AS Monaco Basket teams up with Lanvin for stylish new partnership

11/11/2024

Lanvin has joined forces with AS Monaco Basket as the official outfitter for the Roca Team, merging high-end fashion with basketball.

As the basketball EuroLeague season is well underway, AS Monaco Basket has announced a new partnership with the French luxury fashion house Lanvin, naming the brand as the official outfitter of the Roca Team. This collaboration aims to blend Lanvin’s high-end style with the athleticism and competitive spirit of the basketball team.

“Our ambition is to offer our fans the ultimate Hoops Royal experience,” said Oleksiy Yefimov, General Manager of AS Monaco Basket. “Partnering with Lanvin, which shares this vision, is crucial to achieving our goals. I am confident this marks the beginning of a long-lasting relationship, during which we will build stories that highlight the beauty of this project.”

See more: Interview: Oleksiy Yefimov, General Manager of AS Monaco Basket

To celebrate the collaboration, key players from AS Monaco Basket, including Matthew Strazel, Mike James, and Elie Okobo, are featured in black-and-white portraits wearing Lanvin’s signature suits and DDB1 sneakers.

“Lanvin is pleased to strengthen its ties with Monaco through this partnership with AS Monaco Basketball, a team that inspires both locally and globally,” said Lanvin’s Deputy CEO, Siddhartha Shukla. “The athleticism and exemplary team spirit that characterise their success echo Lanvin’s commitment to excellence. As Madame Lanvin understood more than a century ago, the worlds of fashion and sport find common ground and cultural synergies.”

Lanvin’s connection to the Riviera dates back to the early 20th century when Jeanne Lanvin opened her first boutique on the iconic Boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes. There is also a store in Monaco and plans to renovate its Cannes location in 2025.

Monaco Life is produced by real multi-media journalists writing original content. See more in our free newsletter, follow our Podcasts on Spotify, and check us out on Threads,  Facebook,  Instagram,  LinkedIn and Tik Tok.

Photo credit: Romain Duquesne, Bird production

Kamil Art Gallery presents ‘Heaven’s Door’: a sculptural exploration of space and light

by: Niki Borisova

11/11/2024

Belgian artist Nicolas Alquin has opened Heaven’s Door at Kamil Art Gallery, inviting viewers to explore the boundary between the material and the mystical through his monumental wood sculptures.

Known for his sculptural work with raw wood, Alquin is presenting a series of monumental pieces that feature distinctive golden openings at their centre, which he describes as symbolic thresholds leading to an unseen realm.

“Art is intuition…”

“I focus a lot on inner space. In this exhibition, my aim was to carve away so much of the material that almost nothing of the statue remains – leaving mostly space. And what is space? Space is our inner light,” Alquin explained to Monaco Life during the opening of the exhibition on Thursday 7th November.

The centrepiece is a human figure carved from a single piece of wood, with a human-shaped opening at its core framed by golden edges. This design, according to Alquin, invites viewers to contemplate the notion of crossing into an elsewhere – a place that suggests both mystery and connection. Alquin said that the interplay between the wood and the golden framing reflects his interest in linking the earthly and the immaterial. The gold edging, he explained, acts as a form of light, hinting at a sense of the sacred or the transcendent.

“What inspires me the most is life, as it is divine, it is universal, and it is sacred. But really, art is intuition,” said the artist.

The sculptor also discussed his approach to these works as an exploration of passage and transformation. He sees each gilded opening as a symbol of transition, a way to look beyond what is physically present. “The wood anchors us in the known, but these openings suggest there is something beyond it, a space where the material world and the spiritual may meet,” Alquin shared with Monaco Life.

Connecting to the natural world

Alquin’s work is deeply rooted in his background; born in Brussels in 1958 to a family of artists, he trained in art restoration and has dedicated much of his career to creating large-scale sculptures that focus on texture, form, and symbolism.

His choice of wood as a primary medium connects his art to the natural world, while the addition of gold serves as a subtle reminder of something beyond the physical. In Heaven’s Door, he examines the duality of inside and outside, matter and light, questioning where one ends and the other begins.

“I’m proud to bring Heaven’s Door to Kamil Art Gallery,” said Alquin. “It’s an honour to exhibit in a space that values exploration and reflection.”

Heaven’s Door will be on display at Kamil Art Gallery until the 8th December.

See more of the exhibition in our video reel below…

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Monaco Life is produced by real multi-media journalists writing original content. See more in our free newsletter, follow our Podcasts on Spotify, and check us out on Threads,  Facebook,  Instagram,  LinkedIn and Tik Tok.

