Francesco Pizzo

French actress Eva Green is the face of the 2015 Campari calendar, entitled Mythology Mixology. Campari is teasing the calendar with behind-the-scenes images and a video, featuring Green, announcing the project.
   This 16th edition has been photographed by Julia Fullerton-Batten, an acclaimed fine art photographer, and the first female who has shot a Campari calendar.
   The 12 months celebrate Campari’s history and its best loved classic cocktails. Each month tells the story behind the cocktail, with anecdotes and trivia.
   Campari believes that there has been a classic trend over the last decade, and an interest in history, which the calendar attempts to tap into.
   While some may dispute the presence of a classic trend, Campari has been on the pulse in recent years with its calendars. Notably, in 2008, Jessica Alba appeared in its 10th anniversary edition. Other calendar stars include Salma Hayek, Eva Mendes, Milla Jovovich, Penélope Cruz and Uma Thurman.
   Green, whose Penny Dreadful series is currently netting her headlines in the lead role of Vanessa Ives, came to prominence in Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (2002), and as Bond girl Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale (2006), for which she won a BAFTA. She has recently been seen in 300: Rise of an Empire and will soon be seen in Sin City: a Dame to Kill for.
   ‘To work with an iconic worldwide brand such as Campari is an honour and a privilege. There is something very special about this year’s theme as it strikes a compelling and almost magical balance between the classic and the contemporary. At the root of each image is this rich sense of history behind each of Campari’s best-loved cocktails but they are presented in a way that is ultra-modern, exuding imagination and style. It’s a thing of incredible beauty and clearly shows that whilst some of these recipes are over 100 years old, they are still relevant to and adored in today’s world,’ said Green in a release.
   Fullerton-Benton is known for her series, Teenage Stories (2005), which followed the transition of a teenage girl into womanhood. Campari says that the photos will carry her hallmarks of creative settings, unusual locations and cinematic lighting.
   ‘Campari has always had an inherent ability to recreate itself and keep the brand image fresh, inspiring and imaginative—a goal I constantly strive towards in my own work, too. This year’s theme was an interesting challenge, as there was an important job to do in terms of taking historical anecdotes and invigorating them with a modern edge. I’m confident we managed to strike that delicate balance with this year’s imagery,’ says Fullerton-Batten.
   Bob Kunze-Concewitz, CEO of Gruppo Campari says, ‘Though there has always been a sense of timelessness around our classic cocktails, we’ve been hearing reports from bartenders all over the world that there has been a surging popularity for classic recipes like the Negroni and the Americano. This year’s Campari Calendar is designed to celebrate those enduring recipes and the heritage behind them, so we’re very much looking forward to unveiling it later in the year.’

