Valentina

Asparagus Elegance | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

18 Feb 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #AsparagusTong, #FingerFood, #HowToEatAsapragus, #KitchenUtensils, #TableManners, #TableSetting

Some people eat asparagus with hands, as if they were finger food, a few properly cut asparagus with fork and knives, and a hand full of people know the existence of a special tool to eat asparagus with elegance. It is the asparagus tongue, with three rings comfortably positioned to insert fingers, pick up the asparagus from the plate and bring them the mouth one by one.
I adore this tool, it is elegant and a piece of conversation on the table. My set is silver and comes from Italy, but Amazon sells the stainless-steel version, practical and at a very inexpensive price. Why not taking advantage? https://goo.gl/Vj9TFy

(Click on each photo to view it larger)

One person said that she has always eaten asparagus with the hands, why bothered with another kitchen tool? Sure, anything is possible. In fact, in Barcelona, I saw a woman sitting at a counter of a tapas bar eating her entire tapas dinner with the hands. It wasn’t a spectacle I liked to watch, but hey, I was observing and couldn’t help writing a travel note of that.
Since the invention of the fork, a gentler, cleaner way of eating became customary and people stopped knife stabbing their food morsels to bring them to the mouth with the tip of the knife.

However, it seems to me we have gone back to eating casually with the hands. At parties and meetings, we are served finger food because they are convenient. Most people eat French fries with hands, pick up shrimps with the hands to dip in Marinara sauce, touch chips and dips with hands, eat short ribs and fried chicken with hands, grab crackers from the pile to add a piece of cheese on them, strawberries and grapes are always near the cheeses ready to be picked up with the hands and with a plethora of sandwiches variety who needs fork and knife? Some people would say. This is what I call the returning of historical courses.

The role of a designer doesn’t stop at placing new furniture in the room, slapping colors on the walls, selecting fabrics, or moving walls to enlarge a kitchen. We claim to bring harmony and beauty in people’s life, I believe the role of a designer is to inform and to introduce new elegance even in customs and societal behavior. What is an elegant designed home without a person showing an elegant behavior? Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

It’s my hope that through my writing and my stories I am enriching your aesthetic sensibility towards design, style and inspiring you to live in beauty. I have loved my profession as an interior-fashion designer since 1990.
I am here ready to offer consultations on-line if you need. Check out my latest book on the subject of colors ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB

I Am Not A Vegetarian And Yet….| Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

09 Feb 2018 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #CountryItalianFood, #HealthySandwiches, #italianCooking, #ItalianVegetableDishes, #PugliaFood, #VegetarianMeals

Food is part of my color scheme of life. I cannot live without colorful and flavorful food presented well, even if I am eating alone. Eyes want to see beautiful things to send a message of happiness to the brain. It doesn’t take much efforts to do something special for ourselves. I am not a vegetarian and yet my every day food seem to reflect that style of eating. As soon as I was weaned, my parents taught me to eat everything without distinction and to waste no food. That concept has been good and alive in my life, every where I lived in the world. I have discovered that in countries different from mine, people eat the same vegetable, often prepared the same way, but, also, I have discovered new vegetables, new flavour and new ways of cooking vegetables. My repertoire of earthy food is getting so big, I don’t have enough days in a year to cook them all. For the moment, enjoy these three simple and so tasty recipes from my kitchen as much as I enjoy them.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

A sandwich to die for – Grilled Zucchini and Italian Prosciutto.
Thinly slice zucchini, align them on a parchment paper over a baking sheet.
On each zucchini slice, add finely chopped garlic and ginger, Parmigiano cheese, olive oil, salt, pepper and bread crumbs.
Bake at 400 F. until golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.
Brush a small amount of olive oil on each bread slices and grill them (I made my country-style bread).
Assemble the sandwich with Italian prosciutto. I did not add anything else, it is tasty enough as is.

