned in which, when these progressive liberals suggested, in August, that they should run attack ads on conservative Dems who were most likely not going to vote for the health care bill, Rahm reportedly said, "That's fucking retarded." (Because it was! And he was right!)

So anyhoodle, Ms. Sarah Palin (whose Facebook profile says she's a Politician, while Rahm's says Other Public Figure and do we not see a problem here?) has decided to comment on a 6-month-old comment because, as Wonkette put it, she hasn't gotten attention in a week. Here is some of what she said:

A patriot in North Andover, Massachusetts, notified me of Rahm’s “retarded” slam. I join this gentleman, who is the father of a beautiful child born with Down Syndrome, in asking why the Special Olympics, National Down Syndrome Society and other groups condemning Rahm’s degrading scolding have been completely ignored by the White House. No comment from his boss, the president?

 

 Sadly, Rahmbo has apologized, but I was so looking forward to a Facebook war. One wonders what he's saying in private about Palin, and hopes it gets leaked for the public's eternal merriment.

*Sigh* Be my Valentine.