seeing_double
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Announcing... The 2nd Annual theFashionSpot Awards. Vote NOW via the links below:
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VOTING WILL CLOSE 27/12/2024 EOD!
purechris said:so sad that I've never been there
CHANEL LIGHTS UP HONG KONG
MARC JACOBS' new Louis Vuitton flagship wasn't the only thing to see in Hong Kong this week. Chanel expertly combined fashion, art and architecture with the re-opening of its own Asian store. In a fittingly prime location, the boutique opens onto the only remaining open space in the forest of striking skyscrapers that forms the city's Central district and continues a long relationship that was initiated by Gabrielle Chanel herself, who was patron to leading artists and musicians including Picasso, Horst and Stravinsky. The five-floor façade looks like the iconic box of Chanel's No 5 perfume by day, but at night transforms into a giant glittering screen, visible throughout the centre of town and across the harbour. Made with over 200,000 computer-controlled LEDs, the display shows ultra-high resolution images of a 'human fabric' expressed through the continual motion of thousands of pedestrians moving through the image. The installation is the creation of Israeli artist Michal Rovner, and is designed to resemble the house's famous trademark tweed. In the coming months, the work is destined to tour through Chanel's flagship boutiques in Tokyo, New York and Paris. Inside the store, which is inspired by Mademoiselle's Paris apartment, the collection of specially-commissioned pieces includes a endearing cast bronze doe sculpted by Francois- Xavier Lalanne, a 32-meter three-storey strand of Murano glass pearls by Jean-Michel Othoniel (which weighs 500 kilos and necessited a reinforcement of the supporting structure of the building), a huge, but delicate Conte-crayon Camellia drawing by Joseph Stashkevetch, and a diamond-dust portrait of Chanel by Vik Muniz, all from the outside too. "This is a significant turning point [in architecture,]" explains architect Peter Marino. "Never before has Chanel, or any other brand, put art outside their boutiques and projected it to the entire city. It's a gift to the inhabitants and tourists visiting Hong Kong." (December 14 2005, AM)