Photo credit: Niki Borisova, Monaco Life

Monaco expands National Day decorations to new streets and landmarks

by: Stephanie Horsman

11/11/2024

Monaco’s signature red and white colors will soon be visible everywhere as the Principality finalises its National Day decorations, extending this proud tradition to new locations across the city.

Monaco’s streets are being readied for the annual National Day celebrations, coming on 19^th November. Led by the Events Division of the Municipal Technical Services, teams have been working tirelessly since 4^th November to set up pavilions, banners and Monegasque flags ensuring the national colours of red and white are on display everywhere to mark this important event.

Every year, the Mairie makes efforts to extend the patriotic reach to all districts. In 2024, there will be approximately 600 pennants, 550 flags and 90 pavilions city-wide spread across 150 installations. A set-up of this scale requires both a day and a night crew, with the day team putting up flags and the night shift taking on the larger installations.

Which new areas are being “dressed” for National Day?

New locations will feature decorations for National Day this year, including the Boulevard de Belgique and its roundabout near Parc Princesse Antoinette, the Monte-Carlo Bay entrance, Allée Lazare Sauvaigo, and Promenade Honoré II, adding fresh touches to the city’s celebratory landscape.

National Day has traditionally coincided with the Saint Day of each reigning Prince, in this case the 15^th of November, but Prince Albert II bucked the trend and instead chose to honour his late father’s day by continuing to celebrate on 19^th November.

Events this year include a festive drone show, a mass held in the Cathedral, concerts and appearances by the Prince and his family.

How to get involved

The Mairie encourages residents to join the festivities by adorning their homes with Monegasque flags and banners, underscoring their attachment to the Princely Family and the Principality. To ensure the flags are displayed correctly, they remind residents that the red section should always be above the white, and when viewed from outside, the red should appear on the left.

The flags will remain up until 10^th December, marking the end of the celebrations and a return to Monaco’s everyday charm.

Photo credit: Cassandra Tanti, Monaco Life

The revival of Moods: Monaco’s legendary venue to swing open its doors this December

by: Niki Borisova

11/11/2024

SBM has announced the official opening date of the New Moods, as the iconic venue makes its long-awaited return to the Principality.

Monaco’s well-loved Moods venue is being rebranded as ‘New Moods’ and will officially reopen on the 5th December, with Prince Albert II attending a special pre-opening event on the 30th November. Led by Stéphane Lobono, director of New Moods, and Alfonso Ciulla, Artistic Director for Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer (SBM), the reopening marks a highly anticipated revival for a venue that last illuminated Monaco’s nightlife from 2009 to 2011.

The reopening has been driven by public demand and a push from SBM’s Deputy Chairman Stéphane Valeri, who prioritised the project after taking office in 2023. “It’s a big, bold and demanding challenge,” said Ciulla in an interview for SBM, “and we’re going to do everything we can to rise to it.”

Located near Café de Paris Monte-Carlo, New Moods, reveals SBM, will retain its basement setting, a design that reflects the intimate, club-like feel of New York and English music venues. The space has been updated with cabaret-inspired decor featuring a warm colour palette, velvet armchairs, and red carpets, creating an inviting retreat for live music performances.

Guests enter down a flight of stairs into a vast reception hall, with brass fixtures hanging above and large wooden doors leading to the main performance space. The layout of the new moods apparently remains mostly unchanged, though a new side stage has been added.

Programming will centre on live music, with tribute bands remaining a staple in the lineup, now joined by unique signature acts. The venue is designed to offer an authentic music experience, prioritising live performances over the typical dinner-and-show format. Another critical element is accessible entertainment. New Moods aims to attract a broad audience, staying true to its founding vision as a place for all music lovers to enjoy live performances.

If you’re feeling nostalgic for the old days of classic discos, New Moods will also host post-concert sessions filled with handpicked vinyl tracks. Offering a ‘Selecta’ experience rather than a traditional DJ set, these sessions aim to bring back the spirit of classic disco nights.

See more: ‘New’ Restaurant: The metamorphosis of Blue Bay Marcel Ravin

Entrance to New Moods will be free from 6pm to 8pm, with a €50 charge applied for the show portion afterward, subject to availability and a minimum spend. The menu will feature finger food by the renowned two Michelin-starred Chef Marcel Ravin, with more details coming soon.

Operating six months of the year, from October to March, New Moods will open its doors from Thursday to Saturday each week. New Mood’s musical programme from December 2024 to March 2025 is available here: https://www.montecarlosbm.com/fr/editorial/place-au-show-au-new-moods.

