The Ladybug’s Dream of Being “The Little Black Blogger”: Covering The Little Black Jacket…

I understand that I am very excited about something I’m going to write about when I don’t know how to start my post… like now!

When I read that the most interesting and exciting photography expo was coming to Milan, after traveling with huge success around the world (New York, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin and London) I immediately called my friend to go see it with her because she’s the only one I knew who shared my excitement about it! I am talking about the famous “The Little Black Jacket,” an itinerant expo of pictures taken by Karl Lagerfeld in Cannes, Paris and New York under the stylistic direction of Carine Roitfeld (also pictured in the first image that opens the expo). These pictures are now not only one of the most acclaimed fashion expos of the last year, but they’re also a beautiful book.

The focus of the expo is very simple: it’s centered around one of the most iconic pieces created by Coco Chanel. No, not the Little Black Dress. And not my adored quilted 2.55…  It’s The Little Black Jacket.  Like the LDB, it’s worn by many celebrities from movies to fashion, but unlike the LBD… (well, with the exception of Marc Jacobs) it’s also a staple of men and women and it crosses different cultures and backgrounds, everyone bringing their own personality and style to this amazing piece. I have been told by some visitors, who didn’t know about it, that they didn’t realize they were all wearing the same jacket (only Keira Knightley and Kirsten Owen are wearing the white version). Which means that, despite the boring concept, the result is quite amazing! And believe me, it is!

The expo is now in Dubai for its last date, but if you missed it- I’m sharing here some of my favorite pictures.

Let me say a few words about the location: the expo was held at the Rotonda della Besana, one of the historical places in Milan but maybe one of the less known and this is a real shame. It is a wonderful park surrounded by arcades where we enjoyed a nice walk after the expo. There’s what used to be a church in the middle, which is now used for expos or cultural events. I also enjoyed the inside lighting and space which, I think, gave more importance to the exposed images because of how the light was directed.

Another little idea that I liked: not only was the expo free, but there were also free posters of some of the pictures from the expo for all the visitors… classy! Oh, I forgot… during the days of the expo, a selection of the S/S 2013 Chanel collection’s jackets were exhibited in the Milanese boutique in via S. Andrea… classier!

The Ladybug’s Artistic Buds Bloom in Milan: Visiting the MiArt Fair 2013

April is, by definition, one of the busiest month in Milan’s cultural and artistic background: the feeling that the city is waking up from a grey and cold winter is not only a weather-related concept; spring comes in April and with the sun blooms the most interesting and involving events in town.

As for the first Sunday of sun, I was curious to visit the MiArt which as the biggest and most known of Milan’s art fairs was celebrating its 18^th birthday. I read a lot about it on the Internet and newspapers. It seems that this last edition was defined as the most successful one. More than 137 galleries from 15 different countries exposed their art and the new “layout” of the Fair deserved important comparisons with the Paris’ FIAC or the famous Art Basel in Switzerland.

MiArt is a great opportunity to find and buy art, but it’s not only about the commercial side of art. It’s also a true expo for visitors not interested in buying but just, as I was, in looking for what was new and interesting on the artistic scene. From paintings to sculptures, from new emerging design to old classics, MiArt was definitely a very interesting way to spend a Sunday with my friends!

I picked here a couple of my favorites, including a beautiful Basquiat painting that was for sure my favorite “find” of the fair! Jean-Michel Basquiat was probably one of the most celebrated artists of the fair from the most innovative artists exposed there… how could I not love it?

As it happens often in Milan, especially for big events, the main event is often related to a chain of other events in town: many galleries and museums offered special events and were often open until very late during the days of the Fair. The Museo del Novecento, the Fondazione Prada, the Hangar, the Triennale, the Pac were just a few of the many that participated in the related events with expos, talks and interviews with artists and curators, live art, design and much more.

The Fondazione Trussardi was part of the event, with a kind of “after-party” (called here dopo-fiera): every night during the fair a real festival was on at the Teatro Arsenale with music, live art, experimental shows, DJ sets and much more.

