litism is a code sharing flight into the world of culture, design, fashion and everything inspiring. Our ideas come from a gentle breeze, our attitude, (towards things and people we write about), is everything but a swirl.
Edited by:
Francesca Querci, Isabella Cecconi, Marco Maggetto
Contributors:
Jean Luc Ciquot
Class 1972. Art lover. Born and raised in Bordeaux, Jean-Luc soon realized his life would be moved to France’s heart: Lyon where he attended Art Studies. He still lives there with ballet dancer wife Pauline and son Nicolas. He defines himself as devoted to art. Jean-Luc is well known for his articles and studies in contemporary and modern art and has participated in many international art projects in France, Israel and Canada. He is involved with research and publication of spectacular finds, art conservation and restoration, research of new artists and private collections. He has lectured widely in French Universities. He has his own motto: L’art est partout!
Valentina Matelli
Ten years ago she brought indoor cycling into her area. Ten years ago she might have been considered as a weirdo, even though she later has been considered a pioneer of indoor cycling or what is commonly called SPINNING. She still is one of the most popular teachers pedaling all over. Maybe it’s because a 45 minutes class makes you burn more than 500 calories or even more—but at the moment, Tuscany holds one of the best examples of human penny-farthing! Valentina is a professional of indoor and outdoor cyclist. She can assemble and take into pieces a bike within 10 minutes (try to blindfold her too, if you don’t believe me..). Her collection of fixed gear is as big as her collection of riding clothing sets (from the 50’s till nowadays). Wanna keep fit? Wanna know the secret of the two-wheels? She’ll make you spin your head, restlessly.
Federica Mascagni
Talented art snooper, Federica is a twenty-for-seven footloose cinema devourer. She divides her life between Florence and New York. A long since independent contemporary art curator, graduated in History of Cinema at Bologna University and mastered in Media and Cultural Studies at the John Moores University of Liverpool. She’s been researcher and consultant for film restoration at the Nederlands Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. She loves the way Cinema can be a synthesis of different arts, gathering together different stories. She holds her interest in interdisciplinarity and art contamination as expression of the contemporary. Once part of the organic of thecuratorial department of the Brooklyn Museum, she has collaborated with Italian and American Art Galleries. She surely is one of our Elitism flagships.
Teresa Cannatà
She started writing short stories at 8 and since then, never stopped. She adores studying, teaching and writing. Born 36 years ago in Veneto, Teresa is the proud mother of Bianca (not the Jagger one, but fully inspired by her). Blogger and twenty-four-seven make-up junkie, crazy for silk scarves and vintage leather opera and embroidered gloves, rhinestone bib necklaces, rock t-shirts, flared jeans, Converse All Star hi-tops, vintage peasant and ruffled blouses, flower-printed robes, haoris and houmongi kimonos. What else? Hell yeah, Balenciaga bags. If she could have chosen, she would have lived during the Victorian Age, or during Studio 54’s glittered years as a Halstonette. She’s a constant reader, from fiction to comic books. If you want to see her lost, you simply have to hide her red lipstick and a bunch of hairpins which keeps her hair-twist safe. Her knowledge of fashion is as wide as her worshipping of Diptyque perfumes.
Maxim Deluxe
He is a dj since ’95 and he prefers to play in small clubs or underground bars. His “genre” is a mix between old and new house, hi energy and disco 70/80. His public is a mixture of cool people and fashion victims. He adores to play lounge music and entertain his public during long-themed dinners.. Loved and followed by fashion designers, he creates idilliac playlists for theirs fashion shows. On the top of it, Maxim also works as a freelance musical advisor for companies and agencies.
Angela Biani
After a degree in film history and criticism at the University of Padova , Angela started working in her family business. Right hand of her father Alberto Biani, she works in the process of creating collections, she works in fashion, as they call it. She loves eating but she detest cooking. If she were a movie it would be “L’Avventura” by Michelangelo Antonioni. Her style icon is Steve Mcqueen. Her favourite flower is the hydrangea, possibly when they fade. She loves collecting small noteboks and old postcards. She recently relocated in Venice where she is having good time and experimenting the joy of being a mother. The Quick One is her very first step towards the world of writing and blogging.
Olivia Lewit
Class 1975. She’s at present lecturer and literature reviewer at the Chapel Hill University, NC. She adores to dust off a novel and a book of poetry, settle down in her chair, and get ready to issue a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” as she leafs through the pages. She refers to any collection of materials on a topic, not necessarily the great literary texts of the world. “Literature” could be anything from a set of government pamphlets on British colonial methods in Africa to scholarly articles on the treatment or French works. She does not necessarily mean that her reading wants to give her personal opinion on whether or not she likes. She discusses published information in a particular subject area and might give a new interpretation of old material and combine new with old interpretations. She simply traces the intellectual progression of the field. And depending on the situation, She evaluates the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant.
Marco Annunziata
Born and raised in Florence, Italy, he is currently living between Italy, Los Angeles and Beijing. He graduated from the University of Architecture in Florence and studied Communication Design at ISIA. Marco’s photographs have been published in Vogue Italia, Time Out Beijing, Posi+tive Magazine, Rolling Stone Indonesia, Dossier Journal, GQ, Elitism and many other. He is a cancer and admits that perfection is a pleasure, and sometimes, a big problem.
Isabella Cecconi
Born in Rome, almost 31 years ago. Youngest of four sisters, she has soon realized she has been affected by the Little Women syndrome, though never attempting to fix her nose with a clothespin. She’s sure Laurie is on his way. Professional time waster, Anglo-Italian mother tongue, photographer, whatnot reader, keen writer, editorialist, press office bore, good-for-nothing, wannabe journalist, she’s a pshycho nerd slender globe trotter, chitty chatter and Dr.Pepper drinker. She has taken her first picture at age 4. She has done her first printing at 6. In the past two years Rome had the ill-omened duty of showing her works in two exhibitions. She’s sassy enough to think she gets the idea of photography. She’s smart ass enough to believe she has a third photographical eye on her forehead, widely opened.
Marco Maggetto
Born in Padova, more than 30 years ago. Soon after realizing he had to give a go to his exceptionally light-being partygoer life, he became aware of the meaning of the word fashion. In the 90’s he was in bloom with minimalism and spent many nights talking about “the muse” with his friends already working in the Industry. It was like a germ that took him and never leave him until he decided to open a blog called Whydontyou in honor of his style icon Diana Vreeland. What you read in his Fashion Department is a natural evolution of that very first experiment in the world of fashion blogging.
Francesca Querci
Founder and creator of Elitism. She was born and raised in Arty Farty Florence where she graduated in Interior Design and later on mastered at the Florentine Polimoda. She’s going on 29. Florentine, who adores the contemporary. She’s in love with art, street wear, fashion and whatever makes her roam the world in search of new tendencies. Along with Mr. Maggetto, she is the originator of Elitism. She’s part of that breed of professionals who make observations and predictions in changes of new or existing cultural trends. She’s part of the chi chi frou frou Pitti socialite world. She is a cool hunter. Beware of her thumb. Like the Romans, she can judge with sharp lucidity. Determined Founder and stubborn, she has a prior aim: The aesthetic for the aesthetic’ s sake.
