Fashion – With all that Milan Fashion Week had to offer, the foreign press had much to say on Italy’s major labels. Several papers offered a summary of all the latest trends seen on the catwalks and how yet again, women’s fashion had been reinvented (New York Times, September 23 – Safe Mode in Milan; Le Monde, September 24 – Fashion week : Milan va de l’avant; Reuters, September 24 – Curtain falls on Milan fashion shows with Nakashima’s 1960s funk), another article spoke of the success also enjoyed by the accessories presented (New York Times, September 23 – Glitter Leads the Accessories Parade).
This year, the Green Carpet Award meant particular attention also to all that was eco-friendly, bringing together celebrities and the fashion elite in order to promote a greener kind of luxury sector. (The Guardian, September 24 – Green Carpet awards sprinkle stardust on Milan fashion week; New York Times, September 25 – Celebrities Gather on Milan’s ‘Green Carpet’ to Promote Sustainability).
There were also several articles that focused on individual labels. from Prada’s contemporary look (Reuters, September 20 – Prada plays with classic clothing cliches to create contemporary looks) to Tod’s (Reuters, September 21 – Tod’s charms Milan with its ‘Italian attitude’ and Mediterranean colors; New York Times, September 21 – Tod’s Charms Milan With Its ‘Italian Attitude’ and Mediterranean Colors). Other dailies ran articles about the fun Versace was having with prints and leather (Reuters, September 22 – Versace plays with prints and leather for its spring/summer designs; New York Times September 23 – Versace Plays With Prints and Leather for Its Spring/summer Designs).
Versace, with its Medusa head logo – also made the headlines a few days before the last of Milan’s catwalk shows, thanks to news that it was about to be sold to Michael Kors although creative control of this icon of European fashion would remain with the founding family (September 24 in Le Monde, – L’américain Michael Kors veut prendre le contrôle de l’italien Versace; The Guardian – Versace close to being sold to US label Michael Kors for $2bn; Reuters – Michael Kors set to snap up Italy’s Versace: sources). The foreign press also reported on what Donatella Versace had to say about some of the benefits of a takeover (Reuters, September 26 – Versace Takeover Will Bring Jobs to Italy, Its Designer Says).
More articles in the world’s press carried other news about the world of Italian style and luxury. Both the Financial Times and the New York Times carried a piece about the so-called “Progetto Bellezza” established by the “king of cashmere” Brunello Cucinelli in order to transform the village of Solomeo and the surrounding valleys into a successful business (September 21 –How a beautiful landscape became a luxury good; Brunello Cucinelli, Prince of All He Surveys), whereas, the Wall Street Journal was in Rome to check out a very particular shop with a Luca Guadagnino connection (September 24 – Luca Guadagnino, Director of ‘Call Me by Your Name,’ Designed a New Aesop Store in Rome). El Mundo ran a piece about the latest Maseratis whose interiors are more luxurious than ever (September 24 – Los renovados Maserati se estrenan al borde del mar) and then the same paper turned its attention to Alfa Romeo’s special B-Tech series that is all about design and technology (September 25 – Alfa Romeo B-Tech, una serie especial homenaje al diseño y la tecnología).
Economy – This week Reuters described how Technogym plans to maintain its current success (September 20 – Technogym targets content fix for fitness fans to sustain growth), whilst the Financial Times wrote about Italian banker, Andrea Orcel, his international experience and how he has just been named as the new Santander CEO (September 25 – Santander names UBS’s Orcel as new chief executive).
Culture – One story dominated this week – that of the passing of “legendry Italian publisher”, Inge Feltrinelli, often described as the “queen” of the sector and a leading light in one the most important moments in its recent history. (September 20 and 21 in Die Zeit – Inge Feltrinelli ist tot; Handelsblatt – Verlegerin Inge Feltrinelli im Alter von 87 Jahren gestorben; the Sueddeutsche Zeitung – Die Signora*; L’Orient Le Jour – Italie: mort d’Inge Feltrinelli, figure du monde de l’édition; El Mundo, September 21 – Muere Inge Feltrinelli, legendaria editora italiana; El Pais – Muere Inge Feltrinelli, editora formidable en un mundo de locos). El Mundo continued to write about books in a profile piece all about Antonella Lattanzi, “one of the greatest Italian authors of the 21st century” (September 26 – Antonella Lattanzi, los matices de la violencia de género).
Bloomberg, however, was in Venice, with an article about the Homo Faber exhibition mounted by the Michelangelo Foundation dedicated to rare trades and the precious items they produce (September 24 – The Demise of Europe’s Finest Artistry?) whereas Le Monde explained just how a Paris exhibition managed to explain about Caravaggio and his “new way of painting” with only 30 of his works on display (September 26 – Caravage, une avant-garde à lui tout seul). Photography also got a look in, thanks to an exhibition in the US dedicated to images of Italian neorealism (Wall Street Journal, September 26 – ‘NeoRealismo: The New Image in Italy, 1932-1960’ Review: A Lens on the Real Italy*).
Tourism – On this topic the New York Times chose to include the Dolomites in a list of places to visit this year, mentioning that Le Corbusier described them as the “most beautiful architecture in the world (September 25 – The 52 Places Traveler: In the Italian Dolomites, Dramatic Skies and Stone Giants), the same paper also suggested readers might like to visit Vicenza, another city in the Veneto region, “the Italian capital of gold” (September 22 – Vicenza, Italy’s Capital of Gold). In the end, the. Financial Times was at the most exclusive apartment in the Eternal City – the Holy Deer San Lorenzo City Lodge (September 21 – Halfway to heaven: sleeping in a pope’s bedchamber in Rome).
Food & Wine – Several articles on this subject appeared this week, including one in Libération about Tommaso Melilli and this young Italian’s “freedom cooking” style with which he prepares food in his Paris restaurant (September 22 – TOMMASO MELILLI SUR TOUS LES THONS). The Washington Post provided a “must have” recipe for an ever-popular traditional pasta sauce – (September 25 – Puttanesca is the spicy, from-the-pantry pasta sauce you should have in your back pocket). Austria’s Der Standard was all about a traditional cake from Mantua (September 25 – Anello di San Luigi Gonzaga: Gugelhupf auf Italienisch). The Financial Times featured an estate in Greve in Chianti amongst several currently on sale that will undoubtedly appeal to wine lovers (September 21 – Seven homes for wine lovers) and Expansión ran a piece all about Gualdo Tadino’s Birra Flea and his new, eco-friendly way of making beer (September 25 – Una empresa italiana inventa una cerveza hecha a partir del aire).
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