The exhibition „Irving Penn. Diverse Worlds” presents photographs from several of Irving Penn’s best-known series. Most of them were donated to the Moderna Museet, Sweden in 1995 by the artist in memory of his Swedish-born wife, Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn. The exhibition includes photographs that span a period of more than fifty years, as well as some of his spreads for magazines, primarily the American magazine Vogue.

Irving Penn (1917–2009) is considered one of the leading photographers of our time. He worked in advertising and fashion, and was acclaimed in both worlds. In distinct series of portraits, fashion photographs and still lifes, he developed a unique style that is recognizable for its clarity of detail and precision, and for minimalist expression. Penn worked almost exclusively in the studio, primarily in his own in Manhattan, but also in a mobile studio that he put up wherever he happened to be in the world. Irving Penn worked for Vogue almost his entire professional career. The 1943 cover of Vogue was Irving Penn’s first published cover photograph. It is a composition of exclusive fashion accessories and, rather surprisingly, a picture with lemons. His final cover for the magazine being published in May of 2004. Together with Richard Avedon at Harper’s Bazaar, Penn became one of the leading figures of the genre, and central to the development of traditions in the field of fashion photography. One of the things that made fashion photographers so successful was that they were able to publish week after week and be credited by name in widely distributed editorial stories.

With a degree in art, Penn was quite familiar with both contemporary and historical art. His still lifes allude to the masters of art history, which reflects the particular interest he took in European still lifes of the early 17th and 18th centuries. His oeuvre contains both commercial and artistic work. In the 1970s though he began to focus increasingly on exhibitions and books, and in 1984 the Museum of Modern Art in New York arranged a comprehensive retrospective of his work. The year after, Irving Penn was awarded the international photography prize the Hasselblad Award.

Irving Penn was a frequent traveller. On his many trips to unusual destinations, separated from his permanent studio, Penn and his assistants would build up a mobile studio. Penn’s works from such places as New Guinea, Morocco, and Dahomey (now Benin) have at times been called his “ethnographic series”. Irving Penn’s studio in lower Manhattan remains intact, painted white with grey doors and a well-worn floor. Many of the subjects of these portraits were well-known cultural figures, such as the artist Salvador Dalí, the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli and the composer Igor Stravinsky.

Alongside his fashion photography and portraits of cultural figures, in 1950 Irving Penn began a series of pictures of craftsmen and other workers that he called “Small Trades”. He usually photographed them from the front, standing, clad in work clothes and holding the tools of their trade. These respectful representations of proud workers capture both the individuals and their trades.

The various seemingly distinct series of photographs that make up Irving Penn’s body of work are tied together by his curiosity and desire to portray his subjects in a particular, fastidious and detailed manner. He did this by photographing everything in the same milieu. The widely varied image worlds we meet here were all literally constructed in the same room – Irving Penn’s studio.

Blogged by Amal Kiran Jana from Milan at 5.30 A.M

Triennale Milano continues the series dedicated to the new international design in the MINI & Triennale CreativeSet offering an unprecedented selection of the most interesting works of contemporary Indian designers.

New India Design has the complexity of a context, a landscape, which has dominated their interrelationship and the ontinuous queries on the project rather than the fixity of identity and national figures in themselves concluded, as the masters of past generations.The young designers selected, permeated by the cultural matrix of India and its culture, though very different from the western thinking; through their design projects propose projects that live in a delicate balance between innovation and tradition.

Often it is the mythical contents to be replicated, with some irony, in common objects (for example, in Mr. Prick of Sandip Paul, Lotus pieces of Sahil and Sartak, Cheerharan Toilet Paper by Divya Thakur, in Cut.ok.Paste Mira Malhotra, Hanuman T-shirt Lokesh Karekar, dress of Manish Arora, in Varanasi Cows of Kangan Arora) to show the ancient and the modern, the sacred and the profane are mixed in a whole is not immediately decodable (for non-Indians), bringing in the daily contents with profound implications, in the global era, almost therapeutic.

The difficult challenge since the most common objects and traditional India have a coefficient of modernity, functionality, and aesthetics is difficult to overcome or reinterpret innovating some types or using some common objects such as semi-finished products to create your own (the Choori Lamp by Sahil and Sartak, the clothes Aneeth Arora, the lettering of Hanif Kureshi, jewelry Shilpa Chevan). In the objects on display are also replicated some imaginary of an India less media, which displays a comparison of different social realities, in which we look with acceptance, which takes shape, more or less unconscious, in other objects almost surreal as the Bori Cycle Throne by Gunjan Gupta, and among these comparisons could not miss a post-colonial re-enactment of the relationship India-England (the lettering Englishes of Geetika Alok).

The practical needs of life in the villages that make up the majority of India not urban inspired design like the so-called barefoot washing machine with pedals (Reyma Jose) and the structure of bamboo for the loading and transport of weights on his shoulders (Dinubhai Vikram Panchal), make the difference in terms of quality of life in itself difficult. But the design is often in dialogue with the refined craftsmanship in a rural region to redesign the traditional objects (the bamboo furniture design by Sandeep Sangaru and Andrea Norohda, projects Garima Aggarwal Roy, Flying bird and the Singing Leaves of Rajiv Jassal , the Natural dishes Sanders and Kandula, the bicycle bamboo design anonymous) and encourage small local economies (the Bamboo Cubes of MP Ranjan, the Chitku works Priyanka Tolia).

