HURTS BEAUTIFULLY

Dive into the world of a beauty so eccentric, so bizzare that you'll find yourself lost in a euphoric wonder.

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Renato Freitas by Serge Lee

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The Statue of Liberty from Above

In celebration of the Fourth of July (The United States’ Independence Day) we see a satellite view of the iconic Statue of Liberty, a neoclassical sculpture located on Liberty Island in the middle of New York Harbor (40°41’21″N 74°2’40″W).

The statue, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886, was a gift to the United States from the people of France. The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet.

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"A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

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"Style is timeless. It transcends generations - it's enduring. If you're thinking about fashion, it's of the moment. And that doesn't mean that it's not important at times to embrace trends and that type of thing, but style is less about trends than it is about how you carry yourself." ~ John Varvatos

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Patrick Bryan By Nick Wei

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Jennifer Love Hewitt

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VILLERS ABBEY, BELGIUM The Abbaye de Villers (Villers Abbey), situated in the commune of Villers-la-Ville (Belgium) in grounds of more than 36 hectares, is a destination imbued with history. It was founded in the 12th Century, under the aegis of Saint Bernard. Today, its ruins give an idea of the life of monks of the Cistercian Order. The earliest buildings no longer exist and the Abbey was completely rebuilt during the 13th Century (Villers III). According to the chronicle the Abbey numbered in those days no fewer than one hundred monks and three times as many lay brothers. The estate covered a good twenty-five thousand acres, dotted between Antwerp and Namur and managed by different grangiae. Villers also benefited from the protection of the powerful Dukes of Brabant.

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"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood." ~ Andy Goldsworthy

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"I hold that the perfection of form and beauty is contained in the sum of all men." ~ Albrecht Druer

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Ermenegildo Zegna SS14

Ermenegildo Zegna’s SS14 was grand: from the new venue they chose to Stefano Pilati’s first collection as the house’s Creative Director. The result was Pilati’s signature style, a mix of Parisian elegance with Italian tailoring. Pilati, with the might and resources of the Zegna house, created a powerhouse collection of super lightweight fabrics, beautiful subtle prints and, probably most important, a multi-dimensional collection that had direction, which in the past felt static with seemingly no other goal than showing well made suits to sell to CEOs and titans of business. But Pilati’s collection shows that the house is serious about upping its fashion quotient.

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Maggie Rizer in Oscar de la Renta for Pierre Balmain haute couture.  Photographed by Irving Penn, April, 2000