Copyright by Yeahboy Department Studio | Photography Kipling Phillips | Art Direction Alexandre Briatore | (Layout Radek Sadowski) | Hair, Make-Up Manuela Kopp | Photography Assistance Sebastian Muth | Models Max Bender at Modelwerk, Elena Meger
YBDPT

VIA Ybdpt to Nowhere Autumn/Winter 2012/13 Collection

Copyright by Urenko | Photography William Kano | Prints Atelier Olschinsky
URENKO

VIA Urenko Spring/Summer 2013 Collection

Copyright by Via Snella
The jewelry collection launched by Via Snella encompasses an array of novel creative possibilities while speaking directly to our heart. Lina Zedig, the inspiring force behind the scenes, has brought her experience in textile installation and interior design into a series of jewels that magically bridge the gap between space, matter and the senses. Lina has created a collection of five precious silver pendants in the form of a flask, destined to carry their owner’s favourite perfume. All of these unique unisex pieces are beautifully elaborated by traditional silversmiths in Sri Lanka and are accompanied by a pipette, which becomes essential at the moment of selecting the right scent to fill them up with. Functional and intimate at the same time, they are meant to embody a unique moment of reengagement with the Self through the alchemic fusion of metal and scent.
This is, beyond doubt, a jewelry statement miles away from the snobbish and indulging-in-blings thrill of the fashion industry. Steeped in a philosophy of sustainability and shared experience, it is conceived and materialised to satisfy our penchant for romance, intimate lyricism and casual immanence. With this new venture, Via Snella pays homage to its original quest for charmful singularity and humble luxury, while designing the departure point of its future trajectory. In the seasons to come, the brand will trade it all for knits and more jewellery. Reinventing the classic collection concept, it will opt for a much more sustainable model of production, based on single garments of an exceptional sartorial quality, made to be cosily worn and joyfully shared by special men and women.
VIA SNELLA

VIA Via Snella Launches First Jewelry Collection

Live Growing Jewelry

VIA «Bouquet on a finger»

Mad Dolls

I was thrilled to open up the newspaper today and see an article about the new Mad Men-inspired collection that is going to be launching at Banana Republic on August 11th! My boyfriend got me into watching Mad Men this year, and I quickly caught up on everything I missed. I adore the show and I can't wait for the next season in 2014. I'm drawn to the show for so many reasons (cough-Don Draper-cough), but the main reason: the fashion! The 1960s style is fabulous. Whether you're a Betty, a Peggy, or a Joan - the clothes are drool-worthy.

This summer, Banana Republic has teamed up with Janie Bryant, the costume designer for the show, to offer fans classic pieces with modern-day twists. In the newspaper article I read, it was said that the collection wouldn't focus on classic sixties colors, like mustard yellow and bright green, but would work more with black, navy, and red for a sophisticated edge. The boyfriend and I are certainly excited to scope out the pieces when they hit stores.

I was lucky enough to win an amazing giveaway over at A Life in the Fashion Lane. This blog has become one of my favorite reads; the blogger, Alexa, has a great sense of style and writes really sweet posts. I was so excited to find out I had won this beautiful romper by Lucca Couture! This is the first romper I've ever owned, and I love the way it fits. I'd love to add a few more to my collection! Thanks for offering this great prize, Alexa! Everyone should go check out A Life in the Fashion Lane. You won't be disappointed!

Dear readers, I cannot believe that this is the first time I'm introducing my family's awesome little Puggle (pug/beagle mix) to you! This is Abby, and she's the funniest, sweetest, cutest dog you will ever meet. I promise you we normally do not dress her up, but she started nosing her way into a shirt I had left on my bed and... we couldn't resist. She actually didn't seem to mind too much about the scarf or hat that we put on her, once she was told that there was a cookie waiting for her. So here's my little fashionista, always playing it up for the camera!

VIA Get "Mad" at Banana Republic

Ali Ahmed, director of antiquities repatriation, told Ahram Online that the objects included limestone and wooden statues as well as a collection of limestone blocks from chapels across dfferent pharaonic periods.

The objects were seized by the Swiss police within the framework of a bilateral agreement between Egypt and Switzerland that prohibits the illegal import and export of cultural properties.

Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty said the objects are to be handed over to Egypt’s ambassador to Switzerland at the Federal Office for Culture in Bern during an event to mark tenth anniversary of the passage into Swiss law of a prohibition on illegal trade in cultural property.