One of the biggest components of the MiArt was its technological support: from “Miartalks,” a new platform created  for conferences with interviews and talks via the mobile app. This year was one of the most multi-media driven of the fairs, where artistic and technological innovations were the only keys to open Milan’s heart!

The Ladybug’s Unexpected Journey Through Alfa Castaldi’s Art: His Life in Pictures at the Galleria Sozzani

The glamorous combo of aperitivo + art expo has become a habit for my friend Nita and I here in Milan. We try at least twice a month to meet for an art event followed by a girlish aperitivo in town. One of our favorite venues is definitely the Galleria Franca Sozzani in corso Como here in Milan where these two things match perfectly (plus some good shopping at 10 Corso Como).

We’ve were here over a month ago for the celebratory art expo of the Gallery and we returned a few weeks ago to visit the photography exhibition on Alfa Castaldi that was held until the end of March.

I was particularly touched by this collection as it followed this amazing Milanese photographer’s artistic life through his wonderful pictures. He is best known for his fashion work on Vogue, but his artistic career is much more than fashion photography: his eye not only encapsulated Milan during the ’50s, but also a view of Italy’s popular and rural areas. This showing highlights Castaldi’s fashion and international spotlights on Paris, Algeria, London and all the places that represents a step in his life and work. This, all through experimentation, reportage, portraits, all the facets of an all-around artist.

The expo starts with a section entirely dedicated to Anna Piaggi, the fashion icon and journalist who was also his beloved wife. They shared the love for constant research, aesthetics, fashion renovation and invention. They also worked together for Vogue and created some of the most iconic reportage of the Italian magazine.

But Alfa Castaldi is also a photo-journalist: his pictures taken in rural Italy for Vogue Homme were a real surprise for me. I didn’t imagine I’d find these kind of pictures in this exhibition. But I also realized that calling him a fashion photographer means putting a huge limitation to his art. Even his most glamorous pictures are often taken behind the scenes in designers’ show rooms or catwalks where fashion is still a discovery and not a “show.”

Some of his most famous pictures were exposed there, like “Nudo di Marina à la Klimt” (I’ve talked about this picture that I adore during my visit at the expo “Addio Anni 70” in September here in Milan) or “Pillole.”

You can see many of his pictures on the site www.alfacastaldi.com, a real online photographic archive created by his son with a database of thousands of pictures from this wonderful artist.

The Ladybug Drifts on the Wind to New Orleans with Bob Dylan…

We all know (and maybe love) Bob Dylan as a musician and enjoy his beautiful, timeless songs, but how many of you know him as a painter?

I personally didn’t know that he had this passion for painting and that he has been creating visual art since he was very young, beginning in the ’60s. All of his paintings created during his tours across Europe, America and Asia were first published in a book in the ’90s, but it was in 2007 that they were exposed for the first time in Germany (The Drawn Blank Series), then in 2010 (The Brazil Series) in Denmark.

This is why I was very curious when I read in the newspaper that he was exhibiting his New Orleans Series at the Palazzo Reale from February 5^th through the 10^th of March.

Last Friday, I decided to spend an afternoon shopping with a friend and together decided to visit this free expo not knowing what to expect.

It is a very small expo, composed of only 22 canvases, describing the real New Orleans life of the ’40s and the ’50s. The paintings may not be technically exceptional, but I loved the dark tones and atmospheres he portrays of this town that I’ve desired to visit since I was teenager.

There’s a lot of passion flowing from these paintings: from sex, to religion, to music… every aspect of daily life is painted with the passion and sometimes the pain of the moment. Much like his music, there is power, pain and poetry in these paintings.

If you are in or around Milan, you will probably enjoy this small yet interesting free expo, and if you’re curious but faraway here is a video where Mr. Francesco Bonami, the curator of this expo, explains (for the Italian language speakers!) the meaning and highlights of the expo and insite to where you can see most of the paintings exposed.

