There are two rooms of mannequins in glorious clothes that must be seen at Queen Sofia Spanish Institute on Manhattan’s UES. The work of the Spanish master couturier, Cristobal Balenciaga (1895-1972), the clothes and accessories reference Spanish culture, history and art. Jackets are influenced by the matador’s bolero, the priest’s vestments, the nun’s habit; gowns reflecting royal costume; tunics and berets the costume of simple fisherfolk. The fabrics are beautiful, the shapes flattering, many designs experimental.
Curated by the talented Hamish Bowles, the show is mouthwatering and intelligent.
Someone - I don't remember who - said that architecture is light.
St. Moritz Church in Augsburg, Germany, has been through many lifetimes. Built a millenium ago (1019), it has been ravaged by fire and wartime bombing, not to mention ill-conceived alterations. But it has endured - no, it has prevailed - and so could not be more deserving of the latest attention lavished on it.
The Catholic cathedral has been reimagined by British architect, John Pawson, into a sublime, minimalist, light-infused space. The divine made real.
When it comes to travel, as that is what I am mostly about, my joy is journeying to see life changing objects, buildings, images. They give me such a lightness of being, such hope, to know that man can indeed produce beauty for its own sake.