This week's links. Enjoy.
The Figure-Sculpting Fashions of Azzedine Alaïa
Amy Fine Collins unravels the evolution of the fabled Parisian couturier.
Ten Great Films Set in Rome
Visit the Eternal City vicariously through ten classic films set there, ranging from the lighthearted Roman Holiday, the gritty realism of Mama Roma and Fellini's fantasy Roma among others.
Chawan: The Hardest Pottery to Create
Fascinating article about the Japanese chawan, a deceptively simple traditional pottery bowl used to serve whipped green tea. What its creation actually entails is a complex mix of design, theory and spiritual aspiration.
A Better Boarding Pass
Aghast at the confusing, jumbled mess that air travellers are forced to contend with, designer Adam Glynn-Finnegan wondered what a more useful, humane airplane boarding pass might look like. Here's what he came up with. Let's hope the airlines listen.
Vegetarian Back When It Was Seriously Uncool
October 1 was World Vegetarian Day, but every day is reason to go meatless at Hiltl's, the world's oldest continually operating vegetarian restaurant. This pioneering place opened more than a century ago in meat-loving Zurich.
David Bowie's Must-Read Books
The David Bowie exhibit recently opened at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto — included in the show is this list of Bowie's 100 favourite books. Interesting reading.
Microeconomics: A City in Miniature
Love this. Via the New York Times: "Randy Hage started photographing New York storefronts in the late 1990s, on visits from Los Angeles, and he fell in love with the stories they told, (but) when he returned on subsequent visits, the stories were often complete, the bodega replaced by an expensive restaurant, the video store by a Duane Reade. Mr. Hage, who builds models and props for movies and television, decided to arrest this history, at least on a small scale, by making painstakingly exact scale models of the storefronts he photographed. 'It became a way of documenting the processes of gentrification and urban renewal,' he said." Follow the link for a slide show of his scale models.
Tuscan Bean Soup
Hearty and warming, this traditional Italian soup is perfect for cool autumn suppers. Via Saveur.
(photo of 'restaurant le mini palais' in paris by hervé goluza for maison française)