Escapeseeker

Rome, Italy–With a special invitation from the oldest haute couture fashion house in Italy, Maison Gattinoni, we were able to get a first hand look of the creative genius behind two of Italy’s most gifted designers: Guillermo Mariotto, Creative Director of Gattinoni Couture and Princess Grazia Borghese, internationally renowned jewelry designer. (Both Guillermo and Grazia pictured above in black.) Together they create a visual feast of high fashion: It’s HAUTE COUTURE meets HAUTE JOAILLERIE as they jointly tell the story and demonstrate the lasting beauty found in designs handcrafted in the Maison Gattinoni. From Lana Turner, Ava Garder, Elizabeth Taylor, Ingrid Bergman to Audrey Hepburn, Maison Gattinoni has been the one called upon to design and create the most unforgettable gowns worn by the world’s legendary women of cinema. By the way, Audrey Hepburn’s exquisite “Empire gown” (pictured above) worn in the 1956 classic film, War and Peace, for which Fernanda Gattinoni, the Maison’s founder received an Oscar nomination must be a size zero! I examined it first hand. She definitely makes me look beefy! By the way, it is also the Maison Gattinoni where women in politics turn to when only the finest will do for their momentous occasions–Jacqueline Kennedy, Eva Peron, Princess Diana, just to name a few.

For people like me who are a ‘slave to fashion’–it was truly a privilege to visit Maison Gattinoni, a house who has dedicated itself to the art of fashion…we even met the gifted artisans who labor for hours hand crafting each creation, under the direction of Guillermo. One tailor has worked for Gattinoni for 50 years. She started when she was 14!

Guillermo was an absolute delight. Both he and Princess Borghese are ready-made for television–so easy to interview–with outstanding soundbite after soundbite–stories that only insiders of fashion can share. For instance, how many designers receive the honor of creating the vestments for His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI during the Holy Father’s visit to Assisi in 2007 to mark the eighth centenary of the conversion of Saint Francis? Yes, it was Guillermo Mariotto. It is also Guillermo who is among the celebrity judges of the Italian version of Dancing with the Stars, and Nights on Ice. I asked him if he was the equivalent of Idol’s Simon Cowell, and he just grinned with a giant smile, and answered, “YES!”

So make sure you stay tuned to ESCAPESEEKER’s premiere episode featuring Italy, and entitled, La Dolce Vita, and discover for yourselves the geniuses behind MAISON GATTINONI. For a sneak peak, I’ve posted a few of Princess Borghese’s designs which was recently featured on the catwalk of Santo Spirito in Sassia–a great display of fashion and emotions by Guillermo’s dresses and the precious creations of Princess Borghese. Long pearl necklaces, gold, tormaline and rubies. Ostrich eggs with opale of fire. Three thousand black diamonds on the Gattinoni’s catwalk proves nothing is spared to showcase the lasting legacy began by Fernanda GATTINONI, the undisputed protagonist of international fashion…and as everyone in Rome attest, fashion is an absolutely important element of La Dolce Vita!

Ciao,
Escapeseeker

I’m so excited to let you know that we have just added SCOTLAND to our line up of 13 episodes that make up the first season of ESCAPESEEKER! I will be traveling to the “land of festivals”…to the city that many call the “cultural capital of the United Kingdom”–historic EDINBURGH! And, since ESCAPESEEKER is all about LUXURY ESCAPES, what better place to rest and luxuriate in the peak of summer than THE BALMORAL! Don’t take my word for it. Check out their website.

http://www.thebalmoralhotel.com/

Ahh…the brutal life of an ESCAPESEEKER! 🙂 With our talented photographer, Chad Buchanan, (who by the way is already on the other side of the pond) we will capture the magic and “uniquely Scottish” spirit of Edinburgh. To give you an inkling, here’s a taste of Scottish poetry from “The Braes o’ Balquhither” by Robert Tannahill

