What I saw..Milan Design Week

by Dimitria Ioannidou//

I know I know, you have h-art enough.  We might have overdone it with art posts lately but we try to keep up with the crisis, people, and just because shopping doesn’t rocket sky high on our behalf, it doesn’t mean our inspiration will have to suffer too.  So be quiet, read what we write (that is said in a polite way, with a smile…), be happy and repeat.  It’s good for you!

And while the topic is inspiration, we are delighted to present a humongous photo-story  unfolding in the heart of Milan, during the infamous Design Week (Salone Internazionale del Mobile) which we’ll all have the pleasure to enjoy through the lens of manic-street-pinner, aka my sister, Galatia.

Taste Milan!

Time to get this inspiration photo-party started

oooops, there’s a tree on my pouf!

someone thought of moi, the little owl-girl…

Someone thought of moi yet again

someone rrrreally thought of moi

@#$%^&*!!!!! Sorry this should never be said in public. Pardon the excitement!

Im not a girl of bags but I am a girl of stools

Wire Panton

That would have been the ideal jewellery case

Here’s an Aston Martin you are perfectly safe with. Knocking on wood everywhere you reach

When you need more baby-sitting than dinner seating

Sliced, folded or woven, paper played THE leading part in one of the most eco-friendly Design Weeks till now

Paola Navone had made a bunch of home accessories with her usual bold graphics

Controprogetto design studio has launched a project called fuoRIsalone: a collecting center for a new kind of waste – reusable waste. Enveloped by a sculpture built with leftover materials from the setting-up of Tortona Design Week, fuoRIsalone is a monument to recycling and a place for exchange and interaction with designers and stagers, aimed at managing reutilization and at giving back to all resources their full potential.

BoConcept home accessories show up everywhere

There we (almost) are! EVERYWHERE

And don’t think you wont get any fashion pictures, after all this is a fashion blog at heart. So be prepared for proper, be prepared for pretty, be prepared for prim. Cause Milan was full of stripes and so will this post.

CREDITS: Text: Dimitria// Photography: Galatia Ioannidou// Street Fashion Photography via thestreetfashion5xpro//

What I saw..That whale guy: Damien Hirst at Tate Modern

by Marjan Schrooten//

Art’s popular.  That’s my generation. It wasn’t before…  Isn’t that  an awesome thing? (D. Hirst)

At Tate Modern in London, the queuing has begun: Damien Hirst’s first retrospective exhibition, bringing together more than seventy art pieces of the last 25 years, is sure to be a hit. Location location location: even wandering tourists will be amazed by the large human body (Hymn, 1999-2005) in front of the already quite impressive Tate building.

Even though queuing can be quite an entertaining activity when there’s plenty to see, we went for the safe option and ordered our tickets on line.  I wasn’t convinced about the buzz around Hirst (I must admit I only knew his shark and other formaldehyde installations), but I am really glad I saw the exhibition. Even if you’re not the greatest connoisseur of modern art, you will be intrigued. For me, it was my 11 month-old daughter and her 11 year-old cousin who made me realize that art is really a universal language, and when there’s vibrant colours and contrasts,  or a story to tell, it’s a joy to experience the art; no need to understand all of it.

Favourites of our little group (two adults, one student, a teenager and a baby) included: the hairdryer holding up a ping-pong ball (descriptive honest language for ‘What Goes Up Must Come Down’ – 1994), the Spot Paintings, the Shark (‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living) , the beach ball and glossy paintings (‘Loving a World of Desire’ – 1996 and two rotating gloss paintings on canvas -with very long titles) and everything butterfly- Matthew Williamson must have seen these paintings!

The retrospective at Tate Modern of the most controversial modern artist of our times proves that Hirst is right: art is popular, and that’s just wonderful.

Photo By Matt Dunham (image by AP)

Work entitled ‘Beautiful, childish, expressive, tasteless, not art, over simplistic, throw away, kids’ stuff (image by Getty Images)

“Mother and Child Divided” (image by AP)

Skulls, sharks and polka dots in Damien Hirst show (image by photo-news)

Marjan with little miss A (image by Marjan)

‘Damien Hirst’ in Tate Modern, until 9 September 2012.

CREDITS: Text: Marjan// Photography: Getty Images, Photo News, AP and Marjan

The not so super heroes

By: Dimitria Ioannidou//

Just another bite of art, dark and melancholic this time, but so very real.  Sums up our life lately, non? Which is why I was so attracted to French photographer Benjamin Bechet’s latest series “I Am Winnie the Pooh”.  Bechet kidnaps some of the most famous superheroes and children’s icons from their fairytale settings and strips them of their supernatural powers by showing them in real life situations.

“The project serves as a reminder that what you see is never what you get, that people are always more complex, that each identity is only partial and that we are all one, none and a hundred thousand.” Benjamin Bechet  for HuffPost UK Culture.

Watch and love.

