THE REAL ALPHABET OF ME | a funny guide of your blogger

When I’m following a blog I’m always curious about the person who is behind that.  So, if  it might have happened to you of being curious about me..well… I ‘ve decided to start this guide to let you know who I am…by a funny alphabet guide (without any precise order, anyway…so be ready..it’s going  a random alphabetical guide) to satisfy your curiosity and my analysis!!!

A as ART  (see also Dutch and Flemish art history, Flemish primitives, Contemporary jewellery – forthcoming)

One cannot live without Art: whether in case of fine arts or music, movies ballet dance  literature poetry…     Really poor the one who thinks that we could and should live without them: such a boring life!

Art and artists always provided good questions for the entire world and always detected  very early the wind of change. Arts shock, overwhelm and never explain themselves: it is a mixture of collisions, shouts and silences. We are the key to understand them, admire them and, very often, be consumed.

And, as my wise friend R. once said to me, “When you’re feeling blue, sad…whenever the entire world seems not to understand you…remember that you have art. Whoever you are, if Art is in your life, it SAVES YOU” (or it damns you…)

It’s true.

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B as BACH (see also Ancient and Classical Music- forthcoming)

I was twelve when classical music broke into my life: first it was with Milos Forman’s “Amadeus” and then my parents let my curiosity fly away….and I met him: Johann Sebastian Bach. The Father of us all.

As an avid listener, I had really no idea with which kind of composition I had to start listening to him so I followed my nose and the very first oeuvre I’ve ever listened of Bach was the Branderburg Concerts conducted by Yehudi Menhuin, still in my heart.

Then came Glenn Gould, his recordings, the Variations (I have almost twenty different editions of Goldberg Variations not only the two recorded by Gould)  and all the piano works that I never  get tired to listen to. And then all the cantatas, partitas,  concertos…and so on…

As it happens in literature and with books, music provides a composition for your temper, your troubles, your feelings and your mood: it is a continuous research and discover: it leads you both to ancient music and to contemporary sonorities and composers and will always be part of your life.

One thing more about Bach (and classical music): forget the fact it relaxes you! Classical music and, especially the one of Bach, always confronts you with the inner an unveiled part of you. Try with The Musical Offer and The Well-Tempered Clavier and let me know.

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B as BOOKS

Really…shall I have to explain what books mean to me? Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…

♦

L as LIPSTICK  (beware before reading!  It might be addictive !!!)

I do not remember where I read this news or when I’ve listened to it, but the fact is that during time of economic crisis, make-up sales reach their maximum: à la tête de la course, of course, lipsticks and nail lacquers.

No wonder about that because the overquoted Coco Chanel, once again, said the truth: “If you’re sad, add more lipstick and attack!”: nothing could be more true about me…and the lipstick.

I might tell you that my affair with lipstick always has to do with:

• the name. Seriously speaking: could anyone resist to a “Tumultuous Pink”? Have you ever thought about what there is behind the name of a shade? It’s a promise of seduction and, furthermore, of beauty: a name has to be carefully chosen. Think to those mesmerizing names of Chanel Rouge Allure such as “La Palpitante”, “La Fougeuse” or Dior “Rose Crinoline” (to me this is an hymn to Versailles): it’s the beginning of a love story!!!
• the shade: you know that there’s more than one red, or pink or orange…
• The brand: choose the best and avoid dupes: high quality is always a reward (my favourites are Nars, Chanel and Tom Ford.)
• pigmentation, duration, finish: a good quality lipstick encloses all these qualities and it will fit you at its best.

By the way, I do love collecting lipsticks and wear all of them (not all at the same time..). As for perfumes, my lipstick has to do with identity and it changes with my mood: it speaks about me and reveals how I feel.

30 lipsticks
Illustration by KRISTINA HULTKRANTZ aka EMMAKISSTINA

Therefore a good lipstick changes your face, enhances your traits, makes you feel better… and really BEAUTIFUL!

Now I know that you are in a mood for a flirty, mischievous red lipstick  so, go ahead, listen to the wise suggestions of the great Lisa Eldridge and buy the perfect ruby lipstick for you: it suits to every woman….and it is a trustworthy friend for all seasons.    And remember: retouch your lipstick when you’re all alone: a wonderful lipstick deserves closeness, confidence and intimacy, even Ovid said it once.

A presto,

Nichka

♥

 

WHEN FANNING IS AN ART |…ché sventolarsi è un’arte

Un caldo infernal che mai non resta attanaglia i giorni e le notti di questo lungo luglio: non c’è tregua all’ arsura e, in mancanza di climatizzatori tascabili, ho visto -non senza sorpresa- che il ventaglio esce dalle borse delle signore (abbastanza in là con gli anni, ma anche no) per dare quel movimento all’aria  giusto giusto ad ingentilire le conversazioni.

Giovanni Battista Moroni Portrait of Isotta Brembati Grumelli The Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Italy ca. 1550 (detail)

 Lo sapevano bene le dame della Storia Grande come le Regine di Francia ed Inghilterra, così come tutto quello stuolo di nobildonne di corte che la pittura ha immortalato in abiti ricchi di dettagli preziosi, facendo sì che il ventaglio non fosse solo un semplice accessorio atto a scacciare i calori quanto le puzze (c’erano!), ma anche a gestire tutto un linguaggio del “non detto” che ahimé, forse oggigiorno abbiamo un poco perduto: la seduzione ha cambiato le sue regole, ma non il gusto della caccia….

Portrait of Mary Kytson, Lady Darcy of Chiche, later Lady Rivers circa 1590 British School 16th century 1500-1599 Lent from a private collection 2002

 

 Ma occorre ben rammentare che sventolarsi è un’arte, perché l’uso del ventaglio (o di qualsiasi oggetto che in un momento di caldo estremo vi può far da succedaneo) non è il semplice andar su è giù sgraziato e inarmonico: occorre tempo, ritmo costante, polso allenato al movimento leggero ed impercettibile che dà il giusto ristoro alla pelle (che non suda e né s’imperla) e alla conversazione, rendendo un che di civettuolo anche il banale “come va?”.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69) Agatha Bas (1611-58), 1641 (detail)

An infernal heat that never rests is gripping nights and days of this long July: there is no respite to this high temperature and, in the absence of pocket air conditioners, I saw  -with no surprise- that fans came out from ladies’ handbags…just to give that charming move to the air to refine conversations.

Joseph Frederich Charles Soulacroix, Secrets

Queens of France and England, as well as all the great Ladies and noblewomen that art had immortalized in rich robes sprinkled of fine, glaring details, knew very well that the fan was not just a mere accessory useful in case of heat and dreadful smells:  they knew that it was an incountournable medium for messages of an unspoken language that only eyes and the gesture could understand…. A silent language which, alas, perhaps today we have lost:  seduction has changed its rules nowadays, but not the taste of the hunt ….

FREDERICK WARREN FREER (1849-1908) Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Margaret Cecilia Keenan, circa 1886

But remember, when you fan yourself, do it properly because the use of a fan (or any object that in a moment of extreme heat could be used as a mere substitute) is not simply going up and down awkwardly and with an inharmonic movement: it takes time and you need a steady pace, a well trained wrist that allows and gives that fair refreshment to the skin (which does not sweat) and to the conversation, just to provide that flirty appeal even to the most common question as…”how are you?”.

A presto,

Nichka

♥