The Ladybug’s Artsy Thursday: “Un Libro. Una Mostra” at the Galleria Sozzani

Here is one of the things I love about Milan: every day, even the most unassuming anonymous one, can become very artsy and stylish when you decide to take a look at what is happening just around the corner!

This is exactly what happened last Thursday. After a long, grey, hard work day I decided to meet one of my best friends for an “aperitivo.” We walked through downtown and headed to Corso Como, one of the most interesting areas in Milan right now.

We decided to go on an adventure in one of the most fabulous places (at least for us!): 10 Corso Como. When we popped in, we realized that the Galleria Sozzani was still open and there was an expo happening that we really wanted to visit.

I read about it on the newspaper some weeks ago, but for some reason (maybe because I’m getting old!) I forgot about it: what a mistake! And what a chance to find it in its last days!

So we postponed the aperitivo for a bit later and headed in for a quick look: the expo was called “Un libro. Una mostra” (A book. An expo). It was a celebration of the 22 years of wonderful expos of the Gallery. The Galleria Sozzani was indeed inaugurated in September 1990 and over the last 22 years it’s brought to Milan the best photographers (not only fashion artists) who made it the great place that we love today. Curated by Giuliana Scimé, the exhibition can be brought home through a limited edition book (broken into two volumes) which was created for the occasion and tells the story of the Gallery with the best images of its expos.

In a relatively small place were exposed all the best and most representative pictures (and photographers) of the XX century: from Helmut Newton to Horst P. Horst, from Irving Penn to Sarah Moon. I was particularly delighted to find some great pictures from Francesca Woodman, an artist that I discovered last year at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

By the way; it seems that from this week the new expo of the gallery will be about Alfa Castaldi, one of my favorite photographers ever! (I wrote about him and showed one of his photographs in my post about the “Addio Anni ‘70” expo at Palazzo Reale last year) so I definitely can’t miss it!

Another expo at the Galleria Sozzani, another aperitivo at 10 corso Como with my lovely friend, another grey day that turned fabulous!

The Ladybug’s Mission Impossible: Produce a Love for Picasso in Milano…

I think that it’s pretty clear to you that my love for the past touches every field, from fashion to movies passing by literature and figurative art. This is why, when I read that a new huge Picasso’s expo was about to start in Milan (last September) I got very excited about it! This is also why I made a big sacrifice when KNAGUI asked me to wait for him to be in Italy to go and see it together… which meant January 2013! I was a good friend and boss- even if my excitement didn’t stop growing during these months: many people were telling me how great it was and I even refused a guided invitation offered by a colleague at work. Every time that I passed by Palazzo Reale (where the expo was held) I could see long lines and even many people I know came from everywhere in Italy to visit it.

This was the third exhibit in Milan dedicated to Pablo Picasso, with more than 250 works (including videos, pictures and sculptures) coming from the Picasso Museum in Paris and representing different stages and different creative approaches of the artistic life of the Spanish Maestro. Picasso is represented not only as an artist, but also as a man, a creator, a thinker and a pioneer. His creative curiosity and his own personal approach and attempts to the making of a work of art are probably the most innovative part of this expo… which absolutely deserves a visit.

Some of his most famous paintings are exposed here: The Kiss, The Portrait of Dora Maar, La Celestina, The Portrait of Olga, The Reader… just to name a few.

I personally have a huge passion for Picasso, and not only because of his iconic striped shirt!!

I love his “forms” and I find it particularly challenging: you cannot – not stop by a painting of his and wonder what he is representing or communicating. His art is pure creation without limits or restrictions. He is, artistically, what I call a rebel: in my opinion his constant tries and searches for new forms and expressions and his complete explosion of creativity makes him, in my eyes, a real revolutionary artist.

KNAGUI and I spent a very interesting and artsy afternoon… and I was on a mission: to make him know and love Picasso! I’m not sure if I was successful or not, but he bought the official book of the expo, so I guess the mission was at least… “half accomplished!”