Francesco Pizzo

RIT

Massimo Vignelli, who passed away on May 27, was a hero of mine. When receiving the news shortly before it hit the media in a big way, from our mutual friend Stanley Moss, this title’s travel editor and CEO of the Medinge Group, I posted immediately on Facebook: ‘It is a sad duty to note the passing of Massimo Vignelli, one of my heroes in graphic design. When I was starting out in the business, Massimo was one of the greats: a proponent of modernism and simple, sharp typography. His influence is apparent in a lot of the work done by our brand consultancy and in our magazines, even in my 2013 mayoral campaign graphics. A lot of his work from half a century ago has stood the test of time. There was only one degree of separation between us, and I regret that we never connected during his lifetime. The passing of a legend.’
   This Facebook status only scratches the surface of my admiration for Vignelli. There have been more comprehensive obits already (Fast Company Design rightly called him ‘one of the greatest 20th century designers’), detailing his work notably for the New York subway map, and—curiously to me—glossing over the effect he had on corporate design, especially in the US.
   Vignelli, and his wife Lella, a designer in her own right and a qualified architect, set up the Vignelli Office of Design and Architecture in Milano in 1960, which had clients including Pirelli and Olivetti. In 1965, they moved to New York and Vignelli co-founded Unimark International (with Ralph Eckerstrom, James Fogelman, Wally Gutches, Larry Klein, and Bob Noorda), where he was design director. It was the world’s largest design and marketing firm till its closure in 1977.
   The 1960s were a great time for Vignelli and his corporate identities. He worked on American Airlines, Ford, Knoll, and J. C. Penney, and the work was strictly modernist, often employing Helvetica as the typeface family. Vignelli was known to have stuck with six families for most his work—Bodoni was another, a type family based around geometry that, on the surface, tied in to his modernist, logical approach. However, there were underlying reasons, including his belief that Helvetica had an ideal ratio between upper- and lowercase letters, with short ascenders and descenders, lending itself to what he considered classic proportions. The 1989 WTC Our Bodoni, created under Vignelli’s direction by Tom Carnase and commissioned by Bert di Pamphilis, adheres to the same proportions.
   Although my own typeface design background means that I could not adhere to six, there is something to be said for employing a logical approach to design. American corporate design went through a “cleaning up” in the 1960s, with a brighter, bolder sensibility. Detractors might accuse it of being stark, the Helveticization of American design making things too standard. Yet through the 1970s the influence remained, and to my young eyes that decade, this was how professional design should look, contrary to the low-budget work plaguing newspapers and books that I saw as I arrived in the occident.
   When the Vignellis left Unimark to set up Vignelli Associates in 1971 (and later Vignelli Designs in 1978), their stamp remained. The MTA launched Vignelli’s subway map the following year, and like the London Underground map by Harry Beck in 1931, it ignored what was above ground in favour of a logical diagram with the stops. Beck was a technical draftsman and the approach must have found favour with Vignelli, just as it did with those creating maps for the Paris Métropolitain and the Berlin U-bahn.
   New Yorkers didn’t take to the Vignelli map as well as Londoners and Parisians, and it was replaced in 1979 with one that was more geographically accurate to what was above ground.
   In 1973, Vignelli worked on the identity for Bloomingdale’s, and his work endures: the Big Brown Bag is his work, and it continues to be used by the chain today. Cinzano, Lancia and others continue with Vignelli’s designs.
   Ironically, despite a rejection of fashion in favour of timelessness, some of the work is identified with the 1960s and 1970s, notably thanks to the original cut of Helvetica, which has only recently been revived (a more modern cut is commonplace), and which is slightly less popular today. Others, benefiting from more modern layout programs and photography, look current to 2010s eyes, such as Vignelli Associates’ work for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
   The approach taken by Lucire in its print editions has a sense of modernism that has a direct Vignelli influence, including the use of related typeface families since we went to retail print editions in 2004. Our logotype itself, dating from 1997, has the sort of simplicity that I believe Vignelli would have approved of.
   Vignelli was, fortunately, fêted during his lifetime. He received the Compasso d’Oro from ADI twice (1964 and 1998), the AIGA Gold Medal (1983), the Presidential Design Award (1985), the Honorary Royal Designer for Industry Award from the Royal Society of Arts (1996), the National Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cooper–Hewitt National Museum of Design (2003), among many. He holds honorary doctorates from seven institutions, including the Rochester Institute of Technology (2002). Rochester has a Vignelli Center for Design Studies, whose website adheres to his design principles and where educational programmes espouse his modernist approach. It also houses the Vignellis’ professional archive.
   He is survived by his wife, Lella, who continues to work as CEO of Vignelli Associates and president of Vignelli Designs; their son, Luca, their daughter, Valentina Vignelli Zimmer, and three grandchildren.—Jack Yan, Publisher

Michelle Watson/CatchLight Group LLC

Chinh Phan/CatchLight Group LLC

Bulgari opened its 130 Years of Masterpieces exhibition at the Houston Museum of Natural Science with Bulgari vice-chairman Nicola Bulgari, his daughter Veronica Bulgari, and actress Naomi Watts in attendance, along with Wendi Grimes, chair of the Museum, Joel Bartsch, its president and CEO, and Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin.
   The exhibition begins May 2 and runs through October 5, 2014.
   The function on Wednesday brought together 220 guests at the Museum, who enjoyed an Italian dinner in a setting evoking the Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti (the Spanish Steps). Modern pianist Elizaveta (a.k.a. Elly K.) performed live at the venue. Other guests included Lynn Wyatt, Joanne King Herring, Sima Ladjevardian, Greggory Burk, Isabel David, Becca Cason Thrash, Christina Girard, J. J. Watts, Divya Brown, Claire Cormier Thielke, Ashley Menzies, David Grimes, Valerie Sarofim, Annie Amante, Mickey Rosmarin, Alberto Festa, Linda McReynolds, Scotty and Jana Arnoldy, and Monica Hartland Blaisdell.
   The exhibition features c. 150 pieces and is said to be the most substantial Bulgari retrospective featuring the Heritage Collection. Many pieces are from the personal collection of Dame Elizabeth Taylor, and others, some which have never been seen publicly before, are on loan from Wyatt, Herring and Girard. Sketches, photographs, archival materials and interactive displays provide context.
   ‘The exhibit has came to Houston for 130 years of the company because Houston is a mirror of Bulgari values—it’s a bold, powerful, daring entrepreneur city, always forward thinking in exactly what Bulgari stands for in the world of jewellery, so it’s a great match,’ said Babin in a release.
   Naomi Watts wore a stunning one-of-a-kind Serpenti necklace from Bulgari’s high jewellery collection (a sleek double-coil diamond Serpenti in white gold with two pear shaped diamonds [1·04 ct], emeralds [48·67 ct], and pavé diamonds [170·50 ct]), and carried a Bulgari cocktail evening pochette in palm embroidered silver and gold. Wyatt wore an 8 ct white gold necklace (with 29 emerald cut diamonds [57·45 ct] and 567 round brilliant cut diamonds [44·22 ct]), as well as an 18 ct white gold bracelet (12 emerald diamonds [16·95 ct] and 374 round brilliant cut diamonds [23·51 ct]), and an 18 ct white gold diamond bracelet (28·92 ct). Herring wore an 18 ct white gold necklace with sapphires (93·64 ct), peridots (161·85 ct), milky quartzes and round brilliant diamonds (21·29 ct), and matching earrings.

