#ItalianJewelryDesigns | Valentina Expressions

Lace and Pearls | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

Welcome to my Friday Fashion episode.
I have been away from this column for a while, trying to detox from the Internet. While I was in that mode, I studied trends and customs of our society. I found new treasures on my way. The South of Italy strikes again. Yes, the fashion capital in Italy is Milan and everyone who wants to make a mark converges there, but in the deep south of Italy, in small country towns there are people creating distinctive and original fashion.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

(all jewelry and photos are made by Lace and Pearls)

This is the case of Diamante (Diamond), a small quaint coastal town in Calabria home of “Lace and Pearls”. Does it sounds like a good title for a Victorian novel? It is in fact a brand jewelry made with Soutaches and cabochons. Soutache braiding has its origins in Russia and Eastern Europe, when dresses were highly decorated with silk ribbons, strings, rosettes and lace.

Rosangela Manca, the designer of this new fashion jewelry revived the art of braiding Soutache cording and completes each intricate piece with pearls and semi precious stone. Her creations are sold in prominent perfume and jewelry shops on the Italian peninsula.

The designer’s tagline says she “await us in the magical world of Lace and Pearls”. Perhaps we should pay a visit to her shop on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The weather is warm there, food is good, people is friendly, Diamante it is a vacation destination, combining business and pleasure is perfect.

Just a note: in Diamante town, a chili peppers festival takes place in the summer…. Very hot stuff.

(Diamante, Calabria – Italy – Photo found on http://www.hotelroomsearch.net/city/diamante-italy)

Fashion services, image consulting services, and wardrobe restyling services are available with me. contact me, I am here to help. 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. To better help people in 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
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

A Treasure Trove In Vicenza | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

Welcome to my Friday Fashion episode.
The Italian city of Vicenza, near Venice, has the primacy of being the first city in the world to have set up a Museum of Jewelry. In nine exhibition halls inside a Palladian style Basilica, the museum accommodates jewels, which will take visitors on a journey through time and cultures. The exposition does not narrate history in chronological time, it is not meant to be a dusty voyage in memory lane, says Director Alba Cappellieri. The nine halls are divided by:
• symbols of jewels such as love, power (crowns and bandeau) and political meanings of jewelry;
• artistic and sculptural language of jewelry making;
• the beauty of colliers and copyrighted jewelry made by famous houses for famous people;
• magic meanings of ancient amulets tied to superstitions and religions.
The unprecedented exhibition, which will rotate every two years, also includes fashion bijou pieces, icon jewelry, function, design, the future of jewelry and the use of new material.

Vicenza – Basilica – Museum of Jewelry

Fashion hall

Famous jewelry

Crowns and bandeau

(All photo credits Cosmo Laera – Vicenza Today)

This museum so particular in its genre is intended as a public place with multiple functions where visitors and jewelry experts can meet or as a place for future cultural exchanges. It was created also to promote the Italian excellence in know-how in style and to promote the cultural identity of the Italian Veneto region for which jewelry has been one of its main productive art forms through centuries.

This treasure-trove was edited and directed by Alba Cappellieri, lecturer in Jewelry Design at the Politecnico in Milano and a leading national expert. It opened its doors at the end of December 2014, I hope you have the opportunity to visit it. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, working in the USA and Europe. 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. To better help people in 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
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w