Friday, September 17, 2010

Diamond studded Ao Dai marks 20 years in fashion

Miss Vietnam 2006 Mai Phuong Thuy wears special ao dai by designer Vo Viet Chung - Photo: The organizers
To mark 20 years in fashion and welcome the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi, Vietnamese designer Vo Viet Chung will introduce a special ao dai (Vietnamese long dress) at a live show at the White Palace Convention Center in HCMC’s Phu Nhuan District on October 4.

The dress has set a Vietnamese record as it has nine back-flaps that trail for 100 meters each, symbolizing the nine branches of Cuu Long River. The dress features 2,000 diamonds and gold decorative pieces and 1,000 meters of silk fabric from the three regions of Vietnam.

Zeta Company has sponsored a diamond crown worth over VND1 billion to compliment the dress. Miss Vietnam 2006 Mai Phuong Thuy will wear the dress and crown at the show.

At the show called Hoi Trung Duong , Chung will also present his latest collection in a fashion parade featuring Miss Grand Slam Asia 2009 Huong Giang, Chung Thuc Quyen, Vu Hoang Diep and about 30 other models.

Singers Thanh Lam, Ho Quynh Huong, Phuong Thanh and Trang Nhung will perform the music.

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Kids paint for a happy Mid Autumn at Hotel Equatorial

A girl admires her friends’ paintings at the exhibition that opened at the Equatorial Hotel HCMC on Tuesday - Photo: Kieu Giang
A painting exhibition with a difference named Young Painter 2010 organized by the Hotel Equatorial HCMC features artistic expressions by disabled and street children.

“We firmly believe that such an event only helps to bring out best artistic abilities of children who have gone through un-imaginable difficulties in their lives,” James Montenegro, the hotel’s general manager said.

“As this is the 13th year that the hotel has hosted this event it has already become a tradition for us,” Montenego added.

The exhibition introduces 100 colorful paintings depicting joyful moments of children in the Mid-Autumn festival and paintings of landscapes and still-lifes.

They were created by street children from the HCMC Center for Education and Vocational Training for Street Children and disabled children from Anh Minh and Hy Vong 1 School for Deaf Children, Gia Dinh Disabled Children and Thai Binh High School.

Visitors at the exhibition on Tuesaday morning said they were amazed to see how beautiful some of the paintings were.

Montenegro said all the money raised from the sale of the paintings would go to help disadvantaged children in HCMC.

All of the paintings are priced from US$40 to US$50.

To share with disabled and street children a happy Mid-Autumn festival, the Hotel Equatorial HCMC together with celebrities including actor Chi Bao, singer Hien Thuc and model Trung Cuong handed over 100 gifts of candy, moon cakes and lanterns to the schools that had contributed the paintings.

The exhibition is on display at the hotel lobby at 242 Tran Binh Trong Street, HCMC’s District 5 until September 30.

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Thursday, September 16, 2010

Kids paint for a happy Mid Autumn at Hotel Equatorial

A girl admires her friends’ paintings at the exhibition that opened at the Equatorial Hotel HCMC on Tuesday - Photo: Kieu Giang
A painting exhibition with a difference named Young Painter 2010 organized by the Hotel Equatorial HCMC features artistic expressions by disabled and street children.

“We firmly believe that such an event only helps to bring out best artistic abilities of children who have gone through un-imaginable difficulties in their lives,” James Montenegro, the hotel’s general manager said.

“As this is the 13th year that the hotel has hosted this event it has already become a tradition for us,” Montenego added.

The exhibition introduces 100 colorful paintings depicting joyful moments of children in the Mid-Autumn festival and paintings of landscapes and still-lifes.

They were created by street children from the HCMC Center for Education and Vocational Training for Street Children and disabled children from Anh Minh and Hy Vong 1 School for Deaf Children, Gia Dinh Disabled Children and Thai Binh High School.

Visitors at the exhibition on Tuesaday morning said they were amazed to see how beautiful some of the paintings were.

Montenegro said all the money raised from the sale of the paintings would go to help disadvantaged children in HCMC.

All of the paintings are priced from US$40 to US$50.

To share with disabled and street children a happy Mid-Autumn festival, the Hotel Equatorial HCMC together with celebrities including actor Chi Bao, singer Hien Thuc and model Trung Cuong handed over 100 gifts of candy, moon cakes and lanterns to the schools that had contributed the paintings.

The exhibition is on display at the hotel lobby at 242 Tran Binh Trong Street, HCMC’s District 5 until September 30.

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Guitarist Pierre Laniau to perform in Hanoi

Guitar soloist Pierre Laniau
International guitar soloist Pierre Laniau will perform for two nights at the French Cultural Exchange Center, L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street, Hanoi on September 20 and 23, reports Vietnamplus.

On the opening night, audience will have a chance to enjoy Spanish-style music with works by French composer and pianist Erik Satie (1866-1925). On the second night, September 23, Laniau will perform Mozart and contemporary works. All the performances will begin at 8 p.m.

