Archive for May, 2010

Miuccia Prada Receives 2010 McKim Medal

Over 360 guests attended the American Academy in Rome’s McKim Medal Gala yesterday (May 26), as fashion and art powerhouse, Miuccia Prada received honors this year. The Medal was awarded to Ms. Prada in recognition of her exceptional achievements in fashion and business, as well as for her contributions to the visual arts as co-founder of the Fondazione Prada.

In the photo below (taken at the event), Adele Chatfield-Taylor admires the medal around Miuccia Prada’s neck.

The 6th annual event drew a glamorous, international crowd that included Miuccia Prada herself, Patrizio Bertelli, the Mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno, Sid and Mercedes Bass, Adele Chatfield-Taylor, John Guare, Larry Gagosian and Shala Monroque, John Elkann, Pietro Valsecchi and Camilla Nesbitt, Zaha Hadid, Marco and Afef Tronchetti Provera, Carla Fendi, Franca Sozzani and Francesco Vezzoli.

Proceeds from the Gala support fellowships that provide both Italian and American winners with important opportunities to pursue their individual studies and engage in an international dialogue of scholarship and the arts. Funds raised by the event allow Italian artists to join the Academy community each year, and support an exchange program for scholars in the humanities that links the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa with the American Academy in Rome.

The McKim Medal was established by the Trustees of the American Academy in Rome in 2005 as an annual prize that honors an individual whose work internationally – most particularly in Italy and the United States- has contributed significantly to the arts and humanities. Named for Charles Follen McKim (1847-1909), noted architect who established the Academy in 1894, the Medal recognizes an individual whose work and life exemplify creative and intellectual exchange across the arts, scholarship, language, and culture. Previous McKim Medal laureates include Renzo Piano, Cy Twombly, Umberto Eco, Franco Zeffirelli, and Ennio Morricone.

Gwyneth Paltrow Wears Prada

It was a glittering affair, as the stars came out for Britain’s National Movie Awards 2010 in London yesterday. Not to be outdone, Gwyneth Paltrow stood out in a pink sculptural dress by Prada, and presented Tom Cruise with a Screen Icon award. To describe it: the top section of the dress overhangs in an A line, accentuated style -  this is what makes the dress really unique. This is otherwise quite a 60’s style dress, but has clearly been given a futuristic update by Miuccia Prada for the runway.