VOGUE GOES FLORENCE

Welcome back! I know I haven't posted anything on my blog for a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything. Meanwhile I've found my way into Amsterdam Fashion Week, turned 23 and been to Florence with the Styling class from Vogue Academy. So here comes a long blogpost, with a lot of fashionable and fabulous pictures of all the adventures we'd been through in Italy.

It all started on tuesday evening, Lotte and me went to Pleuni's home in Amsterdam - which is close to Schiphol so we could get a taxi together. With some prosecco and some snacks we decided to stay awake until the taxi would arrive (around 4.30h!!!). Our flight went around 6.50h. Luckily the seats behind us were free, so we were able to take a little nap in the plane. Because I could feel the bags under my eyes getting bigger every hour!

Around 8.30h we arrived at Pisa airport, from there we had to take a bus to Florence. Then we had to walk to our hostel, with our bags which were way too heavy (ofcouse). But the weather was nice, the sun was shining and it was around 16 degrees. After a walk we finally arrived at Plus Florence, really nice and clean. They have two swimming pools, a sauna, a bar, a gym and more.

We decided to do some sightseeing, enjoy the nice weather and of course the beautiful view.  We had lunch at a little Italian luncheroom with delicious sandwiches and of course Italian Coffee! (Which is the best!)

View of the Arno river

Because we didn't slept for about 36 hours, we went to bed early that night. And boy, I think I never slept better in my life. Totally knocked out for about 10 hours straight!

The next day, it was Lotte's 20th birthday! So we had to celebrate that with some Italian chocolate cake.  

Lucky Lotte, the Italian waiter was singing for her ;-)
Later that day we went to the fabulous store Luisa Via Roma. Which was of an assignment for Vogue Academy. My god, what an amazing store, everything is just wow. Too bad it was expensive, otherwise I would have bought everything! Especially the Guiseppe Zanotti shoes (which won't go out of my head for days now!)
The prints in the styling are made by a Dutch company called Vlisco Fabrics. Pretty damn cool right, to see some Dutch prints in this stunning store, I felt a little proud. We weren't aloud to take pictures, but we're badasses so we did it anyway. Take a look of the styling of Luisa Via Roma

After our visit we had some dinner, (pizza of course) and went out for some cocktails for Lotte's B'day.

During our stay in Italy a lot of people were staring at us the whole time. I don't know what we did, but it worked. Free shots for everybody! During our cocktail hour, the bartender started talking to us and he wanted to take us to a club Colle Bereto Bar. Where we got another round of shots, and we got to this VIP area. My god, Italian girls are acting drunk, and dance uhhh how can you explain this... drunk! And the guys are not ashamed to flirt with you: big time. After some more (free) booze, we wanted to go somewhere else, so we left. But then everything was already closed. Florence is not really a party city.

Friday morning, lucky us: no hangover. We decided to get an 'early' breakfast at 10.30 across the street. So we just went there in our pyjama's. Had a nice mozzarella sandwich and coffee to open my tired and swollen eyes.
After we showered and got dressed, we went to the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, with a lot of shoes. But also other work he had created; like drawings and paintings. Really nice to see what colors he used, and combined it; it looked a bit cartoonists but so pretty.

After our visit we thought it was time for some serious shopping, and the weather was so nice. So after a while we thought it was time for wine!

Later we did some shopping and had a yummy dinner at a little Italian Restaurant. Bored with Pasta's en Pizza's already we ordered Lobster and Steak (yes, living the student life: NOT!) From day one we wrote down all our funny sayings and crazy things what happened to us in out little Burn-Book. Also this evening in this restaurant, and you could see all the people were really annoyed by our presence. We were laughing the whole time, and I made these little headbands out of our napkins (sooooo creative with fashion haha) This was one of our most funny evenings we'd have. We left the building wearing our headbands and calling ourself FASHION SCOUTS!

When we got back at out hostel, we wanted to swim; so we did. But we were staying at a "Back-building' so we had to crossover a little square; but we did in in style of course - in BIKINI and a TOWEL. To get to the pool you had to walk across the bar; so all the guys had the night of their life.After we jumped into the pool we discovered it wasn't that warm at all, so we moved our behinds to the sauna to warm up a little bit before we had to go outside again to get into our room!

The next day we thought it would be nice to show our faces to the people from school. They were going to the Gucci Museum, and it was nice to take a look there. This is the floral scarf Gucci designed (in one night) for Grace Kelly!
I liked the museum, but the tour was too long for me. I like it more when I can just go wherever I want, plus it was way too hot inside. During the tour I thought I was already in menopause, my god!

One of the teachers told us if you go to Luisa Via Roma (the fashionable store) and you tell them you want to go to their Outlet, they'll arrange a taxi for you and pay it as well. So I really wanted to that; and of course spent some money on something really nice. But fist we had to lunch, because we were hungry and we needed a little break from all the walking, shopping and sightseeing. We ended up to the other side of the river Arno and found a little cafe with an amazing view, but food and drinks were so overpriced.

