CURIOUSER NEW YORK

Shoe Obsession exhibition and tour at Museum at FIT: F ebruary 8 through April 13, 2013. I keep telling you guys that if you live in New York - an ultimate city that offers everything for every interest: from great chefs and artists to fashion designers and financial moguls, you can never be bored. No one can possibly be ever bored in New York City - one of the reasons thousands of people come to the city every year to live, work and - most of the time, stay! This is why the rents are high, the restaurants - even with the thousands of them available - have waiting lists, the subway is over-crowded, and the museums charge entrance fees. [Unlike, say, most of the museums in Washington, DC that are free to the public!] So, you have no excuse saying that you are bored in the city and claim that you've seen and done it all, because it's absolutely impossible. Here's just a tiny portion of how you can acquint yourself with fashion, design and art, while meeting be...

Just before I left New York City to celebrate Christmas in Germany, I took my annual "Christmas Walk" on Madison and Fifth Avenues to see the Christmas window displays and building decorations. This is something of a habit of mine - I do it every year.  One of the most impressive window displays on Madison Ave. was Ralph Lauren boutique stores for adults and kids, located on Madison Ave. and 71st Street.

I could have just said "Like father, like son" if it came to define the similarities in the human relations between the immediate relatives, but in this case, it's more like "Like fashion designer, like fashion show invitation" and I would not be far from remaking the saying to reflect what you are about to see. 

Why do bikes have to be this sexy? These Rizoma 77/011 bikes make me rethink my main mode of transport nowadays. Even though, whoever knows me very well - [oh, better yet, who even saw me doing it] - knows well that I love biking and I love my mountain bike . Whenever I lived in a relatively bike-friendly city , I'd use bike as my main mode of transport - I did it in Washington, DC and I even did it in Los Angeles and San Francisco, where it was believed that biking is a rare form of extreme adventure in the midst of people and other ways of transportation that are not being particularly nice to the bikers. So, anything that is about the bike industry - I notice, especially, when it's so damn sexy. Just look at it! I'm so loving the sleek design of this Razoma. And, wait, it gets even better!

Assuming the footwear should be at least some what practical, functional and comfortable, these boots do not look as something that you'd wear on a daily basis, if - at all.  I could, definitely, see the likes of Lady GaGa or Rhianna wearing these, but not a regular girl from the street.  However, I think the designer of these shoes didn't actually mean to design the wearable footwear, but rather to design a piece of art. These shoes definitely fall in the category of the extravagant design, something that Alexander McQueen would do...  What do you think about these boots? 

What is it about Anna Karenina that gives it special status among the great novels? There's not a single novel in the world that hasn't been made into a movie as much and often as this Russian classics by Leo Tolstoy.  How is it that a sensational romantic tragedy of tsarist high society that talks about a relatively common situation - love, passion, disgrace, extramarital affair, and etc. described so artfully in a 900-page book, still provokes both excitement and respect from readers from around the world? Could any of the film directors and/or screenwriters ever do full justice to Leo Tolstoy's great novel? 

Have you been noticing, how slowly, but surely I've been introducing a bit of design to my blog - from interior and architectural design to print and gadget design?  I've been always interested in design and I don't consider one aspect of it - [e.g. fashion design] - to be complete without any other designs in other areas of life, because, as Armani once responded to the question "What inspires you?" : "I just open my window - [his house is in the Tuscany region of Italy] - and everything that I see outside my window inspires me.. ." I couldn't agree more!

Mizuno, who works with Mizmiz design , created this 'Kotori' chair. I absolutely love it!

An actor, director, humanitarian , husband to Angelina Jolie, and a father to six kids...now you can add add a furniture designer to his resume.

In continuation to my blog post about the first Designers & Books Fair 2012 in New York City that took place at the Fashion Institute of Technology on October 27 and 28, here's my posting about the sessions that involved some of the best graphic designers in U.S. who came to the fair to talk about their work and the books that have inspired them throughout the years.   

If you are wondering how come I've been blogging about the interior design all of the sudden? Well, I can't help it. I should have been a designer! Really...it's a hidden passion of mine. I take a notice of something cool, different or something that 'speaks to' my taste, like the decors of the Parisian apartments I've blogged about yesterday. So, here's some more from the chick collaboration of  Nilufar Gallery, Dimore Studio and Balice Hertling - the trio that has teamed up to create a joint exhibition in a Parisian apartment during the city's contemporary art fair, FIAC.

Are you one of those people who, when watching a film that is set in Paris, you pay attention not just to the story line but to the exterior and interior designs of the settings - be it a street, office, store, parking lot and/or an apartment? I'm one of those people. Not only I peek into the offices and stores, but sometimes I peek into someone's window just to get a glimpse of what the life must be like inside this apartment that is located on...Montmartre in Paris, for example. I remember I put my travel companion through horror, when I stopped at every single first floor apartment window on Montmartre to look inside to see the interiors of the apartment, where, once, some famous French impressionist might have lived. As a matter of fact, I did discover many interesting things about the very particular - very French - interiors, which no travel book will feature for you.

Follow me this Sat 10/28 on Twitter - I'll be live-tweeting from the Designers & Books Fair 2012 at Fashion Institute of Technology . Can't wait to meet and listen to the top designers who represent Architecture, Graphic Design, Fashion, Landscape Architecture, Product/Industrial Design, Urban Design such as Elaine Lustig Cohen (Graphic Designer and Artist), Tom Geismar (Graphic Designer, Chermayeff & Geismar), Hilary Greenbaum (Graphic Designer, Whitney Museum of American Art), Prem Krishnamurthy (Graphic Designer, Project Projects), Alice Twemlow (Design Writer, Co-Founder and Chair of D-Crit MFA Program, School of Visual Arts ), and Hal Rubeinstein (Fashion Director, InStyle) 

If you are in NYC this weekend, don't miss out to meet more than 35 U.S. and European design book publishers and booksellers and hear the leading designers talk! Fashion Institute of Technology is hosting Designers & Books Fair 2012 on Saturday and Sunday. Designers & Books Fair 2012: The world's many design celebrities

Check out my thoughts on Discovering the Swedish minimalism !

  There's no doubt Marlene Dietrich had a soft spot for Berlin. As a matter of fact, even after she moved to Hollywood, she's never forgotten that she was ein Deutsche frau. She once said: “Ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin.”  Which means: "I still have a suitcase in Berlin".  She's never really left Germany; she flew it because she was against the Nazi regime. But she never really wanted to live in Hollywood. Well, and I can't blame her.