This time, it's pleasure before business: art with a social purpose

"SLA-Start Living Again" is open until the 15th of May at the Centro Diagnostico Italiano in via Saint Bon, 20 (link in Italian).....More......

The exhibit, promoted by a photography group (Circolo di Cultural fotografica) and sponsored by the Bracco Foundation, takes its name and inspiration from "SLA," the Italian acronym for the disease commonly known in English as "Lou Gehrig's disease." The exhibit shows glimpses of life, of hope, of nature and of dignity in fifty-five photographs realized by fifty-five Italian and European photographers to recount "movement," the very thing difficult for those afflicted with the disease.

Proceeds from the sale of the photographs and the catalogue of the exhibit sustain research to combat the disease.

I snapped this movement-oriented "light painting"--NOT in the exhibit!--on the 15th of January, 2012, at about 4 P.M.



While I'm on an "art with a social purpose" roll, at the "House of Energy" (Casa dell'Energia) of Milan's semi-public electricity utility, AEM, from the 2nd to the 12th of April there will be an exhibit geared to helping us understand autism, a permanent neurological condition that interferes with communication and social interaction.

Born of collaboration between the parents of children affected with autusim and the "Art Among the People Association" (Associazione Arte tra la Gente), the exhibit, open in Piazza del Po 3 from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. (except for the 7th-9th of April for Easter) is in honor of the world day dedicated by the U.N. to this syndrome.

I've no pictures to show you for this exhibit on autism because I prefer to use my own, and the exhibit isn't open, yet (even when it opens, they may not allow photographs), so you'll have to go check it out for yourself, then tell us about it.

For more info about the House of Energy (in Italian): http://www.casadellenergia.it/home/cms/cae/contatti/.

Enjoy!

Men's Fashion Week Blog...for a day...and Beware of Area C

Men's fashion week is a happening in Milan. Not quite as big as the women's fashion week, but Milan lives on and for upper end readymade wear just the same...and it conveniently coincides this year (at least) with the winter time sales (proof in the pudding is in the eating...here's a snap I took this foschia*-touched afternoon down via Spiga, together with via Montenapoleone, one of the two most chic readymade wear shopping streets in Milan...and that means in the world....More......

*"foschia" is the lightest of light fogs, not even a mist, that gives a pearly gray sheen to eye level views, though the sky overhead is still blue.

Fashion buyers, fans, journalists, photographers and bloggers from all over the world gather here...and those yearning for their ten minutes of Warhol-esque fame get their golden opportunity. (I didn't have the courage to take a picture of one ripe example of a fashion victum, uh, buyer, et al. ... a pudgy fellow with wild and crazy curly hair, heavy dark-rimmed round glasses, a hunter-style mid-thigh length plaid jacket in a dusty mustard and siena, dark pants and strappy army style boots ... how does one politely say, "Excuse me, you look like a hick from the sticks, may I take your picture in order to poke fun of you on my blog?" ... what *is* it with "high" fashion, anyway? Why does so much of it have to look goofy, or purposefully odd? "Signs o' the times" would probably be the answer.)

In past years, the streets in the Montenapoleone area, where the (enchanting) Bagatti Valsecchi Museum where I work also is located, were packed with strolling local window shoppers and (sticking out like sore thumbs) fashion floods, but this year I was hard pressed to get some populated shots. Could have been bad timing...right after lunch...could have been the freezing weather (2°C / 36°F)...I hope it's not the crumbling economy. Here's a snap in via Montenapoleone with some typical Italian and Milanese details and the brightly colored Gucci shop enlivening the shot.

This couple is stylin' down via Spiga (though the woman should do something with all that HAIR). Guys, please notice that you CAN wear comfortable AND attractive shoes that AREN'T tennies (one of my pet peeves).











Here's proof that it really was a sunny day. A stylin' guy on the left, a couple of visitors checking their map on the right, and one of Milan's two remaining medieval gates in the rear, right where via Spiga hits via Manzoni.

For more info on men's fashion week...in English!...here's a link to the web site of the national Italian chamber of commerce dedicated to fashion: http://www.cameramoda.it/en/fashion-show/63_MILANO_MODA_UOMO___14___17_GENNAIO_2012/#timeline

Before closing, a word to the wise..."Area C" is due to start up tomorrow, the 16th of January, 2012. I mentioned it a few posts ago. Remember what it is? In case you don't--and don't want to pay the city entry fee, or get a whopping big fine--it's a new approach (replacing the ZTL) to limiting traffic entering the downtown circle/cerchio (hence the "C") once delimited by the Renaissance era Spanish city walls. There is an entry fee to pay from Monday to Friday from 7:30 A.M. to 7:30 P.M. Check out the city's pages about it...in English (yeah!): http://www.comune.milano.it/portale/wps/portal/CDM?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/contentlibrary/Per+Saperne/Per+Saperne/Area+C/English/

Enjoy!

Photoless Friday (19): sensorial delights for a Friday afternoon

At a loss for something to do with such a gorgeous Friday afternoon, as today promises?

Have I got some powerhouse suggestions for you for some wonderful gems known well, perhaps, only by a discerning few!...More......

