GLAMPING.

So this is me at the beginning of my Melt festival trip.

Still fresh, still sharp, energetic, with clean soft hair and clothes, shaved, smelling good...etc etc you get the point! and although the ending of this whole experience looked completely the opposite from this, (which is probably why I don't have an "after" picture) I'm still so sad it ended. Those three days, surrounded by beautiful loving people, with no responabilities nor worries but thinking about what you'll wear to the parties that night and whether you will be having a veggie cheese burger or a big ass Handbrotzeit for dinner, were total bliss. So I miss my Melt family and every minute spent there with them. But summer ain't done yet and with festivals popping up every minute like newsletters I guess a reunion will be more than easy to plan.

ACTRESS, Omar Souleyman, Portishead, Nod One's Head, Brodinsky, Son Lux and almost all DJ's at the sleepless stage were true highlights of my whole festival experience; if you get the chance to see any of these live, please DO. I missed the Robyn x Royksopp 2 hours performance though, as well as HAIM so I'm still trying to forgive myself for this stupidity. But when sun's shining those 34 degrees over your head and tent, it's kinda easy to deprioritize what truly matters for an afternoon swim in the lake.

HHHOLYDAYS.

wearing Yves Saint Laurent sunglasses, Gap sleeveless denim shirt, Prada jacket, thrifted shorts, market espadrilles.

photos by Cédric.

As you can see, although the weather in The Netherlands has been relatively good lately, every third or fourth day in a week we have days in which, even wearing a chocolatey full leather Prada jacket on a chilly afternoon is possible. A styling dream, but a total summer low blow.

This same day one year ago, me and an army of friends were on our way to MELT festival in Germany. Fortunately for all of us, that moment is here again! tents are still not my favorite places to live from and sleep in but everything else apart from that is something I truly wanted to relive. Now, as I make a come back to the city on monday probably with 30 hangovers above my head, I will only have one day to recover before going back to work. But thank god the fun doesn't stop there because by friday I will be leaving the city again heading to the south of Spain with the in-laws and sweet boyfriend.

So, I never thought I would say this, but no Prada for me these upcoming weeks! and if any of you know where I can find well fitting, light but powerful human batteries, you better hook me up!

FASHION HOUSES, PARTY DRESSES & HOT MESSES: MAISON DE FAUX + DAVID LAPORT.

1. Maison de Faux - Make a U-turn if Possible

2. David Laport backstage (shot by Team Peter Stigter)

Amsterdam's Fashion Week is around again! and yesterday My dear dears at Maison de Faux and David Laport showed us what they had in store for us this season. It was a very special day for the two upcoming houses, which with only a few collections further from their graduation dates, have kept the crowds hungrier to know which step will they be taking next.

The Laport show took place earlier in the afternoon. As I actually had some inside scoop over the collection from David himself a few weeks before the show, I was trying not to spill any of the vital details to anyone, and trying to put all the pieces together in my imagination to get ready for what I was about to presence. His first face walks down the runway, and as the rest of the looks follow, I realize the Laport girl had grown up. Bold use of bright primary colors lightened up the pattern in between the transparent fabrics and layers of black in each outfit. Pleats where to be found! but in a way more subtle way than before and to be spotted at second or third sight. Textiles got richer as he had a new take on fishnet with irregular holes and even a feather-like nylon came through adding a lot of softness to all outfits which were very feminine but very strict at the same time.

The night came setting in and the line outside Maison de Faux was long and hyped up. From the moment we were welcomed in their show space, dimmed colorful lights shined on three half naked and wet singers who welcomed us all with hysterical chants that went from uncontrollable laughter to even tears at times. The three of them stood in the middle of what seemed like the Garden of Maison de Faux's Eden. Plastic horses that spat water into a pond gave me the feeling that this garden, might be the one I'd like to get lost in. The show starts and the chants only get louder, scarier and funnier. Look after look, I just wanted the models to stop or walk slower to be able to have a better look at each layer carefully. Half tied-up bikini tops on guys as necklaces, heavily crystal embroidered lace tops, roughly and randomly cut edges, overalls with open side-seams, rich colorful weavings and thick leather tops that pretended to be soft cotton oxford shirts made all part of the tastiest visual details in my favorite outfits. This whole show, from performance, to styling, vibe and presentation really came acrosss as a the pleasant slap in the face that Amsterdam needed this season.

SKLTN-M: EXCEEDING THE EXTERIOR AND UNVEILING THE CORE.

All photos taken from skltn-m: 

Visual Diary and Self

My dear cyber friend Marcus Branch is the mind and heart behind skltn-m. It must have been around two years ago when I first laid eyes on Marcus' blog through one of the kindest and honest comments someone ever left on my blog yet. Sometimes people are interested on what you're wearing, or they love the way your pictures were taken, or they even might be into the way you talked about a certain subject; but Marcus is one of the few who's able to see through the different layers in a post, make the right connections and understand how everything in the mix makes sense together. Like this, Marcus and I began a mutual following pattern which was not hard to keep up. I've been so curious ever since for what he's coming up with next and what he will be wearing while at it. 

