Napoli's Golden Boy

Making nearly 200 appearances in a golden era for Serie A side Napoli, Diego Maradona was affectionately named "El Pibe del Oro" or "The Golden Boy" and it's not hard to see why. With 81 goals for the Italian giants, garnering two titles and a Coppa Italia, Maradona shone with Partenopei, becoming one of the greatest players in the club's history. It was in Naples that Maradona’s status as a footballing deity, at least as far as the inhabitants of this gritty southern Italian city were concerned, was confirmed.

Nowhere was Maradona's hypnotic talent and personality more adored than in Naples helping the unfancied club to usurp Milan and Juventus. It really was a match made in heaven, the diminutive street urchin from the wrong side of the tracks in partnership with a dramatic, chaotic city in southern Italy that felt undervalued and looked down upon from the great cultural cities further north, of Rome, Turin and Milan.

"Napoli non e Italia" (Napoli is not Italy), Maradona used to say. He felt right at home in a city where wealth, poverty, violence and football all co-existed on a daily basis.

He might have partied hard and with the wrong people, but the good memories are stronger and here Diego Armando Maradona will forever take his seat next to God under the "cielo azzurro" of Napoli.

It took Napoli mayor only 24 hours after Maradona's death to rename the San Paolo's football stadium in his honour: Diego Armando Maradona stadium.

Forza Napoli SEMPRE!

Curva B, in infamous fan club area of the stadium turned into an improvised Christmas shrine.

This mural dating from 1990 by Argentine artist Francisco Bosoletti has turned into a shrine since his death on Nov 25th, 2020.

The adoration is plastered across the city.... literally!

Little does it matter that Maradona played for Napoli over 30 years ago... he is still omnipresent...

... in every nook and cranny of this city...

... where even Japanese Napoli fans welcome!

This mural by street artist tvboy lasted only a few days back in 2018.

Souvenirs, souvenirs!!!

The most Neapolitan of them all: Ad10s Diego!

Today is a sad day in our household. With a Neapolitan husband and an Argentinean son football comes close to religion. Expat boy's hero - for good and for worse - has taken his last dribble and left many soccer fans across the globe feeling like having lost a father, a brother, or a friend. 

In Napoli Maradona had risen to God-like status during his 7-year stay. The infatuation is difficult to explain as the people's love for him is deeply visceral and moves through generations. 

Maradona was presented to the world media as a Napoli player on 5 July 1984, where he was welcomed by 75,000 fans at the Stadio San Paolo which at the time was an unprecedented welcoming ceremony. A local newspaper stated that "despite the lack of a mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment and sanitation, none of this matters because we have Maradona".

Maradona played for Napoli at a period when north–south tensions in Italy were at a peak due to a variety of issues, notably the economic differences between the two. Led by Maradona, Napoli won their first ever Italian Championship in 1986–87. He won the Scudetto (league title) for this city not once but twice. 

Murals of Maradona were painted on the city's ancient buildings, and newborn children were named in his honour. He had restored the pride in being Neapolitan, in being Southern-Italian! His were indelible years in the memory of all Neapolitans. He had worked himself into the hearts and the history of this city. A symbol of a coveted redemption and a desired resurrection.

It has been said by many that he represents the synthesis between genius and recklessness. The Argentine was ungovernable and governor at the same time, in football and in life. His weaknesses and his errors (notably off the soccer field) are equal to his immense greatness to cancel themselves in the myth. 

His most famous goal remains the one scored against England during the 1986 FIFA World cup. "A little with his head, and a little with the hand of God" as the champion said himself: "Ahora sí puedo contar lo que en aquel momento no podía, lo que en aquel momento definí como «La mano de Dios»... Qué mano de Dios, ¡fue la mano del Diego!". 

Grazie per averci fatto sognare. Grazie Diego!

Coco Chanel Tour

My first week back in Paris and - thanks to a tip from my girlfriend in Tokio - decided to meet up with a Dutch friend for an "after-work" guided tour on the theme of Gabrielle Chanel. How to resist an invitation to retrace the history of the Chanel brand, from the creations of Coco to the legendary tailors of Karl Lagerfeld in preparation of the biggest Chanel exhibition ever to be inaugurated at the Palais Galliera, Paris' Fashion Museum on October 1, 2020!

