New Bella Summer 2018 - Part 1
Welcome to the Summer 2018 new collections launch! We have 4 brand new lines plus expansions to the Calzini line and the recently introduced Bernini collection. We look forward to showing you a brand new range of luscious, innovative framing options to thrill you and your customers.
Introducing Monaco, a hand-finished collection inspired by classic Hollywood and the alluring colors of the French Riviera.
MONACO
"I don't want to dress up a picture with just my face." - Grace Kelly
Hopefully you have had or will someday have the chance to fall under the spell of the French Riviera—with its' captivating soft hues and lazy, laissez-faire lifestyle. In the late 1920s, the Cote D'Azur became the summer playground of the artistic elite. It's here that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote much of The Great Gatsby and French fashion designer Coco Chanel made sunbathing fashionable. Complexions were very pale until Coco paraded her striking new tan around Paris in 1923 and thus created a radical new trend.
I visited Monaco several years ago but fell in love with the romance of the area at a much earlier age watching TV reruns of Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1955 film To Catch A Thief.
The film stars Cary Grant as a retired cat burglar who has to save his reformed reputation by catching an impostor preying on the wealthy tourists of the French Riviera. Grace Kelly stars opposite as his love interest in her final film with Hitchcock. Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called it "one of those deluxe pictures in which everyone lives in glorious workless luxury on the French Rivera, looks wonderful, speaks amusingly and is unconcerned with transit strikes or hurricanes. I loved every minute of it."
The finish on our Monaco is created by layering paint and strategic sanding by hand to create a light "vintage" distressing combined with two rather classic profiles. The color palette of the line is guided by the glorious Technicolor of 50s cinema as well as the plethora of iconic tourist posters of the era, which we've all framed dozens of times.
We named our tannish color for Coco Chanel (Sunkissed Coco) and the aquamarine (Vespa Aquamarina) for the iconic scooters that buzz up and down the cypress tree-lined Mediterranean coast line.
The charcoal black finish (Grand Prix Nuit) in the collection pays homage to Monte Carlo (the capital of Monaco) as host of the classic Grand Prix Formula One car race, which is also a product of the roaring 20s. Racers have to do 78 laps on crazy hills, curves and through dark tunnels on a course running right through the heart of downtown Monte Carlo!
The Bella Monaco collection has our favorite juxtaposition of timeless vintage with a touch of modern. The variation in finish pairs well with charcoal and pastel but feel free to use them on anything from classical portraiture and landscapes to modern prints and photography.
Inspired to start planning your Cote D'Azur getaway? As always, contact our helpful customer service staff with all moulding inquiries, travel tips and to request your Monaco corner samples today. Stay tuned for more new Bella summer very soon!
Happy framing!