Grilled Zucchini and Italian Prosciutto di Parma Sandwich

What do you say about a plate of oyster mushroom?
I adore this dish, whether it is made for a healthy lunch, with a piece of bread and a glass of red wine, or as a side dish to go with an entrée of meat or fish.
Brush off impurities from the mushroom, or cut them off (if you wash mushrooms in water, they will exude water in the cooking).
Finely chopped garlic and chili pepper, if you like it, briefly sauté in olive oil, then add mushroom and continue to sauté until soft, about 10 minutes.
Add chopped Italian parsley to finish. It is a real delicacy!

Oyster Mushrooms Sautéed in Olive Oil and Garlic

Do you have mozzarella?
In Italy we call this sandwich “Mozzarella In Carrozza” translated is Mozzarella In A Chariot.
Beat some eggs, depending on how many sandwiches you are making. Season the eggs with salt and pepper.
Warm up an iron skillet brushed with some olive oil, or butter.
Slice mozzarella in thin pieces.
Dip each side of the sliced bread in the eggs. Lay on the hot pan, each slice of bread one at a time, then mozzarella slices on top, close the sandwich with the top bread slices also dipped in the eggs. With a spatula push down gently on the sandwich to allow mozzarella to stick to the bread.
Brown one side of the sandwiches until crisp, carefully turned with the spatula, brown and crisp the other side.

Mozzarella In Carrozza

There you have it, three simple lunches, easy, inexpensive, healthy and tasty, that you will want to repeat often. This kind of food is only found in Italian homes, not in restaurants.
During trips to my native region of Puglia, Italy, my guests will taste food with a flavour of simplicity and antiquity, such as these. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2

Valentina Cirasola is the designer who cooks. She has a deep interest in food that led her as an autodidact in the studies of food in history, natural remedies, nutrition, well-being and learning food of the world. She wrote two books on Italian regional cuisine and one book on color theory, in which she included one recipe for each color. Robert Taitano, a friend and business associate of http://www.wine-fi.com says:
“Valentina – an International Professional Interior Designer is now giving you an opportunity to redesign your palate”. Get your copy of Valentina’s books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

My Blood Moon Palette | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

03 Feb 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #BloodMoonColors, #DarkRedColors, #FashionColors, #SuperBlueBloodMoon

The cosmos was so exciting this week. A rare Super Blue Blood Moon happened, an event that has not occurred since 1866. Apparently it was a fantastic combination of the Moon coming close to Earth, making herself appearing 17 percent larger than usual, then passed through the Earth shadow, which made the Moon appeared red. It was also a full Moon twice in one month. An exceptional feast in the cosmos!
This event coincided with a total lunar eclipse and I missed it. Clouds and fog covered the reddish tint of the Moon.
Reading about this event, I learned that temperature went up to 200 F and fell below 200 F.

I wonder if people felt influenced by the movement of this powerful moon, if their emotions went on a roller coaster, or if many babies will be born this year.

I imagined a variety of reddish colors the Moon changed into as she went through the Earth shadow and that intrigued my fantasy. I was curious to see how an outfit would look in the colors of the Super Blue Blood Moon. From many photos I saw of different photographers, I picked up hues of grey, taupe, mustard, golden beige, dark red, rosy and Bordeaux.
(Click on the photo to view it larger).

My Blood Moon palette was born in my closet. It feels strong and comfortable, warm and creative. The large silky scarf, with a wavy pattern, wraps it all harmoniously and calme it down. I will wear this and I can say to be part of this beautiful Universe in motion. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear.
To better help people all over the world she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB

Variations | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

29 Jan 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ColorsOfBarcelona, #LaBoqueriaBarcelona, #LaBoqueriaFoodVariations, #LaBoqueriaMarket, #TravelSpain, #WordPressPhotoChallengeVariations

Art, food and street life are the three things I want to explore when I travel. They are three variations of expressions of people and their culture I want to learn.

In a few TV cooking shows, I learned about Barcelona La Boqueria Market, I could not wait to go down Las Ramblas to visit this open market as soon as I arrived in Barcelona. I was hit with a profusion of colors, aromas and flavors to which was hard to resist. Inside La Boqueria market, I spent a few hours ” A Ramblear” as locals would say, getting lost in food heaven, looking, learning, tasting and taking photos. It is an open street market, covered with a hard canopy, sun or rain don’t seem to bother people or activities and the variations of one or another are so interesting.