During our tour we took a closer look at the secrets of rue Cambon, the Parisian address where Coco put her suitcases in 1918 before settling in at the Ritz place Vendôme where she died in 1971.

As the story goes, there was once upon a time a young woman named Gabrielle Chanel who masked her peasant origins and created her own Haute-Couture legend with a little help from Boy Capel, her British sweetheart. Symbol of French elegance across the globe, Coco Chanel broke codes and liberated the bodies of modern women in more than one way.

Founded in 1910, the house of Chanel created the new feminine silhouette, a stylistic revolution. The ankles became visible, the waist was released from the corset, the skin featured a tan, and hair was cut shorter. During the Roaring Twenties, the young designer redesigned the Parisian silhouette which resisted fashion trends and the passage of time. The chic sportswear outfit, the famous little black dress and her daring Chanel “N°5” fragrance all became the pledge of the timeless and the epitome of French elegance.

As Coco would say: "A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous." However, my favrourite Coco quote is: "You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life."

Charlotte Perriand, pioneer of modernity

When your BFF comes to town the best place to take her is the Fondation Louis Vuitton. It is an outing that combines trendiness, beauty, art, culture, nature and food all in one!

Little did I know about Charlotte Perriand, a French architect and designer, but that wouldn't really matter because the magnificent building is so impressive whatever is inside will be just fine.

Boy was I in for a surprise... who knew that this multitalented artist was Le Corbusier's sidekick... or shall I say his famous chair was actually designed by a woman named Charlotte Perriand? Her work aimed to create functional living spaces in the belief that better design helps in creating a better society. Her approach to design included taking in the site and appreciating it for what it was.

Charlotte Perriand wanted to work for Le Corbusier and pursue serial production and low-cost housing. She was inspired by Le Corbusier's books, because she thought his writings that criticized the decorative arts aligned with the way she designed. When she applied to work at Le Corbusier's studio in October 1927, she was famously rejected with the reply "We don't embroider cushions here." A month later, Le Corbusier came across her work while visiting the Salon d'Automne, which convinced him to offer her a job in furniture design.

At Le Corbusier's studio, she was in charge of their interiors work and promoting their designs through a series of exhibitions. Perriand described the work as being highly collaborative between Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and herself; they were "three fingers on one hand."

I spent three hours strolling in and out of gallery halls exploring the links between art, architecture and design by a pioneer of modernity, a leading figure of the twentieth century design, who contributed to the definition of a new art de vivre.

Charlotte Perriand truly invented a New World as the exhibition's title promised. It was a pleasure to be taken on the journey of her long, productive, fascinating life.

Recognise the chair and the chaise-longue in front of Fernand Leger's painting?

Charlotte adored Isamu Noguchi's lanterns

A miniature model of Charlotte's world

Snapshot of the past

Avangarde, timeless and so up-to-date

A page out of Charlotte Perriand's scrapbook

The embodiment of Charlotte's vision of a “synthesis of the arts”

Perfect layout for today's chambre de bonne on the 6th floor!

How small, simple and functional can a kitchen be?

My absolute favourite: "Le refuge tonneau" is a

transportable mountain igloo with the interior space of 8m2 built in 1938!

The artist's concepts were in high demand and she worked on many projects from ski resorts to student housing.

Charlotte Perriand put into practice the concept of prefabrication where all components were prefabricated and organized around a tubular steel frame. 

The refuge camp for 6 people had everything you needed to stay toasty on a cold winter night.

Charlotte Perriand looks like quite a character! 

In 1940 the artist sails for Japan where she has been appointed as an advisor on industrial design to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The teahouse she designed in 1993 in the garden of UNESCO’s global headquarters in Paris, is an affectionate homage to the ones she had visited in Japan.

"La maison au bord de l'eau" never saw physical execution un til the LV foundation decided to give it a go. The plans for "the house by the water" were first drafted over eighty years ago, in 1934.

The inside living space... 

... and the original sketch by Charlotte Perriand.

Frank Gehry's dream

Enough of Napoli for now... even though I cannot get enough of taking pictures of one the most densely populated cities in Europe.

Not one to be stopped by the current transportation strike that has been plaguing Paris for the past 44 days, I hopped on an electrical scooter and headed for the Foundation Louis Vuitton located on the west side of Paris. Much to my surprise my trottinette died on me as soon as I hit the famous Bois de Boulogne. Who knew these things not only had geo-locators but also remote control mechanisms to block them?

