Umbria Jazz 11 Compilation

Finally... Umbria Jazz, the world famous jazz fastival has issued an all italian compilation, featuring the cream of the crop of the italian jazz scene. From Danilo Rea to Paolo Fresu and Stefano Bollani, from Fabrizio Bosso to Renzo Arbore... from young to old, from traditional to progressive... they're all there. 

It's not a coincidence that Umbria Jazz honors its italian roots this year... in fact 2011 is the year the country celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy.

To contribute to the celebrations, all italian musicians will play a personal interpretation of the italian national anthem during their performances. Adding one more reason to visit this wonderful festival!

The Umbria Jazz 11 compilation was made in collaboration with Blue Note Records and Radio Monte Carlo and will be sold at various locations (merchandise stands etc.) during the festival. 

Oh and while you're at it... buy the other Umbria Jazz records, like João Gilberto live at Umbria Jazz in 1996, as well. The quality is outstanding. Now that's a classy souvenir to bring back home from your beloved Italy!

For more information on the Umbria Jazz festival and this year's programme, please visit: http://www.umbriajazz.com/

Photo courtesy of Umbria Jazz.

Missoni S/S '11 on sale

The Missoni Spring/Summer 2011 collection is now on sale at

Net-à-Porter!!! And not just some of these dresses, but also their wonderful sexy bikinis. (Think Lara Stone in Rio!)

Greedy like me? Please visit: http://www.net-a-porter.com/Shop/Sale/Designers/Missoni

Photos courtesy of Missoni.

People... Candy Pink Ray Bans

Some people might say that Ray Ban Wayfarers are so last season, but check out this girl wearing the candy pink version. She looks great, don't you think?

Haringparty Harbour Style

On thursday, June 16th, the annual "haringparty" at The Harbour Club was held. "Haringparty?" you may ask.... Well that is a Dutch tradition, celebrating the new herring season. (And actually a very good excuse to dress up and meet new friends or business partners.... since it's THE networking event of the season)

The dresscode at the Harbour Club was Tenue de Ville, Harbour Style. So I pulled out my striped outfit and felt like a sailor! Unfortunately I did not spot many other harbour-style-dressed-guests.... Although people did look nice.

Besides the harbour style dresscode, ladies were also asked to wear a special handbag.... infact there was a contest. The prize for the most beautiful bag, was a handbag designed by Omar Munie (see picture). Neither my fiend Brigitte, nor me won the prize, but we were lucky enough to meet Omar! We left the other ladies fighting for the prize...

For more information, please visit:

The Harbour Club: http://tarasdolcevita.blogspot.com/2010/10/harbour-club-hague-rotterdam.html

Omar Munie: http://www.omarmunie.com/

Spekstraat 5, Art & Home Decoration

The Denneweg in The Hague has always been known for its antiques stores. Unfortunately during the past couple of years, most of these antiques dealers were replaced by clothing stores (mainly due to the financial crisis). But, sometimes a new antiques store does open, like Spekstraat 5, Art & Home Decoration.

It's a lovely little store in one of the nicest areas of The Hague. The blue walls pulled me right in.... and the beautiful furniture, art and antique wine glasses kept me there!

The owner also works for an airline and brings back special pieces from his travels, making Spekstraat 5 Art & Home Decoration a store too good to pass by!

By the way, Spekstraat 5 carries the same name as its address and is located close to Hotel Des Indes.

Spekstraat 5 Art & Home Decoration
Spekstraat 5
2514 BL The Hague
The Netherlands

Missoni loves Havaianas... and so do I!

Missoni loves Havaianas .... and so do I! What a gorgeous collection this is.... Italian style combined with Brasilian sexiness. Can it get any better?

You better be quick, before these collector's items are sold out! The Missoni loves Havaianas collection consists of three different pairs of flip flops (fiammato, zigzag and wave) as well as a pair of espadrilles and is now available in stores and on-line.

To make it extra special, each Missoni loves Havaianas pair will come inside a net shoe bag, exclusively designed and made in Italy with the famous Missoni fabric, featuring a pattern that combines the colours of the Brazilian and Italian flags.

By the way, this seems to be the summer of fabulous fashion collaborations: after Marc Jacobs and Playboy, Vans and Hermès, now it's the turn of Missoni and Havaianas....

For more information, please visit: http://www.havaianas.com/

Photos courtesy of Havaianas.

Black & White at night

Black & White is always a chique combination, don't you think? Especially at night! The pieces shown here were designed by various Cuban fashion designers and are available at La Maison ('Su Casa de la moda en Cuba').

For more information, please visit http://www.netssa.com/la_maison.html

La Maison

16th street #701

Miramar, Havana

Cuba

Tel. +53 7 204 1541

People... Cuban kids # 2

During my trip to Cuba, I met so many kids who loved posing in front of the camera! The girls pretended they were models, the boys however tried to be more 'cool' about it, so they either looked away or took a karate pose!

Beachwear by Ariel Nápoles

The S/S 2011 beachwear collection by Cuban fashion designer

Ariel Nápoles was shown May 21st at La Maison, where it gained countless oohs and aahs of the international audience...

As you can see, it was a sexy collection, showing off a lot of flesh! It may not be suitable for everyone, but it certainly looked great on the gorgeous Cuban models.

For more information, please visit: 

http://tarasdolcevita.blogspot.com/2011/07/la-maison-cuban-fashion-house.html

La Maison

16th street #701

Miramar, Havana

Cuba

Tel. +53 7 204 1541

Tropicana, Havana, Cuba

Recently I visited the world famous Tropicana Cabaret slash Night Club in Havana, Cuba. It turned out to be a night to remember...!

I was overwhelmed by the amazing dancers, beautiful costumes, inventive choreographies, exhilarating music, stunning acrobatic acts... Too much to mention really!

The icing on the cake for me, was when they picked me out of the audience to dance the final dance with them on and around the stage... (Now I can say I danced on the Tropicana stage... how cool is that?!)

It's such a smooth, professional operation, you have no idea...

Tickets cost between CUC 70 - CUC 90 per person,

including a glass of Champagne, a small bottle of rum and softdrinks,

so you can mix your own Cuba Libre. Never mind the snacks.

Surcharge CUC 5 for taking photos.

Surcharge CUC 15 for videos.

It may be an expensive night out, especially for Cuban standards, 

but it will definitely be worth every peso! Keep in mind that the Tropicana venue is all on one level, so if you sit in the back, the view might not be so good. So take the CUC 90 seats.

From Habana Vieja it's approximately a 20 minute drive to Tropicana, which is located close to the Miramar area. Why not have dinner there first? Either way, enjoy!

Ps. The Tropicana cabaret and club is an outdoor venue, so you might want to bring a scarf or jacket. 

Tropicana

Calle 72 y 43,NO 4505
Havana, Cuba
Tel: + 53 7 2671717
website: http://www.netssa.com/tropicana.html