The Sónar adventure in the land of Samba

The acclaimed electronic and advanced music festival has conquered the heart and soul of Brazilian in its first venture in this country. 31,000 people took to Sónar São Paulo to see the likes of Kraftwerk, Modeselektor, James Blake, Justice, Flying Lotus, Alva Noto, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Squarepusher and Brazilian names such as Emicida, Dago, Psilosamples, Ricardo Donoso and DJ Marky vs Dj Patife. Parque Anhembi was the venue chosen to host in May 11 and 12 fifty shows on 3 stages of which Krafwerk and Sakamoto were the most acclaimed, along with the wild beats and the sounds of Modeselekor and Squarepusher.

Under the same format of its main event which takes place every year in Barcelona and which attracts 90,000 on average to this Catalan city, Sónar draws a very positive balance from Sónar São Paulo, the biggest event so far outside the Spanish borders. Sónar has hosted until now 31 events around the world since 2002. London, Lisbon, Hamburg, Tokyo, Rome, Buenos Aires and New York were some of the cities covered. But none of these events has had the dimension of Sónar in São Paulo, a city were this festival hosted a smaller event in 2004.

Brazil has been raising its profile in recent years and musically is keen on proving that it is not just the land of Samba and Bossa Nova but also a place where all music combinations are possible. A proof of the importance of events like this was given by the country’s government which designated Sónar São Paulo "a cultural event of national interest" not only given the presence of some of the biggest names in international modern music but also given the chance it provided to show new Brazilian talents to the world, considering that this event was broadcasted on Youtube.

Flash back and flash forward at Benetton

The Italian brand which is synonym for both color and knitwear has just presented its coming Autumn Winter collection. 11 months after the public announcement of You Nguyen as creative director of Benetton his influence is there to be seen in many items Trendenz had the chance to see, feel and touch today at the Benetton showroom in Lisbon.

One of the most striking examples of the ongoing revamp of this brand is the new profusion of color bringing us back to the old colorful tones of the brand, something that somehow had been lost. Color is now back but in a new fashion and some colors are now mixed and combined with new tones and shades, bringing us back closer to the brand’s heritage.

A further positive aspect in this collection is the true plunge in the brand’s heritage operated by the creative minds of Benetton, bringing us back to the old patterns of the brand. A couple of years ago Bentton shoed an astonishing display of items which are part of the brand’s history. (Please refer to http://trendenz.blogspot.pt/2011/06/benetton-vintage.html). We are now pleased to see that the brand did research the old archives and brought back to life some of these items with a new touch.

Items with new knitting techniques thanks to the readaptation of existing machines under the guidance of Giuliana Benetton and fitted jeans with special seams and knitwear with particular effects to render women more sexy, along with designs inspired in the art world and new or improved knitting techniques to combine different kinds of wool are some of the new features of the new Benetton collection thanks to the work of Nguyen to a fair extent as the new creative director.

Trendy is the best noun for this new collection whose items can now be found in all stores and not only in showrooms for the delight of fashion produced. This was stated by both You Nguyen and Alessandro Benetton, the very same Alessandro who is now fully at the helm of the company, thus following the remarkable footsteps of his father, Lucciano Benetton.