After we re-gained some energy we went back to Luisa Via Roma, to take a taxi which will bring us to the good stuff!

Unfortunately there weren't so many nice things. I only saw a cute Marc Jacobs dress, but I was doubting; and doubting isn't good so I didn't buy it. We sunset was really nice that evening,  I think it's funny because Luisa is my second name and I never liked it because the way you write it; but now I know this fabulous store is called the same it's a pretty cool name isn't it?
Here are some more pictues, also during out VIP treatment in the taxi to the outlet store from Luisa Via Roma. But we accidentally walked into a little art exhibition with only red shoes and visited a cute store with nice clothes called twin set. Take a look down below :)

 



Saturday is for shopping, so we did. After that we had dinner in one of the nicest restaurants in Florence. The waiter was very nice, and we decided to drink some Limoncello! After that we went back to our hostel to change outfit and go out for some more drinks. We went to a cocktail bar called Caffè Concerto Paszkowski and ordered two enormous cocktails, me likey!

Around 2 am we were kicked out of this bar, because they wanted to closed. But we didn't finished our drinks yet, so we got plastic cups so we could take it with us. Strange, but hey... we had a mission; we wanted to party. We went to Slowly, but they said they were closed already. But Lotte (with her blonde hair) got us in, we got some free shots of vodka and time to dance. And there was a little dance battle between Pleuni and the bartenders! They said we could go to a underground club Blue Velvet if we waited for them to finish and clean up. Okay, sure! A couple of Vodka's later we went to Blue Velvet, if you normally walked into this street you would never know there was a club. You had to be quiet outside, once we got in it was pretty cool (and blue). We got in for free, en got some more booze. We danced all night long until 6am, we had to walk home again but made a little stop at McDonnald to get some foor in our tummy. Around 7.30h we finally saw our bed again, and slept like little babies 'till afternoon. 

Sunday, the last day in Florence; we had a little hangover. My god, what happed last night? There was a bucket in the room, Lotte brought home from somewhere and some blurry pictures on everyones phone! But it was a good night, now the task is to get rid of this hangover as soon as possible. Because the sun is shining and we want to enjoy that! So everybody took a quick shower, put on their sunnies and were out and about again; looking for some great hangover food. We ended up near by theBasilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (a.k.a.) Duomo, there we ordered some soup with bread and I ordered one big glass of Chardonnay; that's the best cure for a hangover. We wanted to buy some last things before we went back to the Netherlands, and then we found some cute little vintage stores and Second hand Haute Couture shops, where I bought some things. Actually I didm;t buy that much this holiday, only some shoes from Steve Madden, 2 skirts, and a top. That's all, my dad can be really proud!


The next day we had to take a taxi around 6am, to bring us to the station where our bus went to Pisa to bring us to the airport. The plane left at 9 o'clock, and once I sat down, I slipped into a little coma. About one and a half hour later, we were back in Amsterdam. Luckily it was sunny, but also a bit chilly. When I got home I had to do all my laundry, and I took a very long nap; because I was tired as hell. But what a nice trip, so many funny moments and a lot of inspiration. I spotted a lot of fashionable and fierce people for my style-bible, but I'm gonna post that later!

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First of all, Happy New Year! May your only pains be Champagnes! As you might have guessed, I couldn't fine any time to keep you galls&guys updated with my blog. Shame on me, big time. But, it's a new year and it's one of my resolutions to post more often.

During the holiday I've been thinking about last year, and what has been happened to me the last 365 days - and it's quite a lot actually. In 2013 I've been graduated at the Dance Academy, designed ánd made a costume for my solo, started a new study at Akademie Vogue, got an internship at The Darling and moved to the most beautiful city; Amsterdam. I think I can be a little proud of all the things I've done this year. It wasn't easy for me to make these drastic decisions, but now when I look back at my life I can enjoy it more in a way. I never could have done this without the people who never stopped believe in me - even when I didn't.

In 2013 I've been to beautiful places in the world, like Singapore for example. That was a magical trip for me, that's where I decided to change my life; quit dancing and go for the things that make me happy. That's what matters in life.

2013 was also a year of having wine (no… a lot of wine, maybe too much wine) and tosti's at Anvers. To "reduce" the stress, haha! Somethimes I wish I had the time to re-do that, because it was a blast. Dressing up, and just having talks with the people you love.

Now it's 2014, and I'm curious what this year will bring me. This week there's coming new Outfit of the Day posts, because in those two months where I haven't posted a look, doesn't mean I didn't shop. My poor bank-account and creditcard, but happy be! And that's what counts! With love xoxo A.