Rather disappointed I walked through the woods to reach the magnificent museum sponsored by the luxury group LVMH to promote art and culture.

From an initial sketch drawn on a paper napkin to the transparent cloud sitting at the edge of the Jardin d'Acclimatation in the Bois de Boulogne, Frank Gehry constantly sought to "design, in Paris, a magnificent vessel symbolising the cultural calling of France".

In a unique, emblematic and bold building with 3,600 panels of glass curved to the nearest millimetre forming the Fondation's twelve sails and 19,000 panels of Ductal (fibre-reinforced concrete), each one unique, that give the iceberg its immaculate whiteness, Frank Gehry pushed back the boundaries of conventional architecture.

It took 13 years from Bernard Arnault's meeting with Frank Gehry after visiting the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to the grand opening in 2014 but Paris now has a first-class flagship with a surface area of 11,000 m². 

But beware, the Bourse de Commerce, a private museum for rival luxury goods billionaire François Pinault's collection, is scheduled to open in June 2020.

All you need is a dream...

A vision appears through the trees...

... it's Frank Gehry's white sailboat.

A front view of the Louis Vuitton Foundation

It reflects pure luxury on every level 

Even on a dreary day the view onto Le Jardin d'Acclimatation and La Defense is spectacular.

The Eiffel Tower on the horizon.

My favourite spots are the many terrasses on different levels.

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

The most French of all Swiss

Feeling Swiss at heart I have kept many links to my home country. Swiss institutions like Swiss Airways or the Swiss embassy feel like home turf in any country. The Swiss representation in France has a special history: it was in Paris that the first Swiss delegation was established.

The seat of the Swiss embassy in Paris featured in Swiss TV a few weeks ago and peaked my curiosity. I learnt that the Besenval Palace once belonged to a baron from Solothurn called Pierre Victor de Besenval  (1721-1791).

Pierre Victor de Besenval, who, having climbed all the hierarchy of the Swiss Guards under Louis XV, became a senior official of the army of Louis XVI and a very close confidant of Marie Antoinette.

Built for the Abbé Chanac de Pompadour by architect Alexis Delamair in 1705 the embassy's garden has remained the same despite the transformations of the place in 1767 when de Besenval had the architect Brongniart add a floor to the original hotel.

An "oeuvre d'art" the current ambassador Livia Leu is especially proud of is the 1665 Gobelins tapestry illustrateing the renewal of alliance between France and Switzerland which took place in the cathedral Notre-Dame of Paris on November 18th, 1663. The scene represents Louis XIV and the ambassadors of the Swiss cantons lending itself on the Bible a mutual oath.

When the French Revolution began de Besenval remained firmly attached to the royal court and he was given command of the troops which the king had concentrated in Paris in July 1789, a move which led to the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789.

Sadly, de Besenval showed incompetence in the crisis, and attempted to flee. He was arrested, tried by the tribunal of the Châtelet, but acquitted. He then fell into obscurity and died in Paris in 1791.

However, an embassy that can refer to a national historical figure is exceptional - as is the case with this "hotel particulier", which in addition, has its own value. It is the most beautiful Swiss embassy abroad and occasionally even serves as a movie backdrop due to its interior design.

 

A little treat for my German speaking readers.

Betty Bossi, a Swiss hero

On a total different note and feeling slightly homesick, I have decided to share my Swiss hero character with you today.

If you grew up in Switzerland you will know who Betty Bossi is.

Hardly anyone knows her outside the Confederation, but generations of Swiss have grown up with her. Inventor of the fictitious character Betty Bossi is the Zurich advertising specialist Emmi Creola, born as Emmi Maag in 1912.

Taking inspiration from Betty Crocker, Betty Bossi was created by Emmi Creola-Maag for Unilever to help sell margarine to the butter-friendly Swiss. This took form in 1956 as a magazine style leaflet called the Betty Bossi Post, which attempted to answer the eternal question "What Shall I Cook Today?". French on one side and German on the other, the leaflet was so popular that it grew into a full magazine, and then a recipe book.

In 1977 Betty Bossi split from Unilever and it became its own, separate publishing company. The brand continued to flourish, publishing countless cookbooks and expanding into TV and radio, as well as recipe development and convenience foods. Today Betty Bossi is Switzerland's biggest cookbook publisher and can be found in most every household.

