Monthly Archives: January 2013

Tom ford tie

Tom Ford creates ‘Suit & Tie’ for Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake Suit Tie

Former Gucci designer Tom Ford has teamed up with Justin Timberlake to design outfits for the actor and singer’s new video.

Tom Ford has worked on a series of clothes and accessories designed specifically for the new Timberlake album which are expected to appear in videos and visuals when the record drops in the spring.

“I adore Justin. He has innate style and enormous talent. It has been such a pleasure and honor to work with him throughout this entire creative process” he said.

The cover shot for Timberlake’s first single from the new record, “Suit & Tie” (featuring an equally style-savvy Jay-Z) , features a Tom Ford tuxedo with satin peak lapels, a white shirt and an oversized satin bow tie.

In the “Suit & Tie” MV Justin also dons a black suit, tuxedo, two pairs of loafers, a tie bar, pocket square and luxurious black onyx and white gold cufflinks all by Tom Ford.

oscar de la renta logo

Oscar de la Renta launches new London flagship

Oscar de la Renta London Flagship Store

Oscar de la Renta has opened a giant 3,000 square ft (280 square meter) space in London’s stylish Soho district. The new Mount Street boutique is his first in the UK and will function as a flagship for his designs.

Oscar de la Renta London boutique

Located near other luxury spots Marc Jacobs, Christian Louboutin and Balenciaga, the shop was designed by New York-based firm Meyer Davis Studio, Inc. and the light, contemporary interiors feature coral stone from de la Renta’s native Dominican Republic and bright white anigré wood.

Oscar de la Renta London

This new London store is the first Oscar de la Renta space to have separate areas for bridal, home and children’s lines. This is de la Renta’s 14th global store and his third in Europe (the brand has locations in Madrid and Athens).

Oscar de la Renta London Store

The 80-year-old designer recently hit the headlines again for welcoming his old friend John Galliano back into the fashion fold.

Oscar de la Renta Mayfair store

hotel bristol Penthouse

Fashion high tea at Paris’s Bristol hotel

Ralph Lauren Le Bristol

On certain Saturdays of the month, guests can indulge in an elegant tea while watching a fashion show at the Bristol hotel in Paris’s tony 8th arrondissement. The next two Fashion Saturdays scheduled will focus on up-and-coming designers.

On Fashion Saturday afternoons, from 2:30pm to 4pm, Le Bristol offers a tea-time menu with tea, a range of pastries, finger sandwiches and a glass of champagne.

An ephemeral dessert created by head pastry chef Laurent Jeannin, inspired by the designer showcased that day, is also available. The price of this treat: €70.

For the next two “Fashion Saturdays,” the luxurious Parisian hotel will focus on two up-and-coming fashion names: Dina Jsr (Jan 26) and Le Lièvre et la Tortue (Feb 16).

The most prestigious haute couture fashion houses including Céline, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Chloé, Ralph Lauren, Stella McCartney, Versace and Ungaro have previously taken part in these “Fashion Saturdays.”

3D Printed House

Dutch architect to build house with 3D printer

3D Printed House Amsterdam

A Dutch architect has designed a house “with no beginning or end” to be built using the world’s largest 3D printer, harnessing technology that may one day be used to print houses on the moon.

Janjaap Ruijssenaars, 39, of Universe Architecture in Amsterdam, wants to print a Mobius strip-shaped building with around 1,100 square metres (12,000 square feet) of floor space using the massive D-Shape printer.

The printer, designed by Italian Enrico Dini, can print up to almost a six-metre-by-six-metre square (20-foot-by-20-foot), using a computer to add layers 5-10 mm (a quarter to half an inch) thick.

Ruijssenaars says the building could serve as a home or a museum and would have parts usually made from concrete printed using broken up rocks and an emulsion binding, while steel and glass would provide the facade.

“It’s our ambition to have the first printed house, this printer has made art or objects for sea defences, but this is the first time to build something that can be lived in,” he told AFP.

Ruijssenaars said the plan was not initially to print the building but the hi-tech medium turned out to be the most appropriate.

“We started to ask the question if a building can be like the landscape, in order to make a building that would not harm the landscape, or at least learn from the landscape,” he said.

“We analysed that the essence of landscape is that it has no beginning or ending, so it’s continuous, not only the fact the world is round but also water goes into land, valleys into mountains, it’s always continuous.”

The Mobius-strip shaped result bears a striking resemblance to the art of another Dutchman, 20th-century designer and illustrator M C Escher.

“In this design he’s definitely been an inspiration, I would say he’s the king of Mobius strips in drawing,” Ruijssenaars said.

When trying to make a small model of the building, Ruijssenaars realised that whatever material you use, from paper to lead, “you have to make a strip and then bend it in order to make this Mobius strip.”

“But with a 3D printer, even a small model, we could make the whole structure from bottom to top without anyone seeing where it is beginning or ending,” he said.

Working with Dutch mathematician and artist Rinus Roelofs and Dini in Italy, “we put the whole thing in the computer,” the architect said.

A Brazilian national park has expressed interest in the building, which would cost around four million euros ($5.3 million) to construct, the architect said, or it could be built as a private home in the United States.

The project would take around 18 months to build and the printer “might be active for half a year,” Ruijssenaars said.

“The challenge is demonstrating that it’s possible to print real buildings in 3D and affirm that there is a new way to manufacture buildings,” Dini, 50, said by telephone from Italy.

Dini, who gave up his well-paid job in robotics designing prototypes for the footwear industry to build his monster printer, said that 3D printing of buildings remains a hybrid process with other building techniques for reinforcement.

“And it’s about being competitive with other construction techniques,” he said.

One advantage of using printing is that you can easily build-in empty spaces for plumbing and electrics — and that you can use rocks found in situ at the construction site, which could be almost anywhere.

“The great thing about the printer is that you can take it somewhere and then print with the ground you find on location,” Ruijssenaars said.

“So you could take the printer to the moon, assemble it there and print with moon material.”

Charles Le Brun Painting Ritz Paris

Paris Ritz renovations uncover mystery masterpiece

Charles Le Brun Painting Ritz Paris

A renovation at Paris’s Ritz hotel has resulted in the discovery of a painting thought to be the work of 17th century artist Charles Le Brun that nobody knew was there.

Now, the giant tableau is to be sold by Christie’s auctioneers and could raise up to 500,000 euros ($665,000) for the foundation established by owner Mohamed Al Fayed in memory of his son Dodi, the late boyfriend of Princess Diana.

The oil painting has been identified by experts as an early work by Le Brun (1619-1690), completed before he became the official painter at the court of Louis XIV and established his reputation as one of the dominant figures of 17th century French art.

It adorned one of the suites in which Coco Chanel lived for more than 30 years but when exactly it was installed in the hotel remains a mystery.

The man who first spotted the painting was Olivier Lefeuvre, a Christie’s France specialist in the period, who came across it in July, a month before the Ritz closed its doors for a two-year renovation.

The painting depicts the killing of Trojan princess Polyxena after she was implicated in the death of Achilles. In the absence of any historical records, Christie’s have named the painting as “The Sacrifice of Polyxena.”

According to Lefeuvre, Le Brun most likely painted the scene after a three-year stay in Rome where he studied the work of Raphael and became close to Poussin.