Everything I had heard about La Boqueria market was true. Colors and flavors were so vibrant and inviting I didn’t want to leave. Many curiosity filled my eyes and my camera, picture after picture flowed like water in a river and I also tasted an incredible amount of food. The Jamon Ibérico with a flavor of juniper berry was delicious, hoof or no hoof, and I really enjoyed the various ice creams with a chili pepper kick mixed in with the flavor of the ice cream. What a treat !!!

The choice of tapas variations prepared at all the bars was infinite, the aromas were irresistible, try eggs and cuttlefish, of my, what a variation on the egg dish! The wine……that’s another story, as a tourists drinking at hours normally not conceived for drinking, was so liberating. At La Boqueria I felt at ease, regardless of all the noises, people are friendly. I speak Spanish and that helps enjoying the market in its fullest.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Above: Dry peppers of many colors and heat spice up the area.

Above: Xorico Sauces in many colors, flavors and texture.

Above: Sangria in bulls, in flamenco dancers and in toreadors shaped bottles.

Above: Jamon Bellota with a hoof on a Jamonero ham holder, a typic gadget of Spain.

Above: Jamon Ibérico with pata negra (black hoof).

Life is full of variations, explore them and don’t be afraid to try something awkward. Ciao.
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2

As a writer and cultural promoter of Puglia, her native land, Valentina’s intention is to let readers feel and experience a new ”wheel of emotions”. She wants to encourage them to visit areas of Italy not beaten by massive tourism. Through stories of local customs, art, architecture, fashion, food-wines, shopping, she wants them to create their special adventures and live it up in Puglia! Check out her books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

Say It With Colors | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

23 Jan 2018 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ColorfulAccentWalls, #ColorfulHomeAccessories, #ColorfulTextures, #HowToCombineCreamColor, #Pantone2018Colors, #UltraVioletColor

Say It With Colors, is the TV show I conducted last week by myself in front of a live audience. The show is about presenting the fresh, unusual color combinations we can do this year with Ultra Violet color, one of the bold and very powerful colors of 2018.
(Click on each photo to view it larger)

Entry Scene: “Say It With Colors” TV Show – Valentina Design Universe

(Above: Photo was taken in the studio by Tyler Wiest)

Questions from the audience were interesting. Time always feels very short, in only 30 minutes show, I could not answer all the questions, but I will elaborate on them here:

What is the most attractive color to the human eye?
I would say that red, green, yellow and gold are attractive to the human eye.
Red is the color of the heart pumping red blood. It is the color of passion and love. Products on sale always have a red tag and we feel the urge to buy them while the discount lasts. It’s the color of impulse buying and the color of those who take action. In fact, when selling a house, an entry door painted red and some red accessories scattered around the rooms will help to sell the house faster.
Green is a peaceful color of nature and everyone feel at ease.
Yellow is the powerful energy of the sun and gold is the powerful energy of wealth.

Modelo Paint Finish

(Above: accent wall Red Modelo paint finish by Douglas Greenberg)

Ceramic balls

What color is the sexiest?
It is hard to answer this question without thinking of a nation and its culture. Not all colors have the same meaning in all the cultures. For example, in European countries black is associated with death and funerals, white in China is used for death and funerals, but in Brazil purple is the color for death and funerals. Funny, how three different colors mean the same thing in three different continents.

What color looks best with cream?
Cream color alone, to me, is a very boring color, for some people is a calming color. The eyes need light and shadow to feel rested. If a room or the entire home is cream color without any other accent colors, the eyes will wonder constantly and soon will feel tired. The vibe from a cream color is very feeble, to create an interesting monochromatic cream color scheme, the option is to pair cream with a few earth tones, such as brown, olive, rust, coral, or to pair it with a few dark accents as navy blue, purple, or even black. With warm and hot colors, such as red, orange, red and rust, cream becomes the color which dilutes the others and calms them down.

