PINEIDER THE MOST EXCLUSIVE STATIONARY SHOPPING IN italy

The world of Pineider is not only stationary. They also sell great leather accessories. In Rome the store is located in via dei Due Macelli 68, just off piazza di Spagna.

I often take the clients from grandtourshopping.com to explore this sophisticated world. They even ship your stationary to the USA after they engrave it. Pineider was founded in Florence in 1774. From the first personalized printed letters to nowadays. The printing of embossed papers, the leather goods made by local tanneries and artisans ad even the writing instruments produced by master artisans in Tuscany. People like Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Miuccia Prada, Giorgio Armani, Madonna and Sting just to name some of the latest Pineideir's clients.

Now this sophisticated brand is presenting new copybooks for writers, poets or normal people. They remind us that you can write everywhere. Here is what the Pineider company writes in their press release :" From the walls to notebook. It is not easy to write a book, everybody knows that. Even less easy is to come up with the climax, the plot and the characters". No wonder we can say and they explains: " The notes by Ernest Hemingway or J.K. Rowling are almost incomprehensible while not everyone knows that William Faulkner, the nobel prize winner, took notes on the walls of his house just like the italian poetessa Alda Merini".

We don't need to be a poet, even to write your shopping list ou can take notes on these super elegant notepad. They are in various colors for the moment with Milano on the cover but we are waiting soon for the roman version.

CHANEL THE STRENGHT OF PATRONAGE

Chanel is one of the most visited boutique in Rome. They are located in piazza di Spagna 85, in front of the steps. In 2015 they organised a fantastic show in Cinecittà. Few days ago the Haute Couture in Paris, at the Grand Palais, as usual, but this time transformed in Quais sur la  Seine. The turnover, finally delivered is about 9,7 billion dollars. Amazing.

Chanel is not only a fashion brand designed by Karl Lagerfeld, a legend. The french company is constantly committed to the schools. Convinced that the passing down of a passion is key to the future of fashion and French luxury, the House is very involved in the curriculums offered by schools in the fields of creation and savoir-faire, as well as those that teach management, marketing, business, digital and new technologies.

As one of the top five most sought-after employers by students (Universum rating), Chanel has built long-term and targeted partnerships with several prestigious schools. Presentations in schools, setting up collaborative projects and offering internships are just some of the axis of these partnerships.

The House is thus actively involved at the IFM (Institut Français de la mode), to help strengthen Paris as the capital of Fashion, and to attract and train international talents who will later work at all the Fashion Houses. Chanel L is a committed partner of IFM. Its representatives visit the school to share their vision of Fashion and their métiers with the students. The french griffe also offers students at IFM the chance to undertake projects with the teams at the House as well as numerous internships.

In 2015, the House became involved with the ESSEC Business School to establish a professorship dedicated to the management of exceptional savoir-faire. Its goal is to prepare the managers and entrepreneurs of tomorrow working in companies in this field. Every year, The Maison welcomes a dozen students and offers them spaces for reflection, dialogue and teaching through the implementation of a project, proposed and accompanied by the Maisons d'art teams.

Chanel is equally involved with specialist schools in its own field, such as the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne which trains young people in the crafts of couture (pattern making, toile making, sewing…) and creation. The House also cooperates with La Fabrique, École des métiers de la mode et de la décoration, where the House recruits Visual Merchandisers to work in the boutiques.

The Maisons d'art, grouped within the Paraffection company, which invests heavily in the durability and development of their savoir-faire, regularly collaborates with the schools specialising in embroidery, feather work and hat making. Among them are the Lycée Octave Feuillet, the Lycée de la Source, l'Académie Internationale de Coupe de Paris (AICP) and the Ecole Duperré.

In 2016, the House designed and developed an exclusive international program with ENSAAMA (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d'Art) to accelerate the development of its students working on Visual Merchandising. This program, designed to strengthen their skills, has made it a veritable breeding ground for international collaborators with very diverse backgrounds and training.

This desire to develop the talents of the House by partnering with leading schools in France and internationally takes shape once more in 2017 thanks to the launch of a program to develop our talents in collaboration with Central Saint Martins in London. Its goal: to consolidate the skills of our Visual Merchandising experts in the fields of style and accessorising.

As a member of the Comité Colbert, the House also invests in the master’s degree in design strategy offered by ENSAAMA, and every year accompanies students on a project intended to stimulate their creativity.

In 2018, the House reinforced its links with the engineering school ITECH, by taking part in a project integrated into a double degree which aims to train multidisciplinary students and focus on innovation. For several years, ITECH has been a key partner in the recruitment and training of our experts in leather and textile engineering.

Following the example of these partnerships, CHANEL has now woven long term links and a shared trust with over forty French and international schools. We hope soon also with the italian fashion schools.

SCHIAPARELLI : SURREALISM IS COMING BACK

I wish to find soon in Rome the revived Schiaparelli brand. They might get the pret à porter in Gente soon also because it is owned by Diego della Valle, so with no doubt a Made in Italy griffe. I am reading right now a biography  of Dora Maar. Everybody knows her as the lover of Pablo Picasso but She was not only that. She was a fantastic surrealistic photographer and Elsa Schiaparelli always chose her for the pictures.

The collection shown few days ago is the Haute Couture so the only way is to go the Head Quarters in Paris Place Vendome. Here is the philosophy of this fantastic fashion show: The style of a woman comes from her spirit and personality. In the case of Elsa Schiaparelli, hers crystalized a femininity of cosmopolitan refinement. From her Mediterranean origin, she went on to live in London and New York before establishing herself in the City of Light – a true Parisian at heart. Her traveling life together with a fanciful sense of humour, a passion for dogs and an equal love for fine art as well as trinkets sum up her eclecticism and emancipated attitude. The Haute Couture collection transcends her wardrobe of neat allure where daily elegant sobriety gives way to a night time sensuality imbued with opulence and fantasy.

Daytime is essentially dark and obsessively adorned with the house symbols of butterflies, Ursa Major and padlocks. Silhouettes are graphic yet feature sunny highlights or touches of leopard. Fitted jackets are cut with small shoulders, narrow sleeves and maxi, 3D pockets. Embellished with contrasted embroideries, precious buttons and gold jewellery, the body-enhancing tailoring outlines the Schiaparelli signature.

Nighttime is definitely colourful and decidedly lavish with dresses mixing the unexpected and daring. Pure lines and liquid-looking draping enhance curves and unveil skin. Savoir-faire fuses rock crystal, coloured stones, leopard, deer, birds, dogs and blooms in a munificent manner. They blend Elsa Schiaparelli’s aesthetic of a rich interior decoration and a taste for fauna and flora.

The prowess of the atelier infuses grace and poetry into the collection with white cock feathers, a multi-coloured nylon neo-faux fur, a zebra jacquard, ethereal lace and incandescent embroideries. The essence of shocking pink and amethyst indigo, the depth of black and the sheen of metal define the true colour palette of Schiaparelli always playing with light and shadow. The creative director Bertrand Guyon is full of talent, He loved the Schiaparelli code such as the shocking pink, the animals, her artistic mood.