Today, skltn-m is: a printed publication, a home for expression, and a visual catalogue where the visual clashes and connects with internal beauty and emotional dialogues. His sections Visual Diary and Self for example are two platforms I can very much relate to; on Self he reflects on outfits according to what's going on in his life and what his state of mind is; and on Visual Diary he's given a platform to all mundane things and moments as well as beautiful people around him by photographing them in a highly aesthetic way.

A preview from skltn-m, the magazine's first issue ever, is already out for all of us to sneak peak into it.

10 YEARS OF HUB.

Last month an invitation to HUB's 10th year anniversary party at the Caballero factory (only a few blocks away from my house), proved once again that I'm living in The Hague's most creative and upcoming neighborhood. It was really exciting to be able to be part of HUB's exhibition/party since my good old friend Marije de Haan was one of the latest designers to collaborate with the brand. Marije's strongly masculine but yet sublte menswear signature seemed to me like the perfect cherry on top to HUB's footwear.

The imagery within the space about the brand's world was very well explained from: shoes displayed everywhere on clean white pillars with explanatory posters behind, to bare shoe soles shown as abstract art items; Big screens with interesting promo videos about HUB's crowd, world and style were also to be found, everything made perfect sense.

Entertainment wise there was nothing we missed that day either. A generous open bar after the show had everyone having a good time outside by the water while the rest of us had a bite inside; these delicious snacks were to be found anywhere from tables to handsome kids giving them out within the crowd. As all this hapenned, two boys took over the main stage and with their jamming guitars they warmed the afternoon up for the big party later on. 

Sunset time was quite a moment too! the Caballero factory slowly went from that edgy well lighten industrial paradise back to the cool abandoned place with huge machines that made amazing shadows everywhere.

HOLY FAVORITES: LONDON MEN FASHION WEEK.

First of all, excuses for my photoshop skills lol.

The men fashion weeks went by once again and London had me gasping for air. These six designers specially captured everything I want to be, look like and why not, see down the streets...maybe I'm a little delusional on the last one but dreaming costs nothing. I could say I'm really enjoying the turn men's fashion has slowly taken these last few years. I mean, let's be honest and I've never been the most sartorial type so for all these very contemporary-flirty collections to start reproducing themselves like spring bunnies does very well to my eyes.

1. Craig Green had a really beautiful wave of blues changing tones subtlely from one look to the other. The mix of samurai and guru looks was perfect, going from the tighter more fitted ones, to a bigger and slouchier shape which ended up in very strict quilted panels. Not sure about the flaggy situations...

2. Alexander McQueen. Just really loved the random placement of the paint brush-like colorful strokes of color.

3. James Long. Love this James boy Long time. The confetti knits were my favorites together with the white and blue denim pieces which at some point started looking a little diseased with rainbow band-aids.

4. Christopher Shannon gave me one of the things I love most on clothes: CUT OUTS! and very randomly placed ones! in colorful frames! god knows he even threw a couple of zippers in there for me. I'm so DIY-ing one of these pieces this summer.

5. JW ANDERSON. One of those collections you'd like to have entirely delivered home right after the show. His casting is alwasy so immaculate, then he comes up yet AGAIN with an amazing shoe. Which this time was some sort of chunky, almost overweight loafer with a drapey knot situation...so so good. the cleavage knits, shirt-robes and landscape tops really called out my name.

6. MAN. perfect pieces for those perfect parties and gallery openings where no one was really expecting you. SURPRISE! a round of applause to the show stylist for making each outfit almost sculpture-perfect in it's layering.

AND BECAUSE I'M GENEROUS, let's talk about my other faves in Milan and Paris:

Valentino: history book animals, wild flowers and butterfly illustrations embroidered all over, cuteness overload.

Saint Laurent: embroidered jeans, amulets, snakeskin boots...check, check, check!

Rick Owens: FOR ONCE non-drapey and boxy pieces, He even got kinky with body paint and dirty pinks, baby blues, olive greens and mustard yellows. SHOE WAS EVERYTHING.

Raf Simons: the one-tone sets with the "RS" patches were king. landscape knits show up again! sorry JW ANDERSON....and as for my next spring's footwear, it will all come from this collection.

Jil Sander: I just really liked their lookbook and the platform sneakers on the first look.

Dolce & Gabbana, one word: TORERO.

Dior Homme: denim with what seemed like hand-written letters all over them make up for a very relevant spring/summer 2014 DIY. 

Comme des Garçons: CHUNTARO BOOTS! although Tim Blanks called them out to be "Krakow" boots from the late 14th century in Europe. For me these are just Chuntarito mexican boots straight outta Monterrey no matter what Rei nor Tim say...I mean there was even leopard print on some of the first looks, duh.

Carven: so fresh 'n so clean. Perfect day wear, another collection that could be shipped straight into my wardrobe.

LONELY IS THE ONLY: YUNG LEAN - "YOSHI CITY"

photos by Cédric.

