Women are Heroes

French photographer and grafitti artist JR spent a month at favela Providência in Rio de Janeiro portraying women and children for his project Women. These ladies live in a zone of conflict and most of them suffered the painful loss of a loved one as a result of the violence.

The project wants to underline the pivotal role of these women and to highlight their dignity by photographying them in their daily lives and posting them on the walls of their community.

Below are some photos of the Providência project as well as a video of the same project carried out in Africa.

Women are Heroes
www.womenareheroes.be

TRAILER " WOMEN ARE HEROES"
by JR

The Big Fabric Bag fever

They are simple, colorful, easy and look fab with any summer outfit. At the beach, at the park, weekend trip, a day in the office - the BFB (Big Fabric Bag) is THE item.

My favorite models this summer are...

Love by Accessorize
http://www.monsoon.co.uk/icat/accessorize

Multicolored by Comptoir des Cotonniers
http://www.comptoirdescotonniers.com/

Beach scene by Paul Smith
www.paulsmith.co.uk

Barcelona amb Nico

Barcelona by day, by night, on foot and by bike...

Kenzo poppies celebrate summer

Kenzo keeps inovating following its concept of bringing nature into the urban space. In order to celebrate the summer, the Japanese brand invited French dance company Les Passagers to perform a vertical show in Plaza Felipe II.

The poppy flower - the brand's fetish symbol - will be the star of the event on 26 June. This is not the first time Kenzo chooses Madrid to stage an action for its poppy inspired fragance Flower by Kenzo. Last year, the brand installed a field of 80.000 paper poppies in front of Reina Sofia Museum (image below).

Flower by Kenzo
http://www.kenzoparfums.com/
Fotos: Flickr

Pretty Ballerinas summer edition

It's not a secret (especially if you know me well) that I am crazy for ballerinas... but for the hot summer days in Barcelona nothing like flat sandals or Havaianas. So you can imagine my surprise when I found out that my favorite brand of ballerinas launched a special summer edition of the Lilly collection available in many colors such as fucsia, green, red, gold, silver, white....

If you are somewhere in the south hemisphere you can shop online for the winter collection - simply fabulous... this blog recommends!

Pretty Ballerinas
www.prettyballerinas.com

Brazilian Vice hits the streets of Sao Paulo

Canadian Vice, a free-sheet publication distributed in funky places, and best known for its controversial content and its strong, attractive artwork will be launched in Brazil in June.

Brazilian Vice will be distributed in nightclubs, art galleries, trendy shops and around the skate scene haunts of São Paulo only (at least for now).

Vice No. 0 counts with Vice reporters and editors from around the world, who visited Brazil solely for this purpose.

The Brazilian Issue -http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n5/htdocs/index.php?country=us ...and Vice in Brazil - http://www.viceland.com/br/

Art dolls by Dina Ladina

I was in Portugal for a week, traveling with my 'made in Brazil' friends and in one of my gallery hunting afternoons in Porto, I had the chance of meeting the girls from Aguas Furtadas (lovely by the way!). They had such great collection of work by young talented Portuguese designers and artists that no need to say that my friends L, P and J had to push me literally out of the gallery.

Some of the most fabulous art dolls they had were the hand made ones by Dina Ladina. I uploaded some photos of her work below that I kindly borrowed from her personal crafts blog, but you can find more images in her Flickr photostream, where she has lots of pics of her beautiful work.

Enjoy it :-)

Porto

The streets of Porto...

Photos by Vane

Gisele Bündchen: The charmed life of the mega-model

Our 'querissíma' super top-model Gisele receives a dedicated feature in the British daily The Independent. The article is all superlatives, but well, what isn't in the mega-model's life?

For the original article, click here.

First selling exhibition of work by Cecil Beaton in over 25 years

The british gallery Chris Beetles, in collaboration with Sotheby's, announces an exhibition of photographer, painter, illustrator, writer and Oscar-winning designer of sets and costumes Cecil Beaton (1904 - 1980).

Beaton the photographer cultivated a genius for staging compelling scenes. An extensive list of movie stars, artists and members of the Royal Family were portraited by him, amongst them Buster Keaton, Marlene Dietrich, Pablo Picasso, Edith Sitwell, Truman Capotte, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe.