Beige Color and Texture Concept Board

How to spice up a personal space with colors?
Answering this question is like having a clean canvas and splash any colors on it. Rhythm is what you want to create to spice up any room. Look for something that will attract the viewer, such as an accent wall painted as an art piece or painted in a bold color; mix furniture changing style and colors; add textures in the accessories or mix floor textures; paint kitchen/bath cabinetry or add whimsical doorknobs/hardware; mix antique and modern lighting fixtures.

A mix of textures and colors for a sitting room

(Above: Mixed furniture)

Painted Verdigris Patina – Laundry wall

(Above: Accent wall painted as an abstract art piece by Gyorgy Sofalvi)

(Above: Mixed ceramic hand painted kitchen cabinet doorknobs)

Whatever you do, it’s your home and if you like to have one polka dots wall with an animal print sofa or a red kitchen with Salvador Dali hardware who is to say it’s wrong? Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion designer, author, who became a TV producer/host. She is currently producing her shows at KMVT15 in Mountain View, Los Altos & Cupertino TV station, under her label Valentina Design Universe. The goals of her shows are to entertain, inspire and inform, while she is living her passion. She never gives up trying new things. She found new energy conducting shows by herself and interviewing guests on the stage of her shows. Find Valentina Design Universe TV here: https://goo.gl/2tbN3N

Get a copy of her books here:
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB

Weathered | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

16 Jan 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #TravelItaly, #VeniceStyle, #WeatheredArchitecture, #WeatheredItalianStyle, #WeatheredStyle, #WordPressPhotoChallengeWeathered

Ah, Venice, the only city in the world where pigeons walk, lions fly, sexy men are made of stones and gondoliers are the richest taxi drivers in the whole world!

When I am in Venice, photographing conventional sites, even as beautiful as they are, is not my goal. Sure, I have done those tourist photos too, but I am more intrigued to find weathered details usually people leave behind, because they don’t appeal to their eyes. I like to find details which tell a story.

Most buildings in Venice beautify the sky with characteristic weathered ‘comignoli’ (chimneys). They are tall and look like small homes with a gable roof on top of buildings. Many wealthy Californians have embellished their “Tuscan style” homes with copies of Italian style ‘comignoli’ and ‘faccioni’ (cherub’s faces), sometimes stuck on garden walls as planters.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

(Above: chimney called comignolo)

I could have spent endless hours more than I did talking to the older man, owner of the restoration laboratory. He spent his entire life among stunning and weathered objects, furniture, fabrics, grisailles and historic pieces. It was so fascinating listening to his stories !!!

(Above: Restoration store)

I am amazed of how well the weathered wood poles and stilts deeply planted in water, hold Venice up and how well lintel beams hold together the walls of many weathered homes.

(Above: Santa Maria della Salute in the background)

(Above: Casa Goldoni decorative lintel)

(Above: Venice characteristic street lamp)

Perfectly weathered pewter and bronze street lamps are still standing not decayed, as are the marble stone statues, precious mosaics on buildings‘ facades and marble carved capitals with acanthus leaves still showing the intricate details on top of columns.

(Above: Marble acanthus leaves capitel)

(Above: Store pewter door handle)

One might imagine finding weathered home gardens, where courtship and lover quarrels might have happened one time, but they are hard to find today.

The local Venetians are leaving town for a better living. Venice has no longer stores of primary needs for the locals, such as bread shops, meat shops, vegetable shops, dairy shops, fish market, drug stores, clothing stores, book stores, the seamstress shops, hat shops, shoe maker shops, the clinic, a local doctor office and all the shops which regulate and take care of the needs of a human life.

Venice has become a stumping ground for tourists with a little interest in history, art and theatre art. Their needs are to go to the bathroom, buy a gelato, a cheap tourist meal, a few meaningless trinkets made in China, get a photo with the pigeons in St. Marco square and return to the ship or wherever they came from. The town today is made of B&Bs, restaurants with tourist menus (what kind of crap is that?), cheap souvenirs, super expensive gondola rides, counterfeit fashion items sold in the streets by illegal immigrants and nothing else.
Venice belongs first to the Venetians, to Italy and then to the world. That Venice charm I had known is forever lost. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2

Second Time Around | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

06 Jan 2018 6 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: ##EnvironmentalFashion, #ReconstructedGarnment, #RecyclingClothes, #ReinventingFashion, #RestylingClothes

In this climate of saving the environment and recycling, every opportunity is a good opportunity to give something a second chance that would otherwise end up in land fill.
We buy an awful amount of clothes that we wear perhaps for one season, or only one time and discard them as soon as we get tired. The fashion industry is a big influencer, if it says they are no longer acceptable, we promptly get rid of them.