Dateline–Wicklow County, IRELAND–“The Garden Isle”–After spending just four glorious days as guests of the Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt Estate, and exploring the majesty and mystique of its emerald countryside, we have no doubt…

By Mel Gee Henderson

Cannes, France—The instant the lights went out, the cinephiles at the Cannes Film Festival who were privileged to be amongst the first to see the highly anticipated adventure of the whip-toting, punch-packing, snake-hating, globetrotting archaeologist with a fedora, began humming the familiar Indiana Jones theme song in unison, which added even more buzz and excitement as the sound vibrated at the world premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which opened to an international audience at the 61st Cannes Film Festival.

It’s the Fifties and Indiana Jones returned! It happened at Ghost Ranch, north of Santa Fe, in the stunning and desolate desert landscapes of New Mexico where director Steven Spielberg assembled his finest creative team to bring back to life his two favorite genres: aliens and historic events. Be prepared to experience a demonstration of the latest in special effects as the film is loaded with CGI (Computer Generated Imagery), and spectacular stunts so over the top that it would have been difficult even for the younger version of Indian Jones! But as Harrison Ford pointed out to the press when asked if he did his own stunts, he responded, “I don’t do stunts, I do physical acting!” “Crystal Skull” is definitely physical as it relentlessly takes the audience on a wild non-stop adventure as old Indiana Jones survives a kidnapping, shoot-outs, auto crashes inside a mysterious warehouse, a ride in a desert rocket and an A-bomb detonation—and that’s just in the first 22 minutes! If a state-of-the-art action/adventure film made possible by the best advance-technologically trained team that big studio budgets can buy is what you’re looking for, then “Crystal Skull” will not disappoint. What Spielberg fails to deliver, however, is the same Indiana magic wit and romance that hooked an entire generation 27 years ago! The new version never allows the characters to pause long enough to connect with one another. Even as old characters, like Indiana’s original flame, Marion Ravenswood (Karen Allen) returns with a huge surprise for Indiana—they’re too busy surviving the non-stop calamities to emotionally connect and what should have been a monumental moment in Indi history is entirely lost.

In “Crystal Skull” Indiana loses his teaching post during the communist phobia of the 1950’s and persuaded by a young Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) to take off on a vague adventure in South America to save his mother and retrieve the Crystal Skull of Akator. The trip takes many turns as the duo is chased by a spy, George “Mac” McHale (Ray Winstone) who changes sides from being with the good guys to joining the bad guys several times during the movie; there’s also a Soviet villain Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) dressed in black skin-tight fencing attire (and we never really find out why or how she became such a villain); and lastly, there’s the jungle dweller, former Professor Oxley (John Hurt) who has lost touched with reality, but still manages to keep up with the gang, even as he is often the one left holding the Crystal Skull as it changes hands between Indiana and the Soviet army who manages to stay on their tracks!

After the first hour, the film begins to feel really long. The characters survive multiple fight scenes, machine gun fire, scorpions, monkeys, huge snakes, quick sand, massive waterfalls, and finally a secret city—combination Mayan/Aztec—and did I mention so many chases that it gives you the incentive to cry out “Enough already” during the movie! And through all of this, Indiana survives without even a nick on his fedora!

In Crystal Skull, Spielberg acknowledges that he returns with a familiar theme often addressed in many of his films, the reuniting of the nuclear family, something Spielberg admits is a reflection on his own personal family experience.

As the film opens worldwide on May 22nd, huge audiences hoping to find the return of their favorite witty archeologist will have to dig deeper this time around. But, hey, unite your family anyway, because I’m betting your curiosity will get the best of you, and you’ll drop the bucks to see if Indiana Jones can still get your adrenaline going! Try to enjoy the ride—and if you don’t, no worries, I predict the secret Mayan/Aztec city is certain to become a Disney ride that will get you plenty wet!

Cast: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent, Shia LaBeouf.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: David Koepp
Story: George Lucas, Jeff Nathanson
Executive Producers: George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy