Once a year la Serenissima reverts to its true and elemental nature, as the ghosts come out and history can be felt on every narrow bridge and alleyway. Of course, I am talking about Carnivale, where the imagination soars, as masques and costumes, capes and mystery sweep by you at every corner. The city turns into a fantasy of colour and celebration, flavoured with the scent of decadence and opulence. It is an experience you must have at least once in your life.
   Our friends at the remarkable Luna Baglioni (just off San Marco, with its own arrival dock where your launch can drop you directly) offer a group of incredible ball deals, starting at a not-so-staggering supplement of €290 per person. Room nights additional. You can avail yourself of any of the following:

• Saturday, February 11, 2012: Moon Masquerade at the Luna Hotel Baglioni
• Friday, February 17, 2012: the Great Baglioni Party
• Saturday, February 18, 2012: Grand Carnival Gala at the Luna Hotel Baglioni (€320 per person)

   These offers exclude the room rate, but can include champagne, fancy dress parties, some held in the Marco Polo room dominated by huge School of Tiepolo frescoes, dinner—depending on the date—entertainment, and DJs until the wee hours of the morning. Period costumes can be purchased or rented. Be sure to avail yourself of the insider knowledge possessed by Antonio Massari, the Luna’s amazing concierge, perhaps the best in the world. Then, imagine yourself hidden behind mask and cloak, stealing down a romantic passagio, off for an intimate midnight rendezvous.
   For details, see www.baglionihotels.com/en/destinations/venice/luna-hotel-baglioni/packages/Special%20Venice%20Carnival.—Stanley Moss, Travel Editor

Toni Mateu

Silician designer Maria Francesca Paternò has released her bridal and haute couture collection for 2012, entitled Ouverture.
   The self-described ‘fashion engineer’ mixes a number of cultures, along with poetry and art, as part of her inspiration.
   The collection features one-shoulder necklines reminiscent of ancient Greece, long and flowing skirts, and a nostalgic use of silk, satin and lace. Paternò’s cocktail dresses have vivid, vibrant colours. She employs only the highest quality materials and techniques.
   Paternò’s atelier is named la Via della Seta, or Silk Road, paying tribute to her love of the material.
   The advertising campaign was shot in Barcelona by Toni Mateu.
   Paternò was mentored by designer Gianna Baragli, and had worked for several notable companies beginning in the 1970s. Her website describes her gowns as works of art ‘brought to life with sentiment and feminine sensibility.’

Thomas Salme

Top Italian model Francesca Donetto, wearing Enrico Coveri, photographed by Thomas Salme. Above Francesca Donetto wears Federico Sangalli.

Francesca Donetto is one of many thousands of Italian young women who want to make it as a model in the hard fashion world of Italy—and especially that of Milano.
   I shot her latest photos in my studio in Milano last month and got to know a young girl full of beauty and passion.
   Francesca is from Treviso, close to Venezia, and is born on December 10, 1992. Her measurements are 92–70–94 cm, or 36–27½–37 in. Her height of 182 cm—6 ft in Imperial—does not only make her a good model, but a skilled basketballer: she has played the sport for the last five years with considerable success. She love the cinema and is a very positive young woman, with a great vision, even in times like today. Even if she would like to make it in the fashion world, she says that it is not the most important thing in life.—Thomas Salme, Photographer

Thomas Salme

Above Francesca Donetto in Chiara Boni, photographed by Thomas Salme.

Top Diane Krüger is one of the VIPs at the Versace Étoile de la Mer eyewear launch. Above Donatella Versace and Anna Wintour.

Versace hosted a dinner at Restaurant Lasserre in Paris on January 23 to unveil its spring–summer 2012 eyewear collection, dubbed Étoile de la Mer.
   The capsule collection features two sunglasses and one optical model, each in various pastel colours. Eagle-eyed readers will spot the signature frameless pilot-shaped model at the spring–summer 2012 women’s fashion show in Milano.
   Donatella Versace and Vogue Paris editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt played host, with celebrities including Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Abbie Cornish, Diane Krüger, Haider Ackerman, Ludivine Sagnier, Daphne Guinness, Maggie Grace, Suzy Menkes, Bérénice Bejo, Salma Hayek and Riccardo Tisci.
   The campaign image features supermodel Gisèle Bündchen, photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott at an abandoned pool in the California desert. Giovanni Bianco art-directed.
   Donatella Versace says of the campaign in a release: ‘Gisèle was the perfect choice for this campaign. Her beauty is so bold in these images and she radiates true strength and sensuality. As an iconic beauty, she is also the perfect fit for the Étoile de la Mer eyewear collection. The images of her in the collection are stunning and powerful. This is exactly the vision I had when I started the design process.’
   The Versace Étoile de la Mer optical style will be available at OPSM in New Zealand from February, with the sunglasses following at Sunglass Hut in April.