Emmi Creola-Maag's creature Betty Bossi became the "cook of the nation" and conquered television when no one in neighbouring Germany thought of cooking shows. Many believe that Helvetia's national cuisine would be different without Betty Bossi.

In 2012 the company was purchased outright by the supermarket chain Coop, which had previously taken a 50% stake in 2001. Today Betty Bossi continues to be one of the dominant authorities on Swiss cuisine, especially for the home cook. The shelves of Swiss houses are lined with her cookbooks and Coop, uses her name on everything from orange juice to ravioli.

The "Betty Bossi" newspaper today has a circulation of around 900,000 copies. Over the past decades, I have had my magazines sent to Geneva, to Buenos Aires, to Milano, to Madrid, to Lugano and now I look forward to receiving my monthly Swiss dose of homemade flavours in Paris. I have been a loyal reader since 1996 because as Lin Yutang once wrote: "What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?"

A dress fit for a princess

Add Madrid to girlfriends and fashion and it is guaranteed to equal fun! Following a group whatsapp proposal four chirpy ladies headed to the Thyssen museum to discover what connected the work of Cristobal Balenciaga, the most admired and influential fashion designer of all times, with the tradition of 16th to 20th-century Spanish painting.

I have visited a few Balenciaga exhibits in Paris over the years but this one was unique. Who knew that references to Spanish art and culture are a recurring presence in Balenciaga’s work? Over a span of five decades he managed to revive historic garments and reinterpret them in a strikingly modern manner.

We admired over 90 items of clothing and accessories and 50 paintings of great names of Spanish art, such as El Greco, Velázquez, Zurbarán and Goya, all inspiring the work of the influential Basque fashion designer. This explosive cocktail combining talent and colours caught all our admiration of the beauty of creativity and the detail in exquisite handcraft.

All four of us wondered where the clothes had come from? It seems some of the Balenciaga pieces on display were lost and then resurfaced. The name of Hamish Bowles intrigued us. A quick google to discover he is a fashion collector extraordinaire who loaned some of his discoveries, including a flower-embroidered top he first saw at the age of 12, when it was auctioned off for £60 at a jumble sale.

Apparently the thirteen masterpieces from the Prado are so exceptional that they cannot leave Spain, or in one case cannot even leave the palace. So it’s impossible for the exhibition to travel. The insurance is so high! Therefore my suggestion would be: gather some girlfriends and have yourself a jolly outing to Madrid... it is worth it!

Ignacio Zuloaga's "Portrait of María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, Duchess of Alba" behind a taffeta evening gown from 1952 and echoed in the flounces of a pink cocktail dress - my personal favourite!

Stunning Francisco de Goya, "Cardinal Luis Maria de Borbón y Vallabriga" against a satin dress and jacket with metallic thread, sequins and ceramic beads (1960)

Juan Carreño de Miranda’s portrait of Doña María de Vera y Gasca and Balenciaga's modern reinterpretation of the Velázquezian shape

"Christ Blessing" by El Greco magnificently reflected in pink and blue evening dresses

El Greco's "The Annunciation" against evening gowns in silk organza (1968)

Jet-black dresses presented with a dense, dark painting by El Greco

The Portrait of the VI Countess of Miranda mirrored in a satin evening gown from 1943

Rodrigo de Villandrando's "Isabel de Borbón, Wife of Philip IV"  was the inspiration to a 1957 wedding dress of silk shantung embroidered with silver thread

An exquisite detail of craftsmanship 

Cristobal Balenciaga (1895-1972), the designer who Christian Dior defined as “the master of us all”

Far left, a satin and mink wedding dress that Balenciaga made for Queen Fabiola of Belgium in 1960, set against portraits by Francisco Zurbarán (1628-34)

Goya's "Queen María Luisa in a dress with hooped skirt" reinventing into an evening gown of satin, pearls and beads from 1963

Antonio María Esquivel's "The Dancer Josefa Vargas" frivolously retaylored into a taffeta and embroidered cotton trim cocktail dress from 1955

The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum displays over 1,600 paintings. It was once the second largest private collection in the world after the British Royal Collection and was initially housed in the family estate in Lugano until 1988 when the request for building a further extension by Baron Thyssen was rejected by the City Council.