Milan Fashion Week
and Ryuchi Sakamoto & Printemps NYC
Clockwise from Top.
The Sounds of Greenland
One day during school drop off this week, we got lucky and Noemi didn’t ask to play the Spanish-language soundtrack from Tangled or Mulan. WQXR, the local radio station, started playing a haunting piece by deceased composer Ryuchi Sakamoto that incorporate sounds of a real glacier he visited in Greenland.
This is an apt description of the 9 minute piece:
"Glacier" is an ambient composition that moves at an unhurried, meditative pace, much like the slow, inexorable movement of a real glacier. The piece is built around sparse, resonant piano notes layered with atmospheric textures that feel vast and icy. Sakamoto often incorporated field recordings into his music, and "Glacier" evokes the eerie, almost supernatural sound of melting ice and shifting landscapes.
The piece follows a free-flowing structure, avoiding conventional melodies in favor of slowly evolving harmonic and textural shifts. It captures both the beauty and fragility of nature, a recurring theme in Sakamoto’s later works, especially as he became an environmental activist concerned with climate change and sustainability.
Here is a link to the song on Spotify and Apple Music.
And while we’re talking modern classical, this “The Summer Portraits” by Ludovico Einaudi is just lovely too. (Apple Music, Spotify).
NYC’s Newest Department Store
Downtown New York will be getting a new multibrand store, with Parisian stalwart Printemps opening at One Wall Street:
This new Printemps store is a cup runneth over of Art Nouveau frescoes, sweeping pink marble stairs, two-story mirrored walls inspired by Coco Chanel and intimate eateries such as the 25-seat Salon Vert raw bar. Designed by architect Laura Gonzalez, who did the Cartier mansion redo on Fifth Avenue in 2023, it’s a fever dream of a Belle Époch Parisian apartment whose owner chose the décor with a bottomless checkbook in one hand and a bottle of hallucinogenic absinthe in the other. The landmark Red Room has been transformed into a shoe salon with a forest of ‘trees’ that light up the Dior, Aquazurra, Bottega Veneta and other wares, many in exclusive red colours as an homage to the space.
NYC’s recent history is littered with failed retail concepts: Neiman Marcus, 10 Corso Como, to name two, had much more brand recognition when they opened here.
The assets Printemps is sharing are certainly bold, to say the least, and while we’re not convinced it will be the most successful concept, it’s a welcome addition to the Financial District. Store visit coming soon!
It also has to be said, the graffiti inspired, “Not A Department Store” tagline is just dreadful.
Briefly, Milan Fashion Week
Last week was women’s fashion week in Milan (it has since moved onto Paris). The usual highlight is Prada, which showed their FW25 collection:
On the runway, Prada and Simons set out to poke holes in the notion of feminine perfection. They did it by “rescaling” little black dresses, eliminating every last bit of their slink until they looked like ’60s sheaths gone wrong. By designing skirts with paper-bag waists that wiped away any sense of an hourglass shape, and by working with materials that leaned thick and coarse, not supple—not “touch me” fabrics, but their opposite, as in “don’t!” Seams were exposed, edges were left raw and unfinished, and wrinkles were pressed into garments, hinting at years of wear. Or, au contraire, maybe the rumples were the result of a proverbial roll in the hay, as the models’ bedroom hair would seem to have suggested.
This notion of feminine perfection show up in chunky jewelry, sculptural pumps, loafer boots, new chain bags and sack fits on the RTW.
Here is the show on YT:
Prada is always a show that intellectualizes their entire collection, and this one was no exception. And in other Prada news, it seems they are closing in on buying Versace! Maybe the Miu Miu team can help them out?
Links.
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Timothée Chalamet in GapStudio.
Should you hire a $100K college admissions counselor.
Welcome, a new generation: Gen Beta.
Tribeca Grill’s very last night.
The top Girl Scout cookie seller in NYC for three years running.
Robot masseuses coming soon to Equinox.
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From Team TT
info@tourist-trapp.com