Author: Nevine El-Aref | Source: Ahram Online [May 09, 2015]

VIA Miss Poland Universe 2011 Rozalia Mancewicz in bridal collection

Copyright by Y-3 | Creative Direction Lloyd & Co | Photography Pierre Debusschere | Styling Jay Massacret | Hair Esther Langham | Make-Up Adrien Pinault | Models Juliane Grüner, Guerrino Santulliana
In 2013 adidas and Yohji Yamamoto celebrate ten years of Y-3, a collaboration based on seeming opposites combining adidas’ sports technology and Yohji Yamamoto’s style aesthetic. the communication campaign for Spring/Summer 2013 captures the essence of Y-3, led by photographer and director Pierre Debusschere, the campaign explores the partnership of the opposed – the transmission of ideas from the two worlds of Japan and Germany.
Pierre Debusschere’s photographs are a celebration of motion and exploration of movement that draws on the bold colors and graphic lines of the collection. Through the use of visual effects, the photographs have been distorted to provide a palpable sense of kinetic energy to the images.
The Spring/Summer 2013 campaign film is an evolution of these themes - study of movement, distortion and transformation. Through a cutting edge interactive online interface located on the Y-3 website, the user will be able to engage with the video content and through manipulation of sound and image will create their own video clips to share online with others. In addition, Y-3 commissioned Tim Hecker, noted as one of the most preeminent figures currently making ambient music, to compose an original work exclusively for the Spring/Summer 2013 interactive video. As with much of Tim's work this piece plays with notion of variations on a theme, resulting in individual loops which shift and pulse in time with the visual effects of the campaign film.
Y-3

VIA Y-3 Spring/Summer 2013 Collection Campaign

VIA Calzedonia Summer ‘Delicate in Denim’ collection

Copyright by Denis Gagnon | Photography Mathieu Fortin | Photography Assistance Jesse Brunette | Styling, Art Direction Yso | Styling Assistance Denis Gagnon | Intern Gaëlle Souflet | Hair, Make-Up Jessica Lablanche at Folio | Model Félix, Rachel at Dulcedo | Bags Laurence St-Pierre | Hats Alisha Stephen | Shoes Aldo | Location L’Éloi
DENIS GAGNON

VIA Denis Gagnon Spring/Summer 2013 | Collection Men/Women

The recovery of the 800 items from museums, universities and auction houses in the United States, Italy and Jordan marks a small victory for Iraqi authorities struggling to protect their heritage from theft and destruction by Islamic State fighters.

The hardline Islamist militants have taken over some of the world's richest archaeological sites in northern Iraq, home to Assyrian cities dating back 2,700 years and the Graeco-Roman era desert complex of Hatra.

Videos released by Islamic State show several sites bulldozed, blown up or battered with sledgehammers. Officials say priceless antiquities have also been stolen to help fund the militants' self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

Wednesday's collection of returned items, put on show at Baghdad's national museum, was modest compared to the suspected scale of the ongoing theft and destruction.

It included dozens of metal spearheads which officials said dated back to Iraq's Sumerian era between 4,000 and 2,000 B.C., tiny vases, pottery seals and fragments with cuneiform writing.

Some had been identified when they came up for sale at auction houses. Others were recovered from long-term loans to universities abroad, officials said.

The collection included nearly 200 items that went missing from Iraq's presidential palaces in the turmoil which followed the U.S.-led invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein, they said.

Alongside the white china tea set - each item marked with an eagle to represent the Iraqi republic - was a large ceremonial sword, silver cutlery and two rifles.

Government ministers attending a ceremony to mark their return called for greater international help to protect Iraq's antiquities, saying the scale of the threat was unprecedented.

Islamic State, which rejects all but its own narrow interpretation of early Sunni Islam as heresy, has destroyed ancient temples, shrines, churches, manuscripts, statues and carvings in territory it has seized. Officials say it has also looted widely, selling artefacts to fund its rule.

"We are not dealing with smugglers but a group that calls itself a state, carries weapons and trades in antiquities," Tourism and Antiquities Minister Adel Shirshab said. "The world must pay attention to the new danger".

More than three months after Islamic State fighters released video footage of them smashing statues and carvings at Mosul museum and the ancient sites of Hatra, Nimrud and Nineveh, Shirshab told Reuters it was hard to assess the damage.

"The region is under terrorist control. We don't have precise, detailed information...The situation is fluid and unclear.

Shirshab said that footage showing destruction at the sites was deliberately put out to obscure Islamic State fighters' real aim. "Many of these antiquities were stolen to fund this terrorist group," he said.

Author: Dominic Evans | Source: Reuters [July 08, 2015]

VIA Calzedonia Summer ‘Late Summer’ collection

VIA Calzedonia Summer ‘Amber Reflections’ collection

Flanked by River Haro on the one side and Margalla Hills on the other, Taxila is a vast serial site that includes a Mesolithic cave and the archaeological remains of four early colony sites. “It is one of the most important archaeological sites in Asia,” according to UNESCO.

With so much to show the world, Taxila is ignored on the tourist map largely because of the country’s security situation, lack of tourism promotion, and privation of facilities in the city.