Above Scenes from the launch event, with guests including Maggie Grace, Emmanuelle Alt, Daphne Guinness, Bérénice Bejo and Salma Hayek, and Haider Ackerman and Suzy Menkes. Below The Gisèle Bündchen campaign image and the three Versace Étoile de la Mer designs.

Paolo Bruno/Getty Images

A few years ago, you might not have seen this: Jaguar as the official car of the Federazione Italiana Canottaggio (Italian Rowing Federation).
   That was when Jaguar was so stuck with its idea of Britishness, almost to the point of parody. Since Ian Callum headed Jaguar design, the company has been more internationally minded: it may still be British, but it’s an international, forward-looking Britain that the Jaguar brand now represents. And this tie-up signals to the Italian specialist makers that Jag can even get them on their home turf.
   The Jaguar Excellence Academy is a programme which will see two athletes from the FIC get a scholarship to either undertake a public speaking course, or a Master in Sport Management or Self-Management, and an English course, and 30 days in the UK with the British Council.
   Twenty rowers have been selected initially, with the field narrowing to five with the help of Facebook users who vote at the FIC page, and with the evaluations of the Federazione and Jaguar Italia.
   Seven of the twenty are already qualified for the Olympic Games, and six are women. Many are world champions in their categories and two are coastal rowing world champions.

Paolo Bruno/Getty Images

Burberry Prorsum has put the outerwear and bags from its autumn–winter 2012–13 menswear range on sale at its website, right after showing it at Milano on January 14.
   The offer is limited: it will only be on sale for one week—till the 21st—for delivery in eight weeks.
   It is part of an internet-based push by the label, which live-streamed its collection at burberry.com and its Facebook page, and viewable on mobile devices including the Ipad.
   The show soundtrack by the Waterboys, the Jam and Jeff Beck is available for download through Itunes, while images were shared through Burberry’s Instagram account.
   YouTube and Google Plus content followed.
   Guests included British boxer Amir Khan, actors Harry Treadaway, Luke Treadaway, Giorgia Surina, and Eros Galbiati, British musician Dan Gillespie Sells (The Feeling), filmmaker Ali Mustafa, musician Murat Boz, Eliz Sakucoglu and Turkish broadcaster Burcu Esmersoy. Models Seb Brice, Johnny George and Thomas Penfound walked the runway.

Lucire’s coverage of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo is online today in the main part of the website. Not content with bringing back the event after a cancellation earlier in 2011 due to the earthquake and tsunami, peripheral events, including an international edition of Fashion’s Night Out with all 17 Vogue editors, made sure that the event made big headlines.
   In addition, the Japan Fashion Week Organization will run Tokyo Fashion Week in Italy at the Pitti Immagine Uomo exhibition from January 10. This exhibition is for menswear. This is a business-to-business event, not open to the public.
   Japanese designers continue to make a splash globally. Featured designers from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo will collaborate and showcase as Leather Japan 2012 at New York Fashion Week. The presentation event will be held on February 13; an exhibition will follow at the Nexus showroom in New York from February 14 to 16.
   It’s official: Giuseppe Mascoli’s new London burger joint, the Bukowski Grill, is receiving guests. Well worth an expedition to Shoreditch, a quarter of the city not often seen by tourists. These burger concoctions offer a reasonable alternative to the snobby high-end fare at downtown eateries, and the people-watching can’t be beat.
   We’ve also seen in 2012 with our review of the BMW X5, part one of our Vancouver Fashion Week coverage, and new original photographs and layout for our earlier Mini Cooper D road test.—Yuka Murai, and Stanley Moss, Travel Editor

Chanel has opened a temporary boutique at Courchevel in the French Alps for the winter. The 180 m² store features a minimalist décor with the odd flash of colour. It also has stunning views over the entire Courchevel valley.
   Chanel retails its fragrances, fine jewellery, watches, and the cruise 2011–12 and spring–summer 2012 collections at the store. The lounge has an Ipad where the visitor can browse a Chanel app featuring fashion shows and news.
   Meanwhile, LG has announced the New Zealand pricing for its Prada phone, at NZ$999. Only a few hundred units will be imported to New Zealand, and interested parties wanting to get one up on the now-ubiquitous Iphones are asked to call the company on 0508 547-322 to register their interest.
   Finally, emphasizing that luxury seems to be surviving the recession, Tommy Hilfiger will license its men’s and women’s catwalk collections beginning with the fall 2012 season and spring 2013 pre-collections to Ittierre SpA. Ittierre will produce and distribute apparel and the majority of the accessories, with distribution focused on Europe, North America and Asia, at prices between €140 and €2,000, the upper limit north of where Hilfiger had been positioned.
   The collections will be sold in six showrooms after the fall 2012 shows at New York Fashion Week, retailing from July. Tommy Hilfiger retains creative control over all collections.