The show in London combines 64 vintage and modern prints, the latter produced from original negatives drawn from Sotheby’s unique archive.

Accompanying the exhibition will be a 92 page, fully illustrated catalogue containing a foreword by Mario Testino. It is available from the gallery at 10 pounds.

Cecil Beaton selling exhibition
Beetles Gallery, London
22 April to 16 May 2009
www.chrisbeetles.com

Marilyn Monroe, New York, 1956

Slow the crisis down

Great article by La Casita de Wendy on "Crisis, Fashion and the Slow Movement", with the colaboration of Spanish sociologist and cool hunter Miguel Fdez. de Molina.

To read the article, click here.

Handmade editorial

A fashion editorial totally handmade? Jalouse invited a selection of artists to create a special handmade edition, from the cosmetics session with each product replica carefully embroidered by Emma Ferguson and Kate Talbot, to the magazine's title, knitted letter by letter.

Marie Christophe, well known in the world of fashion for her contributions for Dior, Baccarat, Cartier and Hermès, created the magazine's editorial page (absolutely amazing) with her delicate and light iron sculptures. Below you can find some of her work.

For a glimpse of Jalouse's handmade edition, click here.

http://www.mariechristophe.com/

Mix It Up

The consumer team at the agency organized a Swap Party last week to present the new adidas Mix It Up collection designed exclusively for Foot Locker. The party guests danced at the rhythm of rock, dance and hip hop, while exchanging parts of garment on the dance floor. The winner was the person wearing the crazyiest and most original outfit at the end of the party.

The gig - that gathered over 200 guests at Bar Pepino in Barcelona - was inspired by the adidas Mix It Up concept.

Check out some pics from the party...

Images: Edelman/Foot Locker

Coco avant Chanel

Hopefully you are not yet bored with all my French stories since I came back from Provence, but I had to dedicate a post to the premiere of 'Coco avant Chanel', the new Warner Bros feature film directed by Anne Fontaine.

The feature tells the story of the path taken by Coco from her obscure beginnings to the blinding lights of Paris, interpreted by the magnificent French actress Audrey Tautou.

Lucky me! Next week I'm in Paris for work, and I will have the chance of watching the film, that opens April 22 in cinemas across France.

And for the ones dying of curiosity, I have included the French trailer of the film that shows amongst other things, scenes of ateliê Chanel with the notorious staircases where Coco used to present her collections.

Fotos: Flickr


Audrey Tautou looks stunning in this white and black floral Chanel from Lagerfeld's spring 2009 couture collection that the actress chose to wear for the film's avant premiere in Paris.

Their most intimate secret: their real beauty

My short trip to France was really productive. I returned inspired and with lots of new tidbits to share with you.

The first one is about the photo shooting by Peter Lindbergh for the April edition of the French Elle. Eight iconic stars pose to the photographer without make-up and without photoshop retouching, showing their most intimate secret: their real and natural beauty.

The photo session resulted in a special three cover edition, featuring Monica Belucci, Sophie Marceau and Eva Herzigova! For the vídeo, click here.

Rousset les Vignes

Fotos by Vane (Flickr)

Designer jewellery by Maria Dolores

In December I travelled to Brazil to celebrate my wedding and I spent a month in my hometown Curitiba, where I had the immense joy of getting to know the work of talented designer Maria Dolores.

Her work is of incredible beauty, delicacy and harmony. Each of Maria Dolores's creations is carefully studied and carries the taste, soul and creativity of the designer.

The girl who helped me in the store in Crystal was such a doll, showing me every piece of the new collection, explaining the origin of each material and the technique employed by the designer - a luxury I must confess. I ended up buying a beautiful pair of golden hoop earrings (not joking, people stop me at the street to ask me about these earrings) as well as a gorgeous bracelet from the Metallo collection.

I must confess that I regret not buying the jellewed headdress with a rose on top or the super cool hummingbird shaped earring - well, next time.

The work of Maria Dolores design art concept is available in Argentina, Italy, Peru and US, as well as in many stores across Brazil. Also, if you feel terribly in love with one of her creations (and I know you will), you can order online by sending an email to her with the reference number.

Images: Atelier Maria Dolores design
http://www.designmariadolores.com.br/