In the modern tribes, access to the grown-up and wise old men’s clan (politicians, managers, professional people) strictly requires the presence of the tie, to the extent that during the years of the youth protest, a rejection of the tie somewhat represented the hostility towards power and the older generation.
The tie totem was seen as a taboo by young people.
Characteristic of adulthood, the tie and its knots represented a symbolic initiation rite of the modern male.
Archive for February, 2010
FREUD. TOTEM AND TABOO TIE
On February - 28 - 2010
THE GRILLPARZER PRIZE-6
On February - 27 - 2010
But people flocked to go in and continually bumped against us and we realized we had chosen the worst place to wait.
So nobody is coming to greet us? we thought.
We looked at one another. The room was filled almost completely, just for the sole purpose of awarding the Science Academy Grillparzer Prize to me, I thought.
And no one comes to welcome me and my aunt.
With her eighty years of age she looked magnificent, elegant, intelligent and in those moments appeared as bold as ever.
Down there on the stage, some musicians of the Philharmonic had already taken up position, and all indications pointed to the ceremony beginning.
But nobody had taken any notice of us, and we thought we were the main party event.
So suddenly I had an idea: we go in, I said to my aunt, and simply go and sit down in the centre of the room where there is still some free space, and then let’s see.
We entered and headed towards those places still free in the centre of the room.
Many people had to get up and remonstrated while we struggled through the row of seats.
And now we were sitting in the tenth or eleventh row in the middle of the Science Academy ballroom and waited to see.
RESPECT AND FRIENDSHIP
On February - 26 - 2010
Valentino Bompiani and Alberto Moravia.
When I have met them (writes Mario Andreose) they were already old, two very handsome old men, more elegant than they appear in some photos where they had a different age.
Very different in their elegance:
Valentino is impeccable with his unique line of gentleman, with Menjou style moustache, the jacket of the suit always buttoned up;
Alberto with a soft bohemian taste, closer to the pret-à-porter, with English tweed jackets, flannel trousers or jeans, and a wide range of shirts and ties for the creation of original and inimitable combinations.
PAULE KA
On February - 25 - 2010
The “Black carpet” project by Paule Ka
Paule Ka is a fashion and architecture enthusiast and his name is linked to the image of a minimalist yet sophisticated woman.
Serge Cajfinger, creator of the brand “Paule Ka”, draws collections that are inspired by his admiration for women endowed with unquestionable alluring beauty: Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy.
Black and white is his pictorial code, while volume and movement are distinctive features of the architecture of his creations.
Serge Cajfinger creates dresses of timeless style and beauty while capturing facets of the current trends.
A must of the brand however, is the little black dress, symbol of the 50s, with a contemporary glamour inspired to the muses of the Hollywood star system as well as Parisian icons.
The Spring/Summer 2010 Black Carpet fashion line was born from the request of several actresses who asked: “For the Cannes’ steps, design us modern and glamorous gowns that resemble us and make us dream!” – expressly designed for treading the tapis rouge of the Cannes Film Festival.
Black Carpet is composed of twenty dresses, sophisticated and minimalist, Hollywood and unique.
Precious materials such as duchess satin, silk crepe and ruffled organza inspired by Couture, with lengths ranging from the ultra long corset dress to the mini dress.
Perfect finished lines electrified with touches of vitamin colours, asymmetrical designs, oversize knots and ostrich feathers.
Black Carpet will be in Paule Ka mono-brand stores around mid-February 2010. The most expensive dress carries a price tag of € 2450.
The outfits can be matched with coloured platform shoes and accessories from the collection “Les Caprices by Paule Ka”.
Just enough time to walk the red carpet and sip a glass of champagne.
NORTHERN CONFORT
On February - 24 - 2010
Its peculiarity is not so much in the knot or its cut as much as in the fabric itself, which is weaved (cotton silk or wool). The impression is one of a warm fabric, suitable for sports events.
STILETTOS GENTLEMAN
On February - 23 - 2010
Manolo Blahik, the king of shoes: my life from my mother to Sex & the City.
He opened two new sections of the Footwear museum in Vigevano.
He relies on local craftsmanship since the beginning of his career.
Manolo Blahnik is a worldwide fashion icon, but if you see him or talk to him he doesn’t seem to be in fashion at all: he wears a half-belt navy coat, bow tie, grey stripy socks with a yellow colour heel.
He looks more like an old time dandy; an old fashioned gentleman of exquisite manners and great nature, so kind that he even speaks Italian.
