Ugh. Do we have to go to the Louvre for homework?!?

Just kidding of course--LOve it!  For History of Couture, the homework was to compare and contrast certain styles of dress, colors, and atmosphere from a list of selected early French paintings. 

--(Portrait de Gabrielle d'Estrées et de la Duchesse de Villars)

Today I attended an orientation at Istituto Marangoni.  The school has three locations: Paris, Milan, and London.  If I were to master in fashion design, I would either attend London or Milan--Milan would be my choice.  The program is fantastic and prestigious and has top, top,top connections; we are talking Dolce, as in Dolce and Gabbana graduated from Marangoni.

  www.istitutomarangoni.com

After my orientation of the Paris branch IM, I went to Cite de L'Architecture & du Patrimoine.  I took in a free exhibit of LE GRAND PARI(S) Consultation internationale de recherche et développement--very cool.  Nicolas Sarkozy stated at his inauguration in 1997 that he wished for a "new comprehensive development project for Greater Paris," and the show exhibits what ten teams have come up with (citechaillot).  

I really enjoyed this exhibition because of the passion for solving the current problems affecting the city: space, housing, and commerce--just to name a few.  One architect wants to create a different area of centrality, something other than Les Halles which is "just a subway stop and a mall."  Different quotes from the architects: "building high rises amongst the ruins...cyberspace to real space...getting from A to B is complicated"(citechaillot).  Love that last one:)

http://www.citechaillot.fr/exposition/museum/museum_exhibitions.php?id=80

The really beneficial part of the exhibit are the copious displays of all the maps that the teams used to generate different points.  One map lit up with different streets and metro lines indicated by different colored capillaries, and then at the end a bunch purple A's illuminated indicating art locations:) (Beneficial to me.)    

I have been working on my design collection which will be inspired by maps.  But it was not just the street map that inspired me to chose this path, but maps that could indicate art locations, or bizarre locations of underage soldiers.  I got the message from the exhibit that maps are constellations.  I find this to be beautiful.  More of this map concept to come, but until then sit down with me at the cafe while we people watch and have a kir:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBtE6zAyIkM