BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Milano Moda Uomo

Milano Moda Uomo closed yesterday, and there were some pleasant Fall-Winter '24-'25 collections. Here are a few little details from collections I did not write about but I just couldn't let pass by...

Fendi did not have a theme and Silvia Venturini Fendi proclaimed no need for one--"A collection is a collection, period," she said emphatically--but one can see a certain English rural landscape dressing emerge. Among the protective outerwear were some great skirts.

Over at the Fondazione Prada, it was the set that caught my attention. The collection for FW '24-'25 from Mrs. Prada and Raf Simons apparently was a comment about how the business world creates an atmosphere that is prison-like and keeps people away from the natural world (well...yeah). Models first walked through a maze of spartan cubicles to emerge into the runway area which was created to float three feet over an actual meandering stream and grasses, on glass plates. Audience members watched from uncomfortable office chairs while mist hung in the air. What a feat of engineering to create a complete interior meadow encased in glass.

And finally, Dhruv Kapoor created a pretty cool chunky, lug soled shoe that was both a lace-up and a belted buckle!

https://www.fendi.com/
https://www.prada.com/
https://dhruvkapoor.com/

The Colorful Home of Emmy Raver-Lampman and Daveed Diggs

I love the Los Angeles home of Emmy Raver-Lampman (from Netflix's "The Umbrella Academy") and Daveed Diggs (from the stellar stage hit "Hamilton" for which he won a both a Grammy and a Tony!), that Raver-Lampman designed with interior designer Mandy Cheng. I appreciate it as an interior designer, but also just as a person who is visually stimulated. There is so much beauty and color and texture and life and fun in this home.

In their living room, I love the photo booth kissing series over the fireplace, Raver Lampman's lovely basket collection on the walls, and of course the hanging swing seats.

Raver-Lampman used her quarantine down-time to paint hash marks on the wall of their office which replicates the look of high end wallcoverings like Porter Teleo.

Diggs chose the humorous wallcovering in the powder room: the Bay Area Toile by Flavor Paper, featuring iconic people from the San Francisco Bay Area like legendary quarterback Joe Montana, local Channel 2 news anchor Dennis Richmond (if you are a long-time resident of the Bay Area who is of a certain age, like myself, you will certainly recognize Dennis Richmond!), rapper E-40, political activist Angela Davis, and even Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters.

They converted a never-used wine storage space under the stairs into a really cool record lounge spot!

The stair runner is super--a patchwork of smaller rugs and runners sewn together to create a kaleidoscopic effect.

Upstairs, guest rooms feature a jungle-and-monkey-themed wallcovering from venerable Enlgish wallcovering house Cole and Son, a blue watercolor wallcovering from Feather, and a master bedroom that features a light hearted art work of the Obamas sitting on sandwiches! Watch the video at the bottom of this post for a delightful walk-through of the home hosted by Emmy and Daveed themselves!

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/step-inside-emmy-raver-lampman-and-daveed-diggss-colorful-southern-california-home
http://daveeddiggs.com/

Kate Bush: LIVE ON STAGE!

OH MY GOD! After 35 years, the iconic, legendary Kate Bush, CBE, is going to play a series of live shows! This is phenomenal and so unexpected--a true once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I mean, seriously, this is a huge, huge, huge, huge, HUGE, HUGE deal. You must understand that this is like getting one more chance to see John, Paul, Ringo, and George play live!

She is booked for 15 nights at the Hammersmith Apollo (formerly the Hammersmith Odeon) in London where she played a series of dates 35 years ago. Tickets go on sale March 28th: see the screen cap from Kate's website below.

There is already some speculation about the title of the show, and the promotional shot you see above which is eerily reminiscent of the photo that accompanied her profound masterpiece, "The Ninth Wave" from her album "The Hounds of Love." Will she be playing "The Ninth Wave?" Will she play old hits? Newer songs? Both?

I am sure the tickets will sell out in mere minutes. And we should be hearing about the concert, along with pictures and videos, after the fact.

Thank you Kate, for deciding to come back to the stage! Break a leg!

http://www.katebush.com/


Kate Bush is magic. Kate Bush taught me how to fly.

UPDATE: Because of heavy demand, as would be expected, Kate has added seven nights to the already full tour, bringing her engagement to 22 nights! She is now playing to October 1st.

UPDATE 10/2/14: I was lucky enough to get two tickets to see this historic event and posted my review of Kate's show here:
http://ohbythewayblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/kate-bush-before-dawn.html

R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman

A great and tragic loss for the world of film and theater.

I saw him in 2003 on Broadway as James Tyrone in O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and he was great. What a shame...

"Hannibal"

If you find yourself in Sölden, Austria this April 12, 2013, for heaven's sake, see the stupendous theatrical extravaganza "Hannibal" which takes place on a staggeringly large outdoor stage made of the Alps and snow. The stylized, conceptual show memorializes Carthaginian military commander Hannibal's crossing of the Alps in 218 B.C.E. along with 38,000 infantrymen, 8,000 cavalry, and 37 elephants. This modern breathtaking spectacle, performed nearly 3,000 feet above sea level, reenacts the crossing with more than 500 actors, dancers, acrobatic skiers as warriors, snow grooming machines standing in for war elephants, base jumpers, helicopters, artificial avalanches, explosions, state of the art projection and lighting effects, and fireworks.

For more info, visit:
http://www.soelden.com/main/EN/SD/MS/hannibal/index.html

The Floating Stage of Bregenz

Every summer, on the shore of Lake Constance in Austria, the Bregenzer Festspiele takes place on the world's largest floating stage. Operas from the popular repertoire are presented to an audience of 7,000 on absolutely mind-boggling sets. The scale of these stage elements are epic and monumental.

And this year, they premiered "Solaris," an opera based on the novel by Polish author Stanislaw Lem (which was also turned into a film by the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky).

Above: two views from a production of A MASKED BALL

Above: a view of a production of ANDRÉ CHÉNIER

Above: two views of a production of IL TROVATORE

Above: two views of a production of TOSCA

Above: two views of a production of WEST SIDE STORY

http://www.bregenzerfestspiele.com/en/