Nude, distressed and ca$hmerey.

Summer's here, it's hot, my curls are back but it's all happening too fast. We're already past the longest day of the season and from here on it all goes "downhill".

Sweaters in summer are perfect jacket substitutes. And for really chilly days you could even throw one of the many sleeveless vests stacked in your closet (or at least I have tons of them) which are pretty much useless in winter time.

Yung Lean's video for Yoshi City was released last week and although I expected some amazingly spacey yoshi 8bit 2D graphs mixed with reality, I have to say this is still just as odd but really good in a slightly grown way. Change and contrast is always refreshing in an artist's work timeline. But better than that is being able to jump onto the next unexpected thing before your listeners or followers do. My only question is: how does one manage to fit so many underage brats in a hot wheels toy car?!

HOLY WISHLIST: AMBUSH DESIGN CHOKERS.

Ever since I spotted these sick chokers on one of Jayson Hindley's shoots I haven't stopped obsessing over the idea of having them all...and I mean ALL of them. Sometimes when clothes just don't feel like enough to the eye while dressing up in the morning or at night before going out, throwing something like this in the mix could really save the day.

And although these are just three of my favorites, their official website offers an amazing variety in colors and mix of materials on every style, with every page clicked 'next' there went my heart.

The mix in between fetish/gangster cholo dog choker and a victorian cross choker is just perfect. Pitty my bday and xmas are still so far away!

NOWNESS & THENNESS: GERRIT RIETVELD ACADEMY FASHION SHOW 2014.

Just a few of my many favorite moments of the show.

With every year that went by while I was at school, I could honestly not be bothered to know what the rest of fashion students all around the country were up to at the end of their school year. Simply because I had probably been working just as hard as them and needed some time off from carefully thought of pieces of clothing. This year on the other hand, I'm fully charged energy-wise, I got time and my eyes are hungry for the now and new.

Last sunday it was the Rietveld kids' turn to show what their fashion year had been all about.

The venue was an immense and completely stripped down loft-like space with huge round pillars everywhere. The simplicity of the show's components made it even more impressive and gave it a really pleasant effortless feeling to it all. The usually handed out magazine which came in a newspaper format this year had 2 disposable posters (how very lovely and teen-mag of them!) and it was a calm-easy-to-read publication but informative in the right amount, so it went something like: designer's name, text about collection/him/her, picture and on to the next one...perfect right?

As the show starts it was clear why Rietveld has always been known for putting up a good contemporary show. A half-cut mannequin doll dressed in a draped red dress was placed onto a mirror made look like she was coming out of it, driven by a girl behind it, it was the perfect opening for what we were about to experience. The music throughout the whole show was like one extremely extense song. It was mixed in such way so that each designer showing could translate the vibes they wanted the crowd to feel, but still seem like the show was one big fashion performance under the same music, so: same but subliminally different.

Unfortunately for the 1st and 2nd year students, their names were not mentioned neither on paper or projected during the show which I thought was a pitty AND sad for them, but they seemed to be okay with this so I guess it's alright. In a way it's kind of nice to have the show be really about the graduates, and let the younger students go full blast on experimenting their creativity anonimously.

As for the graduates, I could write a whole post for each of them since all collections had very special vibes, amazing textile treatments and a lot of attitude. But for now let's just say I LOVED Klara Valkova's (womenswear) collection, Marcel Kropfl (menswear) and Tijme Veldt's (mixed).

Want to find out why? then you had to be there, but because you probably weren't, you can watch the livestream recap HERE!

And this is me, then....like jLo once said.

ULTRAVIOLENCE.

This is what I wore to the ArtEZ shows last week. It was one of those times you try your whole wardrobe on, make freaky combos but still end up wearing that one banging favorite outfit, that always-cool comfort zone outfit which never disappoints. So this is what my comfort zone looks like: slick, black, leathery and silver shimmery.

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT I'M A MESS, I'M CRAZY

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT I'M THE BEST, I'M CRAZY

Lana del Rey's new album ULTRAVILENCE is honestly her most honest and best album this far. From song one ("Cruel World", kills me) I felt like I could relate to every word that dropped.

I love how she talks about heroes, and not idols. At the end of the day she's probably her biggest and only idol, the girl she always wanted to become. Nowadays this is something we could all learn from: to stop following, scrolling, soaking up in what might seem someonelse's paradise-like world and start building a paradise of our own; become exactly who we want to be, our heroes. Love ourselves shamelessly and unconditionally. This new dark narco-swing sound of hers and spacey slow jams talk sometimes about love memoirs but also a romanticized disappointment on youth, fame and the media. But all in all she makes up to the small percentage of negativism by stating more than once that she rather ride with the wild, fiery spirits and love unconditionally in obsessive ways or simply just die.

The Guardian has quite a lovely piece out now about her Ultraviolent new state of mind in a sort of interview format. Don't miss it!

I WANT MONEY, I WANT POWER, I WANT GLORY
I WANT MONEY AND ALL YOUR POWER, ALL YOUR GLORY