Fall Shopping: Armani and the LA Phil

This week I had the unique pleasure of attending a luncheon for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Opening Night Gala at the beautiful Girogio Armani Boutique on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.  The boutique is beautiful and hasn't been altered since its original opening in the early 1990s.  Hosted by co-chairs Eloisa Dudamel, Joan Hotchkis and Carolyn Powers,  Girogio Armani is certainly a lovely place to enjoy a catered lunch by Nobu.

SS 2013 Armani Prive Couture Colletion

And then came the fashion show.  If you read my blog, you may know that I don't love the Armani Prive couture line - though this July it was beautiful.  I guess all the black and darkness intimidates me a little and doesn't quite match my lifestyle or personality.  I ate crow this summer, and I'll take another slice this fall.  This RTW fall collection is really interesting, and it has some color!

The greys mixed with the oranges really popped, and the suits were smart and sophisticated.  I especially loved the graphic lapel "pocket squares" on the jackets.  The suits were paired with pointy flats or red tipped brogues which added to the chicness.  The herringbone print was small and delicate and begged for golden leaves floating through the air.

My favorite of the collection were the silk bermuda shorts.  Worn with black tights and flats, this is a look that I want to channel all fall.  So so cute and cool.  (I'll skip the unnecessary fedora)

And this wool and fur coat is divine.  With just dots of color almost hovering the all-black, this is not only a show stopper, but something to keep and pass on. I mentioned to Barry Frediani, Senior Director for Entertainment Industry PR, that I might even wear it as a dress.

Evening was beautiful.  Like the sun setting on a cool canyon, the orange and pink hues sink into a plunge of relaxation and beauty.  Subtly.  The small crystals on the cocktail dresses and gowns shimmer only slightly amongst the silks and satins.  If this is the new Armani Woman, then I am in.

It could be something to wear to the upcoming LA Phil Annual Opening Night Gala on September 27… I'm still looking!

2012: Don Giovanni, A Space Odyssey

While I was busy relaxing in the hammock over Memorial Day Weekend in Augusta, GA, my talented friend Jessica Robin Trent went "on assignment" to see the Los Angeles Philharmonic's opera performance of Don Giovanni.  Enjoy!

Photo courtesy of Kimberly Brooks

The unique collaboration between director Christopher Alden, Disney Hall architect Frank Gehry’s installation, and Rodarte’s costumes, along with the youthful energy of conductor Gustavo Dudamel, formed a very modern, abstract, provocative and decidedly Los Angeles creation of the classic tale of Don Giovanni. The LA Philharmonic decided to stage only four performances, though I wish they could have scheduled more, as this magnificent creation would surely attract the young audience of which the institution seems to be in want.  In its 93^rd season, and with Dudamel on a multi-year contract, the LA Philharmonic is certainly redefining the orchestral experience.

With sweet Sutton bowing out of the performance in favor of going home to Augusta for Memorial Day weekend, I was lucky enough to be a guest in her absence, and was in the delightful company of wonderful women: Kimberly Brooks, artist and founder of the Huffington Post’s art section; and Dr. Charlotte Eyerman, American Director of FRAME (French American Museum Exchange) and independent curator.

The men’s costumes seemed very Star Wars meets minimalist motocross inspired. In other words, very LA. Instead of armor, our Don Giovanni 2012 gentlemen  wore chest and shoulder pieces resembling motocross protective gear, and simple white shoe boots that strapped up around their thighs. Their pants were very sporty: all one color with multiple zippers (white for everyone except the Commendatore, who was in head to toe black).

The collaborative efforts framed by the simple and modular installation, placed Don Giovanni in the vein of a performance art piece as much as it was opera. Composed in 1787 by Mozart with the libretto written the same year by Lorenzo da Ponte, Don Giovanni is certainly a timeless tale, especially when experienced in this version.  Don Giovanni is described to live in a world where everyone exists for him. “If I were monogamous, it would be cruel to all the other women,” says Don Giovanni, defending his lifestyle to his confidante/servant Leporello. Oh yes, 225 years later, how many men today still believe this? There were so many moments in the performance that made me think of a few dear male friends and laugh aloud.

Leporello, performed by American bass Kevin Burdette, truly stole the show for me. He not only has an impressive voice, but is a fantastic comic actor of the very physical sort, often interacting directly with the audience. He at times reminded me of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. I cannot say enough. He was captivating, and I adored watching him.