Photo credit: Niki Borisova, Monaco Life

Seven French families suing TikTok after teenagers’ deaths

by: Elsa Carpenter

11/11/2024

Seven French families are suing the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok over its alleged failure to remove content featuring themes of suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. Two 15-year-olds linked to the group took their own lives after reportedly being influenced by such videos.

The seven families have united under the name Algos Victima, or Victims of the Algorithm in English, to file a lawsuit against TikTok, a global social media platform where users create, share and view short videos, after two teenagers from the south of France died by suicide.

They submitted their claim, which is the first of its kind against the platform in Europe, to a court in Créteil on 4th November.

In a statement to the French media, the group’s lawyer, Laure Boutron-Marmion, said, “TikTok, like other industry giants, must be held accountable for its actions and negligence. The families involved in this lawsuit denounce the devastating effects of the app on the mental and physical health of their children, two of whom sadly took their own lives.”

Among the claimants are the parents of 15-year-old Marie from Cassis, who died in September 2021, and Charlize from Nice, also 15, who died in November 2023. Their stories share tragic similarities: both reportedly suffered from bullying at school and became increasingly withdrawn in the lead-up to their deaths. Both died by suicide, hanging themselves in their bedrooms.

Other parents in the Algos Victima group allege that their children were bombarded with negative and harmful messages via TikTok’s “killing machine” algorithm.

One mother told France 3, “My goal is to stop bombarding our children with harmful content. It’s time we act, as parents and as adults, to protect our children and demand TikTok enforce regulations to secure its network, which is destroying our children physically and psychologically.”

She also criticised the lack of action from French public authorities and the government in tackling the issue.

In a statement, TikTok said: “Over 40,000 trust and safety experts worldwide ensure user safety and data protection, including more than 6,000 focused on Europe, with 637 handling French-language content—significantly more than on other comparable platforms.”

According to data published by the platform, TikTok removes all content related to suicide and/or self-harm. TikTok further asserts that, between April and June 2024, 91% of such videos removed were deleted before being viewed by app users.

TikTok has not publicly commented on the Algos Victima lawsuit.

Read related:

France releases guide for parents after report highlights the dangers of excessive screen use

Monaco Life is produced by real multi-media journalists writing original content. See more in our free newsletter, follow our Podcasts on Spotify, and check us out on Threads,  Facebook,  Instagram,  LinkedIn and Tik Tok.

Photo credit: Solen Feyissa, Unsplash

Monaco’s GDP doubles in a decade: which industries are fuelling the Principality’s growth?

by: Cassandra Tanti

11/11/2024

Monaco’s economy has almost doubled in size over the past decade, with GDP soaring from €4.94 billion in 2013 to €9.24 billion in 2023, according to the latest IMSEE data. This rapid growth, in stark contrast to slower recoveries across Europe, positions the Principality as an economic powerhouse driven by high-value industries.

Key sectors such as scientific and technical activities, finance, and real estate have been instrumental in fuelling this expansion. In 2013, Scientific and Technical Activities and Financial Services collectively contributed around a third of Monaco’s GDP, with each sector accounting for roughly 16.7%. These two industries were cornerstones of Monaco’s economy, setting the stage for the broader, diversified growth that followed.

By 2023, the combined economic contributions of Scientific and Technical Activities, Finance, and Wholesale Trade surpassed 50% of the Principality’s GDP, reflecting Monaco’s continued investment in high-growth areas. This strategic focus on specialised, high-impact sectors has allowed the Principality to create resilience even amid global economic uncertainties.

Real estate has also been a major contributor to Monaco’s economy. Back in 2013, the Real Estate sector saw significant gains, posting a 21.3% growth rate attributed to high-value transactions and favourable market conditions. The past decade has seen a steady flow of high-end real estate investments and infrastructure developments, supporting further economic growth. In 2023, Construction showed consistent expansion, growing by 7%, as new projects moved forward.

Monaco’s workforce remains a crucial asset as well. The proportion of GDP derived from employee compensation has stayed high, indicating the Principality’s focus on sustaining and attracting talent. From 2013 to 2023, compensation and social charges grew by around 10%, underlining Monaco’s role as a sought-after employment market.

The decade-long increase in GDP per capita – from €64,082 in 2013 to nearly €100,000 in 2023 – also points to the economic resilience and prosperity fuelling Monaco’s growth strategy.

With high-value sectors driving this economic trajectory, Monaco has carved out its position not just as a luxury destination but as a compelling model for high-growth economies.

Photo credit: Cassandra Tanti, Monaco Life

Day: 11 November 2024

AS Monaco Basket teams up with Lanvin for stylish new partnership