Via Bagutta.

A little strip passing obliquely from Piazza San Babila towards via Manzoni...where it never arrives. It stops, instead, on via S. Andrea, home of the marvelous Civic Museum of Milan offering even centuries old painted views of the picturesque Milan of canals that is no more. The museum deserves its own post...that'll be for another day.

Today, we're first headed somewhere else that had piqued my interest each time I passed it, too much in a rush to get to work on time to even look properly in the windows.

Finally en route with a little bit of time to spare, I slipped into via Bagutta to walk calmly, not squashed by the crush of locals and tourists, at least in that short stretch parallelling the beginning both of Corso Matteotti (originally Corso del Littorale) and the famous via Montenapoleone...which is not just important for the high fashion readymade wear shops that have gobbled up the street. "Montenapo," as we locals call it, also deserves a post all its own...another day.

As I leisurely stepped along the paving stones, I felt a bubbling idea..."Wasn't there a...?," and, as soon as the idea jumped full-formed out of my head like Athena from the skull of Zeus, I was already at this place promising wonders: L'Artisan Parfumeur, via Bagutta, 8.

"Nomen omen" ('the name is a prediction'), I bet myself.

"Oh how marvelous, I wonder just how costly their tailor-made perfumes are? If you have to ask, you can't afford it. Oh, what the heck, I've got time, I've always wanted to stop in, and so just go for it."

Very glad I did.

First off, I learned that they don't do "tailor-made" perfumes, but their chain did start with a master perfume craftsman (setting up his own shop in the years after WWII, as I recall!), so the "artisan" part of the title still is apt and well-deserved.

And guess what?

The clerk was friendly (surprise of all surprises...in an Italian boutique of any type?! I'd go back just for that!) and helpful. He asked my scent preferences, then offered spritzes of them in little specially made paper cones set onto plexiglass stems so that--how fun!--to sniff them was like sipping champagne. (Very smart marketing tool, that.)

The two responding to my preferences are heavenly, the third, the first perfume created, is very nice, too, a bit like fresh clean delicate soap.

The shop is so chic, the experience, too, all so lovely, I almost didn't ask, but got up my courage for you. And you know what?

Their perfumes are only a tad more expensive than the other important large chain well known ones, so they're not out of reach, and would make a very neat treat for oneself, or an impressive gift for a female significant other (I forgot to ask if they have perfumes for men, too...stop in, ask, and let me know).

Very very much worth it.

Well, that was so satisfying, what could I possibly do, next, to top that?

"Top" is a bit strong, but there still are some fun things to come that at least equal it.

Just a few steps ahead, and if you plan right, you'll be able to have lunch at "Bagutta," one of Milan's famous culinary traditions: via Bagutta, 14. Very pleasant, very tasty, very authentic Milanese experience.

When you've finished eating and leave the restaurant, continue in the same general direction, and you'll get to another wonder: ladies' shoes so gorgeous, so expressive of fanciful yet good taste, consequently so hard on the budget, but so easy on the eyes.

Rene Caovilla di Venezia.

Couldn't see a street number, but you can't miss it at (or almost at) the corner of via Bagutta and via S. Andrea.

So, we've treated your eyes, mouth and nose to a little bit of heaven. What could possibly be left?

An excellent coffee (with, perhaps, a dessert...why not, just think of all the walking you've been doing) in yet another Milanese tradition, then stimuli for the eyes and mind.

COVA - Pasticceria-Confetteria (cake and sweets shop), founded in 1817 (that's just a couple of years after Waterloo, remember? What courage the founder of Cova must have had), via Montenapoleone, 8, at the corner of via S. Andrea, near to where via Bagutta deadends (did I forget to tell you to turn to the left onto via S. Andrea out of via Bagutta?).

After coffee, how can I resist?, why not continue a few more meters/yards on Montenapo, turn right onto via Gesù, and treat your eyes and mind to a visit of the museum where I work, the marvelous Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, one of Europe's most important and best preserved historic house museums (which is just a fancy way to say that it's a "time capsule" of the late 19th century, with the Italian Renaissance art and decorative arts collections not only intact, but--importantly--displayed as the brothers and collectors wanted them to be, so it's also a great place just to be nosy about how a newly aristocratic Milanese family lived then http://www.museobagattivalsecchi.org).

If, after seeing the museum, you want to head back down Montenapo to the San Babila stop of the red line, I'll say goodbye to you, now.

If you want to keep going down Montenapo in the direction of via Manzoni (this time, we'll get there), I have just one more thing to say: outlet big name brand shopping in a shop about two shops shy of via Manzoni. The percentages off sound pretty good...until you look at the starting price. Frankly, the prices still are ridiculously obscene for most of the stuff, whether of important fabrics and complex construction, or a simple light cotton with a bat wing sleeve (no tailoring there, just a couple of straight quick seams, and it's done). If you absolutely HAVE to have something from one of the big names, though, you'd might as well start here.

It's time for a quick pre-close reminder: I get no kickbacks, or perks, of any kind for mentioning any of these places.

Enjoy!