“Large women are magic. The petite ones are always charming,” brags Don Giovanni. Soprano Aga Mikolaj’s Donna Elvira was the larger than life shining star of the females. She dominated the stage like a powerful goth queen in her two black lace, silk, jet and Swarovski embellished Rodarte dresses and headpieces.  (The costume changes for Act II were more dramatic for the women, with their hair and dresses becoming more disheveled) Her voice echoed from her soul and made us feel every emotion. Soprano Anna Prohaska (Zerlina) was the most petite opera singer I have come across. Her costume was the only one of pastel coloration and matched perfectly her lilac colored wig by Odile Gilbert. Her wig was fashioned in a loose, tousled manner almost resembling cotton candy. There was a moment where Zerlina danced around quietly by herself to the music, her petite arms motioning slowing much the way one does when dancing to Depeche Mode. I imagined her in the middle of the dance floor at Sunday night’s “Part Time Punks” at The Echo in Echo Park.

Zerlina and her fiancé, Bass-Baritone Ryan Kuster (Masetto) had an incredible chemistry! The very slow-motioned intimate moments between them left our group feeling like voyeurs. Their movements also reminded me of the very slow and beautiful choreography of Tino Sehgal’s “The Kiss” at the Guggenheim. (Kimberly Brooks and I whispered to each other “hot!” as the couple caressed ever so slowly and deliberately.)

Baritone Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni was the perfectly strong, self-absorbed macho man. In a very overt racy moment, he moved his hand very slowly beneath Donna Elvira’s skirt, up to her thigh, removed his hand and moved it slowly again down his face, opening his fingers at his open mouth. At at that moment, the entire audience loudly gasped, though I am rather sure I may have gasped the loudest. It was quite shocking!

As for the much talked about set design and costumes. I absolutely loved both. There was a sci-fi feel in both. Gehry’s installation reminded me of a deconstructed Kubrick set in the minimal style of 2001: A Space Odyssey meets the starkness of Star Wars scenes filmed in the deserts of Tunisia. The cast interacted very much with the paper sculptures, caressing them and hiding their faces, sometimes their entire bodies, underneath the many folds. The ladies and I discussed the mounds of folded paper to be representative of a woman’s skirting, crumpled bed sheets, and labia. All very fitting for the racy tale of Don Giovanni!.

Jessica Robin Trent

Additional Photos courtesy of Autumn de Wilde/Rodarte

To Bill Maher

I am a Democrat.

This is one of the charities of my choice.
(by the way it houses the LA Philharmonic not the LA Symphony)

This is another.

And here is another.

One more.

In your latest show (please everyone read the transcript of episode 247!!!) you trash charitable giving to the arts and argue that gifts to the arts should not be tax deductible. But modern civilization relies upon the gifts of its people to provide beauty and promise to everyone.  I support that calling.  As a dancer from just about birth, I have been privileged enough to study dance with greats like Bill T. Jones, Betty Jones of Jose Limon, Violette Verdy, Patricia McBride (one of the great Balanchine dancers and legacy teachers), Merce Cunningham, and the list goes on.  I have done these things as a student.  I remember making $150 a week, living in New York City as a nanny and spending every cent I had on my dance education.

I also attended Davidson Fine Arts School in Augusta, GA.  Davidson is an award winning public magnet school that introduced me to all genres of the arts.  There I studied Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Tennessee Williams, Sophocles, Thoreau (on whom I wrote my college entrance essay).  It is a magnet school available to any student in Richmond County that shows an inkling of talent and dedication to the discipline of learning an art form.

I was the Executive Director for the Augusta Ballet for three years in Augusta, GA.  We tried to rely on performance tickets sales only, but that is surely impossible.  Watching the decline of the National Endowment for the Arts during my tenure as Director of Development for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company was not only sad for me as a taxpayer but also devastating as an artist.  I can only write that without the tax deduction for charitable donations, our country will be without ballet, without art museums, without theater, without Mozart, as you pointed out.  And any research study that is worth its salt out there confirms that all of these things only enhance the learning and development of our children.  The children that we want to grow up to help other children with disease, without homes, with horrible living conditions that could only be imagined with empathy, with a spirit enlightened by the arts.

You are wrong Mr. Maher.  Terribly terribly wrong.  What is great about this country, that I love and admire so very much, is that we support and lift up organizations that would die and become a withered hand without the support of its people.  And for peanuts we support the most inventive and vibrant arts communities in the world. In a fifteen trillion dollar economy, Americans give just seventeen billion dollars a year to the arts, so the tax deduction on these gifts costs the government just $5bn a year. For $5bn of lost tax revenue we get the world's greatest symphonies, dance companies, and art museums, supporting the most dynamic new artists on the planet. And though you may think that you help our country and our world to persuade people not to give to these institutions, you are indeed bringing down society with these barbaric ideas.