If you want to take this very interesting journey through Picasso’s art, you still have time because you’ve been given a bit of “Ladybug Luck.”  The expo has been extended until the 27^th of January (the end date has been postponed due to the huge demand), but don’t forget to book and pay for your ticket by phone to avoid the endless queues in the freezing weather! More information on the official site: www.mostrapicasso.it

The Ladybug Dresses the Art For a Day at the Brooklyn Museum

Sometimes I am really a lucky girl. When I arrived in New York, the first thing that I saw was a flier about a great expo on Keith Haring at the Brooklyn Museum. No need to say that I visited it as I consider him one of my favorite artists ever!

I went on one of my last days there, but it was an amazing experience: not only for the expo itself, one of the most complete and hugest ever concerning Haring’s work (from paintings to pictures, videos and subway ads), but also because the Brooklyn museum has nothing less than its more famous cousins in Manhattan: it is a wonderful museum both the building and for the permanent pieces that you can find there.

I decided that an artsy outfit was needed… so that’s why I decided to wear my colored vintage skirt (bought the week before at L-Train Vintage) with a Benetton blue cardi, white t-shirt, H&M skinny belt and my new American brogues from Shoegasm! Oh… and my Zara bag (aka my “Zara takes New York!” bag) of course!

PS: I also bought some lovely Keith Haring pins there… cute aren’t they? I was thinking of putting together a white tee for myself with all these pins on the side… I’m all about DIY lately! I’ll show you the results as soon as I decide to take some time to do it!

The Ladybug says “Goodbye ’70s”: Visiting the Art Expo “Addio Anni 70”

When I arrived in Milan a few months ago I noticed an ad publicizing a very interesting expo: “ Addio Anni 70, Arte a Milano 1969-1980” (Goodbye ’70s. Art in Milan 1969-1980). Being very busy with work, moving and some other things- I forgot about it until a few days ago, when I realized in a few days it would end!

I decided to spend a Friday afternoon after work at the Palazzo Reale in Milan and let me tell you that I didn’t regret my choice! Not only because the Palazzo Reale is an amazing place to visit (I’ve never been there before!), but also because the expo was really worth every minute! Photographs, paintings, sculptures, books, newspapers, videos, posters of that era (really, every kind of art!) in Italy were exposed there. This was the kind of expo where you sit down every 5 minutes to check your iPhone to go online and look for more information about what you’re seeing.

Having been born in the ’70s, I really don’t know a lot about what happened in my country during that decade: first of all I was too young to remember, secondly at school we basically studied facts through the 2^nd World War (as if our recent history doesn’t matter). And it’s a shame because art, especially in the ’70s, represented a lot of the social, cultural and historical backdrop of that period.

The violence and the fights for women’s rights, workers or sexuality were very well represented at the expo. The tragic and powerful events of those years are pictured as the cultural blossoming that made Milan the center of the political and cultural movements in Italy (for example there were pictures of Gabriel García Marquez or Andy Warhol visiting Milan).

I was particularly touched by the powerful presence of sex and sexuality in photographs, paintings and sculptures for example, or by the violence and anger of workers against the law of the money (I couldn’t help wondering what happened to the sons of those workers… I mean where have their ideals gone?).

It is not here the right place to discuss the political events of those years, but for me this expo was more a lesson of history and art than just an exposition of art.

Of course, being a fashion lover, I spent some more time in front of Alfa Castaldi photographs. Alfa Castaldi was a famous photographer of Vogue Italy and let me tell you that thanks to his work during the ’70s, he managed to give the status of art to fashion photography. This “Nudo di Marina à la Klimt” was definitely one of my favorite photographs of the whole expo.

“Goodbye ’70s” is probably one of the best and more interesting expositions I’ve visited lately: there was a bit of sadness in looking at that era and realizing that we have gone in a completely different direction. I can’t say, from my perspective, at what point we became stunted from growing from the better of that era… but I’m a nostalgic, you should know that!