From the famous Grand Trunk (GT) Road, a small and poorly metalled road leads to Taxila Museum and the archaeological sites. The picturesque lush green natural landscape has changed dramatically over the last 25 years.

Unplanned houses, hand carts, shops and vendors’ stalls are the modern hallmarks of the area, instead of its previous relaxing and enjoyable natural beauty. The rapid urbanisation of the area and the plunder of the sites has cost the sites dearly and yet nobody pays attention to it.

The results are obvious. The Global Heritage Fund has identified Taxila as one of 12 sites worldwide that are “On the Verge” of irreparable loss and damage. The fund’s 2010 report attributes this irreparable loss to insufficient management, development pressure, looting, and war and conflict as primary threats.

Moving along the dusty and crowded Grand Trunk (GT) Road from Islamabad to Taxila, the monument of Brigadier general John Nicholson, a famous military figure of the British Empire, greets a visitor. The monument is located on the Margalla Hills — the gateway to Taxila.

The sighting of Nicholson’s monument takes the visitor instantaneously to the days of British Colonial Raj. The time when teams of archaeologists were digging around the town of Taxila in search of the lost civilisations. The finding has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“It’s the marvel Pakistan got from the British Colonial Raj and yet it has not properly promoted as a tourist destination,” said Javed Iqbal, an archaeologist. Taxila is one of the three top Pakistani archaeology sites including the ruins of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro — two of the main cities that comprise the Indus Valley Civilisation, he said.

Sir John Marshall, the director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1902 to 1928, began the excavations at Taxila that continued for the next twenty years. In 1918, Marshall laid the foundation stone of the Taxila Museum to preserve the precious findings.

The museum is built in the middle of the archaeological site and has a rich collection of relics, artefacts, stupas, and stone and stucco sculptures from different Buddhist monasteries, Gandhara Art and the Kushana period. The Kingdom of Gandhara lasted from the Vedic period (1500-500 BC) as a centre of Graeco-Buddhism, Bactrian Zoroastrianism and Animism.

Ahmad Alamgir, another archaeologist and historian, who met me at the museum said that only one significant development had been carried out by the government of Pakistan in almost a century.

“Sir Marshall actually could not complete the original plan of the museum when he had to leave for England. After the creation of Pakistan, the government of Pakistan constructed the northern gallery of the museum in 1998 … and that’s it,” he said.

The museum has a number of galleries in which findings from the surrounding sites have been presented subject wise. There are lines of wall and table showcases in the galleries and a complete stupa, from the Buddhist monastery of Mohra Moradu, stands in the middle of the main hall of the museum.

A vast collection of stucco heads of Buddha showing different faces and styles is the main attraction for tourists. The big Buddha heads are typically Gandharan in style, according to the archaeologists.

City of Cut Stone

The historic town of Taxila, originally Takaśilā in Sanskrit  (meaning City of Cut Stone) is located around 35km from Islamabad just off the famous Grand Trunk Road. The city is still famous of its artisans, who keep their ancestors’ profession alive, by making stone sculptures, murals and panels.

They also produce flower pots, planters, fountains, garden ornaments, balusters, pillars and railings, and fire places. Taxila, according to historians, thrived from 518BC to 600AD. In 326BC Alexander the Great and his armies encountered charging elephants in battle against Hindu king Porus.

Before fighting the battle, Alexander marched through the city and was greeted by King Ambhi. In 300BC Taxila was conquered by the Mauryan Empire under Chandragupta Maurya that disintegrated the Bactrian Greeks, the successors of Alexander, in 190BC. Ashoka, the legendary king of India, ruled Taxila as governor under his father Bindusara’s rule. The city, which is a part of Rawalpindi district, is now a main industrial town of Pakistan with heavy machine factories and industrial complex, stoneware and pottery.

Author: Aftab Kazmi | Source: Gulf News [July 18, 2015]

Despite providing some of the oldest art in the world, Africa’s rock art tradition has long been overlooked by archaeologists and art historians alike.

Now the British Museum and Kenyan-based archaeological charity TARA (Trust for African Rock Art) are working to preserve this endangered heritage.

“The Museum wants to make Africa’s rock art available to both scholars and the general public alike. We hope to both protect and share this remarkable history for free with a global audience,” says Elizabeth Galvin, Curator of the African Rock Art Image Project.

The rock art tradition began in Africa 50,000 years ago, but abstract engravings may be up to 77,000 years old. It long predates writing, so serves as an important historical window into the culture and beliefs of early humans, and the world in which they lived. Today only a handful of isolated groups engage in the tradition, with a few sites still being used for fertility and rainmaking rituals.

The places in which ancient rock art is found have been little documented and largely unprotected, leading to a deterioration of the sites and the art itself. In 1996, TARA was set up, in order to record and protect the rich rock art heritage of the African continent.

The Nairobi-based NGO are committed to improving awareness about this tradition, and the endangered state that rock art sites are in.