After working with master artists such as Alberto Ponce and Narciso Yepes, the French born Laniau has selected the ten-string guitar, and experimented with music by Satie, Debussy, Copland, Gershwin, and Mozart without having to rearrange them.

Laniau has given performances in 80 countries around the world. In France, he often plays at important festivals such as Festival Montpellier, Lille and big stages in Paris such as Salle Gaveau, Le Cirque d’Hiver, Le Caller Sylvia Montfort.

Tickets are available at L’Espace for VND100,000 and VND50,000.

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Paint by the bay like Monet

The famous lighthouse on Ke Ga Bay - Photo: Mong Binh
An American Vietnamese artist will hold an open-air landscape painting workshop from November 10-14 at Princess d’Annam Resort and Spa on Ke Ga Bay in Binh Thuan Province.

For four days, the San Francisco-born Tammy Nguyen will set up the class’s easels on the shores of the Bay with views of the beautiful shoreline and famous lighthouse.

Jean-Philippe Beghin, general manager of the resort, expects the first annual Painter’s Retreat workshop and package would attract art beginners from Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere in the region.

“Everyone who visits Ke Ga Bay leaves with an impression of this spectacular natural landscape,” Beghin said. “Now, with guidance from a renowned American art instructor, Tammy Nguyen, they’ll have the opportunity to leave with their own painting of it.”

Nguyen is a graduate of the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City and traveled to Vietnam on a Fulbright Grant to study traditional Vietnamese lacquer painting in 2007. Her preferred medium is oil, but her investigations of Vietnamese culture have journeyed through lacquer, silk and even embroidery.

“En plein air (outdoor) painting has been enormously influential in Vietnam and continues to inspire many of Thursday’s young artists,” Nguyen said in a statement. “Monet and Renoir were guiding stars for such Vietnamese masters as Nguyen Sang, Bui Xuan Phai, and Nguyen Gia Tri, and on Thursday for many of Vietnam’s fledgling painters.”

Beghin said resorts these days needed to do more than be a blank canvas for someone’s holiday. “We need to provide the tools for the making of memories as well, and this Painters’ Retreat is our gambit.”

Nguyen will work with students to develop texture, color and light. The workshop allows for communal instruction and one-on-one assessments and assistance by Nguyen who has had students in the United States and Vietnam.

The brushes, oil paints, linseed oil, smoks and easels are included. At the end of the retreat, students will be able to share their artworks and experiences in a salon show.

The US$1,525 package covers three four-hour seminars, art materials, three-nights’ accommodation, daily breakfast, two cocktail dinners with the instructor and a spa treatment. Additional charges for supplementary guests sharing the same room, but not the workshop, are US$240 per person.

For more information, call the resort’s marketing director Zulkifli Rahman on (08) 3845 5990 or email dosm@princessannam.com.

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Italy helps to preserve Hanoi’s Old Quarter

Italy, with its expertise in restoring ancient historical buildings and artifacts, such as the city of Genoa, is ready to assist Hanoi to restore and improve its Old Quarter.

Speaking at a seminar on improving the role and efficiency of the local officials who are responsible for managing Hanoi’s Old Quarter on Wednesday, Cesare Bieller, head of the Political and Cultural Section at the Italian Embassy in Hanoi, stressed that preserving the Old Quarter must be a shared responsibility that includes the whole community and needs to be carried out to improve living standards and economic efficiency.

According to leading architect Dao Ngoc Nghiem, former Director of Hanoi’s Department of Architectural Planning, the Old Quarter is extremely valuable to the local people, commerce, culture and the city’s architecture.

Therefore, any preservation must conform to the Government’s regulations and be developed and managed in cooperation with local officials and the public, he said.

Hanoi’s old houses and buildings reflect the city’s different architectural styles during each period of its history so they need to be restored and preserved, he added.

According to the Management Board for Hanoi’s Old Quarter, which covers nearly 100ha and includes almost 1,000 old houses, it is now seriously run down due to the increasing number of residents living in the area.

At present, Hanoi is introducing measures to preserve and promote its cultural value, as well as attempting to reduce the population to minimize the negative impacts on the Old Quarter.

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Hanoi Polish film festival to mark 60 years of ties

taraka
Sweet Rush (Polish: Tatarak)

Five films will be screened at a Polish film festival to be held in Hanoi from September 19 to 23 to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Poland.

Among them will be “Sweet Rush” (Polish: Tatarak), directed by the world-renowned auteur Andrzej Wajda, which chronicles the love affair between the neglected wife of a doctor whose two sons died in World War II and a man half her age.

The film won the Alfred-Bauer prize for innovation at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival last year.

The other films to be screened are “How to live,” “Mr Kuka’s advice,” “God’s little village,” and “Time to die.”

Poland has chosen these films to introduce to Vietnamese audiences its people and culture, Lai Van Sinh, head of the Cinematography Department, said.

Polish cinema is considered among the best in Europe and the world, he added.

The films will be screened at the National Cinema Centre where the films’ directors, actors, and producers will hold exchanges with audiences.

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