The Ladybug Goes Back to the Future: Exploring The Museo del ‘900 in Milan

It was a boiling hot Saturday morning when I received a message from a friend asking me to get out of the bed, get ready as quickly as possible and join him in the city center to visit a museum. I didin’t ask for further information because I was quite in the mood for an artsy Saturday morning. And honestly, to my chagrin, I haven’t visited one since I moved to Milan!

We met at the Duomo and he told me that he wanted to visit the XXthCenturyMuseum (Museo del ‘900) that was just in front of us… I can’t believe I’ve never seen it before! Museums are free in Milan in August thanks to a great Mayor’s initiative, so we immersed ourselves into a journey trough the last century.

I was very surprised to see that the Museo del ‘900 has the spiral structure reminiscent of the Guggenheim (much smaller, of course!), but I was even more surprised to see that the very famous painting The Fourth State was here. It’s actually was the first painting you come to in the Museum! I didn’t know it was so big and even if I’ve always loved this painting for its powerful message, let me tell you that when you find yourself in front of it, the impact is even stronger!

The paintings and sculptures that you can see here are mostly from the first half of the century: from De Chirico to Picasso, from Boccioni to Modigliani and Sironi. Different art currents are represented from Futurism to the Abstract Art and to the “Arte Povera” through to the Pop Art of the second half of the century.

Apart from the core collection, the museum leads many expos and one of them literally took my breath away: “Episodi dell’arte a Milano” (Art Episodes in Milan). It is an expo on the artists’ books of the ’70s and the editorial and graphic arts of that era. You can find exposed original books, ads, cinemas’ fashions’ and dances’ events posters,  graphics and videos.

This expo is related to another expo showing right now at the Palazzo Reale “Addio anni ‘70” (Goodbye ’70s) that I’m dying to see (I was too tired to do it after the visit) before it ends on the 2^nd of September. I will let you know about that one too!

If museums aren’t vintage enough for you, then let me tell you: the biggest surprise came on my way back home.  I decided to take a short-cut and found a little piece of Disneyland in Milan… but it’s too much a surprise to blurb about here…so….stay tuned for more about the surprises from the Ladybug’s adventures in Milan!

The Ladybug’s Artsy Day in NYC: A Comfy Outfit to Crisscross Museums and the City

I always considered London, Paris and Rome as the more artsy towns in the world. I’ve visited the best museums and just walking down the streets feels like living the “art.”

I am a huge fan of museums and visual art in general and I have a special love for painting and photography. This is why I arrived in New York with a list full of museums to visit. I couldn’t make it to all of them because of the lack of time, but I booked a special day to visit two of in particular… and maybe the most important: the MoMa (Museum of Modern Art) and the Guggenheim. It was a long and hard day as they’re huge museums and there is so much to see, but I also found some time to breathe some good air in the Central Park before coming back home completely mashed!

The MoMa has probably been one of the most amazing art experiences of my life: I saw paintings that I’ve only seen in books so far.  And the most exciting thing about museums in New York is that there is no protection between the painting and your eyes.  You can really touch it with your eyes and more surprisingly, you can take pictures (really amazing for an European museums visitor!). I could take pictures of Van Goghs’, Monets’, Gauguins’, Warhols’, etc… and BECOME art by being photographed in the middle of these art pieces…

I was slightly disappointed by the Guggenheim: the building architecture was absolutely amazing and I loved the spiral form, but the expos weren’t really interesting except for some cool photography.  And unlike the MoMA, they had a few more restrictions on taking pictures.

Of course, to get ready for that kind of tour I needed a comfy outfit to go with! I’m still wearing my jogging pants from Zara (this time in black!) with a tiger print shirt from Zara too; Topshop faux leather tan jacket, Zara scarf and handbag and my favorite colored Adidas sneakers!

Enjoying a spring sunset at the Central Park

Outside the Guggenheim with some essentials: sneakers, water, big strawberry muffin, New York metro newspaper!

I know I don’t have to suggest for you to visit the museums when you’re in New York, but… visit the museums when you’re in New York.  There are great ones in every borough… especially Brooklyn (wink & a smile).