Of Spanish mother and Czech father, he was internationally educated: he studied literature in Geneva; art in Paris then started his carer in London as a set designer.
He reveres his late mother Manuela: “Now she’s not there anymore, but I always think about her and in anything I do I always try to make her feel proud of me.
She used to take me to the Prado museum in Madrid and she would always make me notice feet and shoes in the paintings”.
After his first experience as a set designer, he came to Vigevano and trusting the local artisans, he started his ascent to worldwide fame.
He doesn’t like celebrities he’s an old time dandy who‘s words sound out of fashion like, “ I miss the bag-shoes matching set, wedges look awful, you can’t possibly buy clothes and shoes online”.
SWINGING LONDON
On February - 22 - 2010
PHOTOS OF AN EPOCH
Carnaby Street, the most renowned 200 metres of concrete in London, is 
celebrating this year the start of the fabulous Sixties, the decade that saw the birth of the legendary Swinging London and which turned the little street into an icon for designers and artists alike.
Events that recall those golden days shall take place over the whole year.
That fabulous period starts in1958 when John Stephen opened his first alternative boutique, named “His Clothes”, in Carnaby street, followed straight away by many others: I Was Lord Kitchener’s Valet, Mr. Fish, Cecil 
Gee, Cleptomania, Mates, Ravel and others who would become a must for trendy young people worldwide.
In 1960, boutiques catering to different “tribes” started to spring up along Carnaby Street, where both hippies and Mods – a tribe of teenagers with a passion for accessorized Lambrettas and followers of the rock band “The Who”, could find everything they needed for creating their coolest look.
The “Carnaby Street: 1960-2010” exhibition will take place, from February 26 to April 10, at number 30.
MATISSE. THE COLOUR
On February - 21 - 2010
Artistic research in 1900 opens with “Fauvism”, an explosive current emphasizing painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism, of which Matisse became a leader.
It was only the beginning of the rejection by the artists of the contemporary society’s greyness and which led to the chromatic paradoxes of Futurism, Dadaism, the various forms of abstract art and informal painting.
The colour avant-garde didn’t stop at the museums or the art galleries: in what can be defined as some sort of cultural fall out it spread to the production world, to then find its ideal home in the fashion world.
Within the fashion world, the colour’s favourite niche is in fact the tie.
THE GRILLPARZER PRIZE-5
On February - 20 - 2010
She was very happy that the Science Academy was presenting the Grillparzer award to me today, she said, even proud, of course, but that she was happy more than proud, after which she got up and I went down the stairs of the Gerstner and we left on Karntnerstrasse.
It was only a few yards to the Science Academy.
The bag with Sir Anthony written on it really got on my nerves, but I could not help it.
I would put the bag down before entering the Science Academy, I thought.
Even a couple of friends had taken the time not to miss the celebration in my honor, we met them in the lobby of the Academy of Sciences.
Already many people had gathered there and it seemed that the ballroom had already filled up.
The friends left us and we looked around the lobby, looking for some person to welcome us.
I went with my aunt several times up and down the hall of the Academy, but nobody took the slightest notice of us.
Let us go in then, I said, and thought: somebody in the room will welcome me and accompany me, with aunty, to our seating.
The lobby looked ready for huge celebrations, and I actually felt my knees were trembling.
Like me, aunty was also looking around to find somebody to welcome us.
In vain.
So we just went up to the door of ballroom and waited.
THIS TIME IT IS HIS TURN TO BARE HIMSELF.
On February - 19 - 2010
This coming spring-summer the man dares, Prada cuts the sleeves off from the gray suits manager style.
Brands such Ferragamo, Etro, Scervino and Cavalli shorten the trousers to be worn always without socks.
Inversion of the roles.
She hides herself, he bares himself.
Cigarette-shaped and short trousers to show the best part of the leg, normally slim and sinewy.
Showing knees without a bit of fat and well shaped calves is almost a must. Prada loses the neck of its shirts, the sleeves disappear.
On the other side the layers of clothes increase: double waistcoats, double cardigans, double weft.
“The man will never renounce to his gray suit but it is now the moment to make it modern and realistic”.
There will be a slow feminization of man’s wardrobe as an inevitable fact of a life where the roles are not so clear any longer.
Cavalli says “Never face the recession with cheap clothes. In New York I sell the most expensive clothes only”.
Supporter of a hyper-decorated man.
Scervino suggests tailor made Bermudas, ironed with lateral strips, as gala trousers.
Only the end of the very embroidered double shirt is tightened by the belt.