Michelle Watson/CatchLight Group LLC

Chinh Phan/CatchLight Group LLC

Michelle Watson/CatchLight Group LLC

Chinh Phan/CatchLight Group LLC

Chris Sullivan/Seen in Dunedin

Mahshid Mahdian, from Brera Academy, Milano, won the ID Dunedin Emerging Designers’ Award and its NZ$10,000 prize on Thursday night.
   Mahdian’s collection, Shadow, was inspired by shadows in Burano Island in Venezia, and features geometrical shapes and innovative technologies.
   The Tehrān-born designer was encouraged by Mittelmoda’s Stefano Sopelza to enter the awards.
   Judge and World creative director Francis Hooper said in a release, ‘While overall, the standard of finalists were amazing, the winners stood out because their unique character and personality as a designer came through in their garments.
   ‘Mahshid captured a moment in a heartbeat … When you looked at her collection, you knew she had it just right. It delivered on that inexplicable X-factor.’
   Alanna Barca of RMIT won the Caffè l’Affarè second-place prize of NZ$4,000; Chin Hau Tay of RMIT won third place with the Dunedin International Airport prize of NZ$2,000.
   A special prize was awarded to Vaibhav Singh of NIFT, who wins an internship with Martin Grant in Paris.

Top Lupita Nyong’o in a Prada silk georgette gown accessorized with Fred Leighton gold jewellery. Above Lupita Nyong’o on the red carpet.

The tension over the 86th Academy Awards ended as 12 Years a Slave was awarded Best Picture on Sunday, though Gravity managed a tally of seven (including Best Director for Alfonso Cuarón) and Dallas Buyers’ Club took the two male acting gongs for Matthew McConaughey (in the lead) and Jared Leto (supporting). Cate Blanchett won Best Actress of Blue Jasmine, while the most talked-about celeb of awards’ season, Lupita Nyong’o, won Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years a Slave.
   Host Ellen DeGeneres’s Twitter photo with Bradley Cooper and other celebrities broke a record, being re-Tweeted over 2·3 million times (at the time of writing) since it was put on the social network.
   Below are the remaining winners from this year’s Oscars.

Best Original Screenplay: Spike Jones, for Her
Best Adapted Screenplay: John Ridley, for 12 Years a Slave
Best Animated Feature Film: Frozen
Best Documentary Feature: 20 Feet from Stardom
Best Foreign Language Film: La grande bellezza (The Great Beauty)
Best Visual Effects: Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould for Gravity
Best Film Editing: Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger for Gravity
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for Gravity
Best Costume Design: Catherine Martin for The Great Gatsby
Best Make-up and Hairstyling: Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews for Dallas Buyers’ Club
Best Production Design: Catherine Martin and Beverley Dunn for The Great Gatsby
Best Sound Mixing: Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro for Gravity
Best Sound Editing: Glenn Freemantle for Gravity
Best Original Score: Steven Price for Gravity
Best Original Song: ‘Let It Go’, from Frozen, music and lyric by Kristen Anderson-López and Robert López
Best Animated Short Film: Mr Hublot, directed by Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares
Best Live-Action Short Film: Helium, directed by Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
Best Documentary Short Subject: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life, directed by Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed

Red-carpet arrivals

Glamour on the red carpet

Baby bumps on the red carpet

Jennifer Lawrence trips again

Oscars 2014: all about the selfie

Jared Leto wins Best Supporting Actor

Lupita Nyong’o wins Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett wins Best Actress

Matthew McConaughey wins Best Actor

12 Years a Slave wins Best Film

Highlights

Above Ellen DeGeneres’s Twitter photo with Bradley Cooper in the foreground, which had been re-Tweeted over 2·3 million times.

Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Bugatti, Volkswagen AG’s most exclusive brand with its heritage in Alsace, has extended into menswear at the autumn–winter 2014–15 Milano shows, as part of what it calls its Lifestyle Brand project.
   The “blue carpet” event on Friday was held at Casa Manzoni, the home of the nineteenth-century poet Alessandro Manzoni, in association with L’Uomo Vogue, hosted by editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani and Bugatti Automobiles SAS president Wolfgang Schreiber. Guests included Gaia Trussardi, Stephen Dorff, Anna Dello Russo, Gaia Trussardi, Dean and Dan Caten, Leonardo Ferragamo, Moncler chairman Remo Ruffini, the President of the Italian National Chamber of Fashion Mario Boselli, Cecilia Capriotti and Andrea Perone, Carlo Mazzoni, Leonardo Ferragamo and his sons Pietro and Riccardo, Luca Calvani, Elke Palmaers, Carlo Borromeo, Marta Ferri, and André van Noord.
   The capsule collection, made in Italy, is meant to highlight the same values as Bugatti itself, namely ‘art, form, technique’. The clothing débuts along with an exclusive Bugatti bag.
   Fabrics for the EB (Ettore Bugatti) tailored clothing lines (Flamboyant, Formal Wear and Blue Carpet Soirée) have come from Biella, while the Bugatti Extreme Performance outdoor line uses high-tech treatments and processes. Both follow the philosophy of the cars: über-luxury through some of the highest and most exclusive technology. The company also says the collection blends ‘Italian creativity, French savoir-vivre and German engineering’.
   The collection will be sold through exclusive Bugatti boutiques, the first of which will open in Hong Kong and Beijing, highlighting where the brand’s growth markets are.

Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

Galeries Lafayette Dubai Mall

Blake Lively, promoting the Gucci Première fragrance, made a special appearance last Friday evening at Galeries Lafayette Dubai Mall.
   The event, starting at 6 p.m. with Lively scheduled for 7 p.m., marked the start of the Dubai Shopping Festival.
   Lively wore a black Gucci dress and was delighted to see her fans.
   Shoppers packed the store to get a glimpse of the actress, with a lucky few able to get an autograph from her one on one. The only requirement for the competition was to purchase a Gucci fragrance at the store.
   The 26-year-old actress became the face of Gucci Première in 2012.

Galeries Lafayette Dubai Mall

While we had our newsmakers, what else summed up 2013 in the fashion business?
   In a nutshell: Marc Jacobs’ departure from Louis Vuitton after 16 years and his last show at Paris Fashion Week, the return of Tom Ford and a big show to London, the revival of Schiaparelli under Christian Lacroix, the return of grunge on the streets and the catwalks, the Met-inspired revival of punk, the exhibitions on Azzedine Alaïa at Palais Galliera, Chanel at the Palais de Tokyo and Christian Dior at the Grand Palais, Ralph Lauren’s restoration and patron sponsorship of L’École des Beaux-Arts and Fendi’s restoration of the Fontana di Trevi, under Karl Lagereld and Silvia Venturini Fendi.
   There were also more films promoting fashion this year, and while promotional in motive, they have increasingly become works of art. Kenzo had its Electric Jungle by Mat Maitland and directors Smith & Read, Fendi at the Palazzo Farnese, Miu Miu’s dancing women, Martin Scorsese directing Scarlett Johansson and Matthew McConaughey for Dolce & Gabbana’s The One, Sienna Miller and fiancé Tom Sturridge for Burberry, Monica Bellucci for Dolce & Gabbana, and Wes Anderson directing his film for Prada. Karl Lagerfeld’s astonishing works for Chanel get special mention, revealing more each season about the history of la maison.
   Our final video shows this year’s most intriguing fashion show scenery, featuring Jean Paul Gaultier, Givenchy, Rick Owens, Vionnet, Rodarte, Jason Wu, Yves Saint Laurent, Proenza Schuler, Antonio Berardi, Christian Dior, Marc Jacobs, Moncler Gamme Rouge, Hermès, Kenzo, Alexander McQueen, Prada, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, and Chanel.