Christian Louboutin: L’Exhibition[niste] – Chapitre II In Monaco

Christian Louboutin: L’Exhibition[niste] – Chapitre II

Two weeks ago I attended “Christian Louboutin: L’exhibition[niste] – Chapitre II in Monaco. This was the second chapter of Louboutin’s first exhibition held in 2020 at the Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris; the Monaco edition offered a new perspective with this second exhibition named “Chapter II”.

This was probably Grimaldi Forum’s biggest event of the summer, dedicated to the universe and the creations of Christian Louboutin, a legendary shoe designer and one of the most prominent figures in the world of fashion.

The set design stretched for 2000 m2 of the Espace Ravel in the Grimaldi Forum building and included additional items linked to the designer’s Monegasque inspirations and new collaborations. The retrospective was conceived as “a joyous odyssey spanning three decades of Louboutin’s creativity, tracing his curiosity towards culture and art in all its forms”, celebrating art through the creator’s eyes.

The shoes were the retrospective’s main protagonists, with a selection of exceptional creations including some unique models.

Christian Louboutin started his apprenticeship at the end of the 80s with Folies Bergère, a Parisian music-hall, for which he realized the costumes (he once said in an interview: “I’ve always loved anything having to do with theater – theatricality and movement, the movement of theatricality.”), then he worked for a while with Charles Jourdan and Roger Vivier, a famous Parisian shoe designer, who was one of his biggest inspirations at the beginning of his career.

Louboutin founded his own brand and opened his Paris shop in 1990. His first line with the iconic red sole came out in 1992, giving his shoes a distinctive look; by inventing the red sole, he found his signature, which is known and recognized across the world to this day.

Entrance of Christian Louboutin’s exhibition at Grimaldi Forum, Monaco

The first room of the Monaco retrospective was decorated with a set of eight stained-glass windows especially designed by Christian Louboutin and displayed the first shoes he ever designed. Most of those he made himself on a budget in his tiny apartment – the designs show the influence of Roger Vivier on Louboutin’s first shoe models.

This room reconstructed the beginning of his career, with the help of magazine covers, initial sketches and personal photographs, which recapture the buzz of the 80s and 90s, when fashion was still something fun and light-hearted, less intertwined with the concept of luxury. The room displayed some of his early creations like the Pluminette (Spring/Summer 1995, inspired by birds), Love (Louboutin’s “Première Collection”, Fall/Winter 1991), Aqua Girl (Fall/Winter 1998) and Pensée(Fall/Winter 1993, produced in a variety of different colors).

Princess Caroline of Monaco and Madonna were among Louboutin’s first clients at his Parisian boutique in Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Of his legendary career, the designer says: “It’s really a lucky star that has brought me to this point, more than ambition, dreams, or imagination. I let myself be guided by things.”

Some of Louboutin’s first shoe models
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Scandal – ABC Series

Image Credits: ABC Television Network/Shondaland

“You are a gladiator. Gladiators don’t run, they fight, they slay dragons, they wipe off the blood, they stitch up their wounds, and they live to fight another day.”

Scandal is a political/drama TV series created by Shonda Rhimes in 2012 and first aired on ABC. I started watching it the following year completely by chance, and it captured me since the very first episode.

The show is centered around Olivia Pope (played by Kerry Washington), a political “fixer” who knows the ins-and-outs of political life in Washington DC. Olivia is an intelligent, very ambitious woman, a communication strategist who runs a law studio in the city and together with her team she handles “scandals” which involve politics and public figures. She is brilliant at what she does and she started out working on the elections campaign of Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III (played by Tony Goldwin), the current President of the United States, with whom she has a passionate, forbidden love affair (the President is married to First Lady Mellie Grant, played by Bellamy Young). A love affair that, with its ups and downs (and some Shakespearean twists!) goes on for the entirety of the show, which lasted seven seasons.

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Last Night In Soho – Edgar Wright

Image Credits: Focus Features LLC

“Has a woman ever died in my room?”

“This is London. Someone has died in every room in every building and on every street corner in the city.”

Yesterday I finally watched Edgar Wright’s thriller/horror movie “Last Night in Soho”. I had been wanting to watch it since it first was presented in Venice about a year ago, so I was very happy when I found out it was part of the movie selection for the 11th edition of the “Cinema at the Priamar Fortress” nights in Savona, Italy, where I am spending part of the summer. It was a very successful program as they screened plenty of movies from the past year and I recommend anyone spending the summer in Liguria to see at least one movie at the Fortress; it was magical to watch the film under the stars, immersed in the quietness of the place. The audience is very respectful of the screening that it’s taking place and it reminded me of my movie-watching experience at Locarno Film Festival .

“Last Night in Soho” was screened for this edition’s closing night. I won’t go into details about the plot because I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but the movie is essentially about Eloise, a girl who enrolls at the London College of Fashion in order to become a fashion designer; when she rents a bedroom in the city she finds herself experiencing vivid and increasingly scary visions of an aspiring singer named Sandie, who happened to live in London during the Swinging 60s. Nothing is as it seems and the glamour hides something more sinister, so Eloise finds herself witnessing a reality which is far more darker.

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Nutella Braids(Torciglioni Nutella) From Ricette Al Volo

nutella-braids
Nutella braids

I first attempted to make Nutella braids with my mother a few months ago, when she found the recipe on ricettealvolo.it, an Italian food blog which has a huge collection of recipes to try.

I am mainly interested in learning to cook desserts, probably because I have a sweet tooth, but I would also like to add my own recipes from family traditions in the upcoming months.

I think cooking is a fascinating activity and it can strengthen the bond among family members; I love to chat with my stepmother whenever I am visiting her and my father as we cook together (she cooks and I look at her cooking is more likely). Her recipes often have a Venetian touch, due to her being from North-East Italy, while my mother has her own cooking portfolio which has been highly influenced by Southern Italy (my grandparents were from Calabria). I love discovering cooking traditions from different parts of Italy (or even the world, as my stepmother loves Thai food, having been to Thailand multiple times), so I hope to expand my cooking knowledge and share a variety of recipes on this blog.
As for Nutella braids, in Italy we call them “torciglioni alla Nutella”, which basically means the same thing in Italian; what follows is a translation of the recipe from Ricettealvolo that explains the different steps to prepare them.

Nutella Puff Pastry Torciglioni are very easy puff pastry treats filled with hazelnut cream that can effortlessly be prepared in 10 minutes.

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