Have you ever thought that all those items we literally throw away, sometimes even with a price tag on, are all workable into new items? With a little creativity, it is possible to enlarge a garment with a new and different fabric or color; it is possible to pair a vintage fabric with a new one; it is possible to upgrade the look of a skirt by using the fabric of another skirt that will add interesting details and profiles. These are a few of the things we can do give a garment a second chance and to make it into something original.

My mom and her sisters, all teenagers during World War II, remade clothes due to shortage of fabrics. My grandmothers, who lived two great wars, did it before my mom. They taught me not to throw away anything and to use my imagination when time comes to give something a second chance. Remaking clothes into something new is amusing and rewarding.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

I made this original black jacket (above) using a folk Romanian fabrics purchased in one of my travels. If I had made the jacket with only a black fabric, it would have looked like a common black jacket. Using a colorful folk print, front and back and only on one side of the jacket, not only I created an unusual look, but the colors brought life the black side. Closure was off-center with clay buttons I created and painted myself. Lining it with golden-yellow was a great idea, it added an interesting view when the jacket was open.
I sold it big time and I made a few people unhappy along the way. Due to the limited fabric, I could not produce more than one piece.

I want to remake the sun jacket above with animal print fabric at the bottom edge.
How do you know when two fabrics look perfect together, you might ask?
Your eyes are the first judge of that. If it looks good in your eyes, it means it is right.
Colors are common denominators. Find one color in the existent garment to match with the new fabric.
Prints go well with solids and geometry makes playful matches.

In the case of my sun jacket, the animal print has black in it and the uneven shapes of the animal design pairs well with the uneven shapes of the sun designs. What I like the most about this match is the lighter weight of the fabric I am using for the edge and the undulating movement it will create when I walk.

The velvet military style jacket (above) has been revived with a new velvet front panel, Renaissance style. Now, it lends itself to a new look, perhaps a Bohemian long skirt with boot, or a pair of pants in one of the bright colors in the panel.

I know that remaking clothes using old and new is a novel idea for a throw away society and some people are catching on, but if we want to be conscious of saving the environment, let’s start in our closet saving our clothes. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear.
To better help people all over the world she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Barnes&Nobles: https://goo.gl/Xme8Hn
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB

At The End Of The Year | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

01 Jan 2018 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ItalianNewYearEve, #NewYearCelebrations, #NewYearEve, #NewYearEveCustoms, #NewYearEveRedUnderwear

The end of the year marks a passage of time and the hope for new experiences, new love, new peace and new expectations. Whether it is celebrated on December 31st or not, people worldwide do celebrate it, and in much different ways. I remember how we celebrated it in Italy, long time ago. It was colorful, fun and very dangerous.

As midnight struck, heavy fireworks started from every windows and balconies. Kids played with the less dangerous fireworks and adults played with heavy ones, often losing parts of their body with it. Loudest and powerful fireworks lasted for more than an hour and during that time, it was customary to throw everything old and no longer wanted out of windows.
It was not advised to come home from parties before 5:00 am, that’s when people finally quieted down. This practice is now prohibited by law, but for some people is hard to desist from this custom.

Before the Southern Italians went absolutely crazy with fireworks and throwing things out of the windows, they went totally crazy with food. They sat down at dinner table around 6:00-7:00 pm surrounded by many people, usually family, with the intentions of eating 13 courses, one for each month of the year passing and an extra one as a good wish for the new year. The 13th course was a plate of cooked lentil eaten soon after midnight. Lentils represent money, more lentils we eat, more money we will have…. and everyone hopes…..
Eating lentils is still a custom of today.

