The Joys of Indulgent Excess
Ermanno Scervino
For the fortunate 300,000 jet setting enthusiasts who traveled in official capacity as exhibitors, retailers, designers and reporters last week to the Milan Furniture Fair, a mere sampling of what splendor awaited.
Poshly billed as “an antidote to the credit crunch” — nearly three thousand companies from around the world were clearly braving the economic crisis by offering up the perfect salvo to soothe wearying souls –
“OBJECTS FOR THE AGE OF OBAMA”
Armani Casa
Armani Casa
Grandeur that took the edge off could be seen in Ermanno Scervino’s launch of the company’s first furniture and linens collection inspired by the designer’s African holidays to Kenya.
Marking the 10th anniversary of his Casa line, Giorgio Armani opted for the purity of design, referencing the Twenties to the Forties, with understated lizard-skin or crocodile prints in leather or velvet.
Trusardi 1911
Trusardi 1911
For Trusardi’s first furniture collection, Milan Vukmirovic infused a rich and textured feel into the minimal furniture including graphic coffee tables made from large-vein marble framed with oxidized matte brass.
And finally, Diesel’s always cutting edge furniture and lamps, licensed to the Italian companies Moroso and Foscarini, respectively, appeared in the brand’s typical rock ’n’ roll and relaxed mood.
Amid fashionable fetes around town and those not to be missed eye-catching chandeliers with crystal droplets that were in a word — spectacular — the gilded and grand swept through the fair, pausing every now and again at the exquisite Cova bar to sip a perfect cappuccino or martini and revel in the sheer luxuriance of a time and place where nary a thought to frugality was given. Ah, the good old days!
Diesel
Extraordinary, and rather wonderful.
By the way, have you seen this lovely post about Beaton? http://ageofuncertainty.blogspot.com/ I had no idea he had a scrapbook, and I’m desperate to take a closer look.
Thank you Mrs. Tefusis for the news of a Beaton scrapebook. I’m already enraptured.
Admittedly, I have been procrastinating on Beaton; his life, friends, habits, talents, commentaries
are so expansive and prodigious as to leave one hopelessly lost in choices.
As I write this I am simultaneously reading The Unexpurgated
Beaton (Diaries, 1970-1980), Self Portrait with Friends (Diaries, 1922-
1974) and Beaton in the Sixties (Diaries, 1965 – 1969). My natural proclivity
towards absorption is hardly a worthy trait for blogging. Nevertheless, the “Malice in Wonderland”
as Jean Cocteau described Beaton will be covered in due time.