CREDITS: Text: Dimitria// Photography: Yellowtrace// Inspiration: Huffpost Culture

SS Warm Up… Trend Alert

by Dimitria Ioannidou//

The trends:

FLORALS// Prabal Gurung SS12 – photo credit: elle.com

PASTELS// 3.1 Phillip Lim SS12 – photo credit: elle.com

PASTELS// whiteDlight silk jersey dress at Frock n’ Roll {sale}

NAVAJO// Remember that Rabbit on the Run tunic in the SS10 Frock n’ Roll collections? Vintage by now but, as it proves, a classic

BLOCK COLOURS// Pierre Hardy bag – photo credit: netaporter.com

LACE & SHEER// whiteDlight Alex maxi lace skirt at Frock n’ Roll

PLEATS// whiteDlight pleated dress at Frock n’ Roll {sale}

BLACK & WHITE// whiteDlight Georgie top at Frock n’ Roll

BLUE// whiteDlight Rocky faux leather leggings at Frock n’ Roll

• Florals: We’ve covered that in the previous post. Not a right time for shrinking violets.
• Pastels: Consider it a prettier, sweeter and more subtle take on the recent colour-blocking trend. Think marshmallows in an old fashioned sweetie shop and you’ll get it right.
• Navajo Prints: Angular triangles and dusty bright colours originating from the Navajo people of native America have managed to find their way into the fashion industry as well as that of clothing subgenres like skate boarding. Ideally teamed with colors that are part of the pattern.
• Colour Block (Bright and Bold): Keep the combo with up to 3 players and prefer electric bright emerald, fuchsia, mint and orange.
• Sheer & Short: No boyish looks this season. Feminine will be your middle name.
• Lace: Why don’t you combine Lace, Sheer and Short and make it a ‘day to remember’?
• Pleats: For all Alexa Chung’s out there, polished granny is the look and I’m not personally buying it. My “pleats please” will be more origami inspired, more Halston wannabes and far less granny. Granny is “to love”, not “to wear”

The colours: Black and White (together), Pastels, all shades of Blue from Azure to Sapphire (but then we are Greeks so blue is our black anyway).

The mood: The mood is light.  It’s where serious and fun meet.

The tip: Try to put all that at the back of your mind and improvise. Do not get trapped in the Spanish MegaPower uniform, i.e. pastel skinny jeans every day of the week.

//Happy Easter to ALL//

CREDITS: Text: Dimitria// Photography: credit under each picture// whiteDlight collection at Frock n’ Roll eshop going online any day now…

When in Rome…

by Dora Bora//

Us Frock n’ Rollers have this thing for fashion. But when you take fashion and top it up with a bit of contemporary art (as you may have already seen here) we tend to bat our eyelashes harder and faster than ever.

And if the roads lead you in Rome, drop by the MAXXI museum and allow the artistic duo Lucy + Jorge Orta to narrate breathtaking “Roman Tales” (“Fabulae Romanae”) in the context of the ZegnArt Project.  A space-centered installation, created specifically for and presented in the MAXXI national museum of XXI Century Arts in collaboration with the museum and the Centre for Sustainable Fashion – London College of Fashion. The art project comprises of highly narrative sculptural work and a video performance that deal and try to interpret some of the most fundamental and recurring concepts of the artists’ body of work: protection, sheltering, movement, ethics and aesthetics.

The installation was made using some innovative Zegna technical fabrics that the artist chose as a means of representing the symbolic function of protection. The result is impressive and strongly represents the grand projects that can be generated when combining fashion with art …

Lucy + Jorge Orta, Tuneller, 2012

Lucy + Jorge Orta, Observer, 2012

Lucy + Jorge Orta, The Myth Maker, 2012

Lucy Orta, Dome Dwellin, 2012

Lucy + Jorge Orta, Flying Man, 2012

Lucy + Jorge Orta, Bale Maker, 2012

A sneak peak in the Orta Studio

CREDITS: Text:Dora// Photography: courtesy of Ermenegidlo Zegna Group// The Lucy + Jorge Orta Fabulae Romanae project is commissioned by Ermenegildo Zegna Group// Curated by Maria Luisa Frisa// Within MAXXI Art Collection new display – “Tridimensionable”// 22 March – 23 September 2012

Off the Cuff

by Dimitria Ioannidou//

Street style doyennes have been modeling clinking stacks of bangles, friendship bracelets, and watches for several seasons now. As prints get busier and colors bolder this spring, we’re becoming all the more fond of making a statement with sleek cuffs.  On top of that, being Greeks, we have grown to love symmetry, golden chunky jewellery and luxury at hand!

A big fan of cuffs Amanda Brooks, Barneys Fashion Director, shares her own personal rules of the wrist: simplicity – volume balance – mix exquisite with budget-conscious.

My absolute favourite Owl Cuff, goes everywhere with me

Chunky cuffs collection coming soon at Frock n’ Roll

CREDITS: Text: Dimitria// Photography (from top to bottom: tig-fashion, marie claire, lalaounis, Frock n’ Roll// Amanda Brooks interview: endlessbeauty.com//