(Click on each photo to view it larger)

No matter what color Italians like, at the end of the year, every woman from North to South wears a red pair of underwear to wish for a new love or to keep the one they have. That’s is something I still do today.

(Photo above: https://www.zappos.com/p/b-temptd-lace-kiss-thong-haute-red/product/8343688/color/401264)

The last and the first day of the year are two days equally respected and celebrated in Italy. Italians never pay bills on Jan.1^st even if they expire on that day. We believe that whatever we do on the first day of the year, it will repeat itself all year round. Laugh, make love, travel, eat in company of people, cook, create art, visit museums, go to the beach, start writing a book, play music, whatever we do, must be a fun activity that we want repeated again and again throughout the year.

Those who decide to go out at the end of the year, willing to pay a high price for dinner and dance, after midnight, will end up in a single file, making a train with people, often strangers, rolling through tables and going around the dancing hall, at the tune of Brazilian music. I never understood why Brazilian music became the brand of celebration for the end of the year. The best part of going out at the end of the year is that most everyone waits until 5:00 am to get warm croissants, freshly baked and just out of the baker’s oven. They go so well with a cup of cappuccino or a double espresso. The aroma of a fresh croissant is a prelude that something sweet will happen in the new year…..and so everyone hopes….
True or not, it is good to have hopes and beliefs. I wish you a splendid 2018, all the way through and celebrate what you want more of. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

As a writer and cultural promoter of Puglia, my native land, it is my intention to let readers feel and experience a new ”wheel of emotions”. I want to encourage them to visit areas of Italy not beaten by massive tourism. Through stories of local customs, art, architecture, fashion, food-wines, shopping, I want them to create their special adventures and live it up in Puglia! Check out my books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

Color Expressions in 2018 | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

15 Dec 2017 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #2018Colors, #GoldSilverColors, #HowToCombineColors, #Pantone2018Colors, #PowerColors, #SubtleColors

Coco Chanel said; “The best color is the color that looks good on you”.
Year after year we follow colors around, we discard new clothes just because they represent last year colors and not for a moment we stop to think if those new colors are really suitable for our texture, face, age and personality, or we bought them just because they were in fashion.

I don’t get excited when I see the same colors or the same fashion style on everybody, I get totally bored. I want to see women vibrating their own energy, as it happened in the ‘20s -‘30s -‘40s -‘50s and then there was the abyss. Women of past eras wanted to be different from one another with a style, which was personal and unique to their personality. Men’s fashion has not changed that much in the last 100 years. Shirt collars were first higher and then lower, ties were first shorter, then longer, pants bottoms were large, then became skinny like a pencil, back to large and back to skinny again, jackets were single breasted and double-breasted. The basic men suit-look stayed the same with a few minor changes from time to time, nothing special to talk about. Women, instead, have slipped from looking sophisticated, classy and elegant to plunging into vulgarity. The other day, I saw a woman walking in the street dressed in a striped white and blue pajama, house slippers with fake fur all around, a Gucci bag on her arm and a diamond ring on the finger. Not only she devalued the diamond ring, but she looked awful and totally sloppy.

I am a highly attentive person, I see small details other people don’t notice and I am aware of my surroundings. Here, I am only making an observation of what I saw in the street, I don’t wish to change a nation. If women feel good going out in the streets in a striped pajama or rollers in their hair, more power to them. Happiness, after all, is also feeling free and detached from society’s constrictions. I am just very sad that women don’t care for the way they look anymore.
I want to bring the beauty of life created with the right colors to those people who want to listen and want to find harmony within themselves.

Those who still care about their appearance, should find colors and style that look good on them, colors that nourish their soul and make them feel good. They should find the style, which gives them an aura of self-esteem and allows them to leave an impression behind when they exit a room.

Based on Pantone color choices for 2018, I have created three palettes easy to compose as your next color expressions in the next year. (Click on each photo to view it larger).

Teck – A technique to combine Bright Turquoise, Pink and Purple colors anchored with Brilliant White or Frosted Almond.

Discretion – Nostalgic hues for a subtle palette, such as Elderberry, Burnished Lilac, and Hawthorne Rose combine with strengthening tones, such as Coffee or Gold.

Intricacy – Intensity to convey power and to providing an eclectic mix of colors balanced with Black, Gold, Silver or Bossa Nova.

Style is a journey, putting clothes on is just covering the body. Once you find your powerful colors and style, that “first impression” will give you the right vibrations and the world will know who you are! I hope you will try these colors and if you want to show them, please post them here. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear.
To better help people all over the world she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB

Bubbly Moments | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author

08 Dec 2017 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ChampagneCoupeGlass, #ChampagneGlassCharacteristics, #ChampagneGlasses, #GlassesForCelebrations, #HolidayDrinks, #SparklingWines

We are at the end of another year of work. We might have reached some or all the goals for this year. We have put efforts in keeping the good friends near us and manage to stay healthy, or have helped someone in the process. We have passed good and bad moments and we might had had some challenges to overcome. It has been another year and another chapter. Life situations are such that we have everything to celebrate and to be grateful. This is the month for bubbles to celebrate life and the new lights coming.
For exciting celebrations, we need special glasses. Some glasses will alter the taste of the bubbles and some will improve it. We can choose the Coupe, the Flute or the Tulip shape glasses to fill with our favorite bubbles.

The Coupe shape, or otherwise called Champagne Saucer was in vogue in the early 1900s, became most popular in the extravagant years of the ’20s with the Great Gatsby and remained popular until the ’60s. However, before the roaring ’20s, someone else in the upper crust of French society, thought of making the coupe champagne glass very famous. She was the beautiful and famous French Marquise Madame Pompadour, a valued aide and court advisor, but also a mistress of the King of France, Louis XV, from 1745 to 1751. She was a patron of architecture, decorative arts, porcelain and a patron of philosophers. The gossip columns of the era mention that Madame Pompadour, in love with beautiful things, lent her breast to a glass designer to make a mold of her breast and thus to create the Champagne coupe glass. The picture below speaks for itself. This fun 8×10 print is available at Meluseena on Etsy goo.gl/tUhHzq

Is this a myth? I don’t know. It is an amusing tale and I like to tell it. Apparently in more modern times, other famous women have lent their breasts for the same reason. Claudia Schiffer loaned her left breast to a Karl Lagerfeld-designed ceramic coupe for Dom Perignon in 2008.

I like my champagne or sparkling wines very fizzy, I am sure many people do too, but the bubbles in the coupe glass dissipate quickly. Before they go totally flat, one must drink up fast and that’s not the scope of a pleasurable drink. Pleasurable moments, holding a nice piece of glass with bubbles come in small sips.

I have a coupe glass set I use to drink foreign blond beers and for cold desserts.

The flute, today is considered a classy, sophisticated glass for sparkling wines. Pouring the sparkling wine in this glass, let the bubbles sink at the bottom, then quickly rise to the top and immediately delivery a fuzziness to the nose. We have grown accustomed to this visual impact.

The tulip, just like the flower, is an elegant glass shape, it has a wider aperture at the top, maintains bubbles fizzy until the glass is empty and allows a better development of the aroma of the wine. The bubbles will touch different parts of the tongue, instead of going directly to the nose.

As far as juicy stories, the flute and the tulip glasses have none that I know.

In a nice piece of glass, one can feel and hear the work of those who made it; holding it, is like holding a piece of art. Enjoy bubbles all year around and celebrate even when there is nothing to celebrate.

My next TV show Drink Up will be December 8, 2017 with a young sommelier as a guest. Nicole Stevenson, will mix non-alcoholic drinks for those people who can’t drink for one reason or another, but still want to be part of the festivities.

Happy Christmas. Ciao,
Valentina
Valentina Designs Universe TV Channel https://goo.gl/2tbN3N

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as an interior designer since 1990 improving people’s life by changing their spaces. Most often she designs kitchens and wine grottos; outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms; great rooms and entertainment rooms. Her deep interest in food led her as an autodidact in the studies of food in history, natural remedies, nutrition and well-being. Finally, she wrote two books on Italian regional cuisine and one book on color theory, in which she included one recipe for each color. Get your copy of Valentina’s books on
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