The urban India instead is technological, which is characterized more for the development of processes and semi-finished products for the design, is almost an alter ego in artistic works Padmaja Krishnan (Excess Mobile Wood and Pc) and Ranjit Makkuni (designer of sophisticated interactive installations that connect us with the sacred).

India in design, it is thus, difficult classification of design and is very unique to its tradition but also decipherable. Designers who remain with the intent to change things (in the absence of many production companies are self-made in small series), who return after long periods of training and working abroad. A landscape, the Indian designscape, rich, and through the different sections of dialogue between modernity and tradition, can produce new content for a global company always in progress and for this reason it is always in search of their ancestral roots.

Blogged by Amal Kiran Jana from Milan at 5.30 A.M

 A very unique atmosphere which is ‘Austere but romantic’ seems an autumn forest from which the models walk outward. The austerity already insinuated itself with last season’s monochrome, but here it was even more stripped to the bone. Masculine flannels and tweeds were cut into strict, angular silhouettes, diagonally zipped, and paired with riding boots, lavish stoles to gloves, bags, and boots, from a glossy band of beaver on a skirt hem to a capelet of the same on a maîtresse-stern coat-dress of charcoal flannel. Colors seen were black, gray, beige, sea green and natural furs along with brown and black boot.

Bally‘s Michael Herz and Graeme Fidler outfitted their presentation space like haute igloo. Those dogs ran away with the show, but when you managed to tear yourself from the Instagram opportunity, there were smart shoes and outerwear to be found here. As for the coats, the designers got inspired by Lee Miller, the World War II photographer turned Vogue portraitist.

 This time Dolce & Gabbana went to Sicily again but into the Cathedral of the place. As they say "the art of mosaic-making is a slow and precise one." There were dresses printed with Monreale’s famous Byzantine and Venetian mosaics, and just as many lacy frocks in cardinal red. There is a romanticized view of the Catholic Church, inspiration was depicted as prints in the dresses and tops, gold is seen used enormously in the jewels, bags and crowns as accessory. Towards the end came dresses with deep red color with embroidery.

This collection from Missoni is a tremendous change from their past, it wanted to take refuge under the covers and make the world go away. The clothes retreated into the sanctuary of the boudoir, with flowing, languid lines that echoed pajamas and bathrobes, or huge, blanket wraps that suggested consummate coziness, even in a shawl-collared, tuxedo-styled version. The two impulses—cocooning and confrontation—were tricky bedfellows. Missoni’s current challenge is clearly to reconcile them; no doubt the brand is going more modern.

 In the final day Gianfranco Ferre showed a very stylish and modern collection. Federico Piaggi and Stefano Citron did a wonderful job; popped lapels; big, looping obi-style belts; jackets tucked into pants, it was clear from the beginning that the designers were feeling confident; this being the first time that they’ve presented outside of Ferré’s headquarters. The collection has newness and something load to speak, we all hope that the brand find its way out to boom again.

Blogged by Amal Kiran Jana from Milan at 2.30 A.M

Epic masculinity was at its peak is this season of fall 13-14 at Milan fashion week. I saw some fascinating catwalk of men’s fashion; my day started with Jil sander show military style double breasted red color suit. Again long trench coat with single and double breasted shown up constantly in all the shows, David Bowie’s inspiration was seen in the Costume National homme collection black leather pants and t-shirt with matching black leather satchel. Dolce and Gabbana continued with their traditional Sicilian village style beige t shirt with traditional print, white rose printed black coat though i hope to see something new next month at the donna atleast.  The skinny look of Neil Barrets with a Bauhaus touch impresses my eyes, the beige sweatshirt and tailored black jacket with band collar and black shoes.

Umit Benan tried to do a bit natural winter ambiance around the ramp, dry winter leaves scattered all around, It was a shopper’s feast of double-breasted overcoats, cotton mac raincoats with raglan sleeves, popover hooded anoraks, and leather field jackets.   Simplicity is so difficult to obtain said Prada, the harry style look worn in a distinctly casual way by distinctly normal young men, somehow I feel it’s very my style. For Armani it’s nothing else except classic, a touch of modernity with a sartorial look grey is the color seen throughout the collection. Gucci used a simple feeling with herringbones, hound’s-tooth, and flannels with mohair sweaters and knit polo’s open at the neck, for all it’s trimly tailored, classically fabric, soberly toned salute to tradition.

The runway’s love affair with Russia continues at Canali, the romantic style of pale winter giving an impression of Saint Petersburg luxe, colors dominated were ones of petrol blue, plum, and brick; Rothko colors. Brand that was totally out of the others completely energetic and vibrant was Dsquared; La Nouvelle Noir, 1940s jazz club, their models were bebop hepcats, so recently de-mobbed that one of them was still wearing his khakis. The military precision of his outfit was reflected in the Catens’ hyper-tailored coats and jackets in classic camel, gray flannel windowpane, and Black Watch tartan.

The four day affair with the men in Milan came to a sophisticated end. With-in a month begins a new quest at the women fashion week.

Posted by: Amal Kiran Jana from Milan at 3.03 PM