AMSTERDAMNED

It's been a while, but the bitch is back! A lot has happened, and I didn't had any time to update my blog. I'm so sorry! While I was gone, I moved to Amsterdam! Yes, finally I'm living in this lovely city! And I'm enjoying it the fullest. There's always something going on, the people dress fabulous and eveything looks beautiful. Normally I didn't like it to bike, but not in Amsterdam; I seriously love it (except when it's raining). But all by all, life is good. Spending a lot of time in my schoolwork; today I finished my first skirt - all by myself. I'm so proud, can't wait to make another one. But after being to busy, it's nice to find some time for your own, and that's what I did today. During the day, I did some stuff for school but really easy going. I feel I need to take a little step back, because I want to do too much in one time. I love these me-days! I know probably not so interesting to read, but I didn't had time to make some new Outfit-of-the-Day pictures, while I have a whole new collection of clothing in my wardrobe. And... for the few people who haven't seen me this week: I've cut my hair... short... in a Victoria Beckham bob! My friend Alisa did an amazing job, I'm so happy with it. It felt like I have to change big time, to leave the 'old' Alyssa behind. So, I did! Never felt better. So next time I update you fashionista's with some new outfit's but this is it for today! Enjoy your evening! xoxo

PS. I went to the David Bowie exposition by Duffy at Amsterdam FOAM museum. I loved it!

ALYSSA'S FASHION WEEK(S)

A week full of fashion, I think I'm falling in love with my new life. My world has been turned upside down, but I'm enjoying it the fullest. It's totally different then what I'm used to be doing. In a way I feel so much more free as a person, and this were just the first couple of weeks! At my internship at the Darling in the 9 streets I'm learning a lot, and I just discovered I'm more creative then I thought I was. I'm so busy I'm not able to update my blog as much as I want to, so I thought maybe it will be fun to tell you something about my week full of fashion; also known as Alyssa's Fashion Week!

Monday morning, time: 7:30h. First day of the week, I promised myself to go at least 3 times a week to the gym for a nice morning-run. Otherwise I'll get fat, and then I have to trow away all my clothing. Karl Lagerfeld was right: Fashion is the healthiest motivation for losing weight! So, I went.. early in the morning.. for a run. And it was amazing! I felt great, I ran 10 miles (16 kilometers)! Yes, I'm going to this at least 3 times a week. After my run, I had a little reunion with my classmates from the dance academy. It was so much fun, talking to each other like we've never been apart. After a lot delicious white wine and a salad it was time for me to go home. This little lady has to work tomorrow, and therefor I need to get up early.

with my lovely classmates at Happy Italy, Tilburg

Happy as a kid in a candy-store @ Happy Italy

Tuesday morning, time: 6:30h. The moment when the alarm goes of, and I try come out of a coma I can feel I'm a little hangover from the reunion last night. But I don't have time to concern about that, because I have to take a shower, get dressed, put some make-up on my face, get all my stuff together (because I'm sleeping at Sarah's place in Amsterdam) so I have to get my school-stuff as well. AHHH shit! And doing that in the early morning is difficult, but with a petit hangover; it's hell. Tip of the day: prepare this kind of things before you go to bed (or even better; before you decided to go drinking!).

Time: 7.50h. All dressed and packed I'm running to the train with a heavy suitcase, and the basterd is delayed (as usual). I arrive late in Amsterdam, and take an other run from the station to my bike; put my suitcase on the carrier and bike to the 9 streets like I'm training for the Tour de France. My boss decided to go to the World Fashion Centre in Amsterdam, to get some inspiration for the new collection of the store. After our visit, we went back to the Darling. And there was a little package, with new sweaters! I 've put some chains onto this Darling, I fell in love with this sweater! You likey?

Wednesday morning, time: 8:30h. This is lovely, I was able to sleep at Sarah's place in Amsterdam. So I didn't have to set my alarm that early. I decided to have my breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien, a cute little bakery at Spuistraat with delicious coffee. Perfect sunny morning, before going to school. 

Time: 10.15h. First class: pattern drawing and making samples. I love this class, because you're learning how you can make you're clothing. It's pretty difficult, and takes some time to make all the homework - but worth it. The next class is fashion drawing, and I think this is my favorite class. Such a nice atmosphere and it's nice to create some nice new things on paper. My last class is Fashion styling, where we work with new trends, make moodboards and make a blog :) after my long day full of fashion I took the train home.

Thursday morning, time 7.30h. Woke up early for a run, 13 kilometers. Thank god for Justin Timberlake's new album, perfect for during your run! Yes, another tip for you!

After that; a whole day of homework. I made this ballerina with a feather tutu for a assignment for school. That was the whole point of my new study, wasn't it; to create something with fashion and dance. Well, there you go ;-)

Friday morning, time 6.30h. Wakey wakey little miss sunshine, get your lazy ass out of bed and take the train (again) to go to work. It was a quiet day, and my boss decided we deserved a little Friday afternoon drink - I couldn't agree more. So I made some moodboard while I was having my white wine and ciggy, pretty cool job right?

Saturday morning, time 8:00h. Weekend! O wait, gym time. Run, Alyssa, Run! Yes, another 13 kilometers; but this time with Moby's greatest hits! Works good for me. After my run I went to the tanning salon, to get some color on my white and tired face. Then I hushed home, for some breakfast and a shower; to continue with some more homework. I had to make 3 moodboard, a sample of a skirt and draw some fashion bodies. 

Time, 20.15h I'm in the Hague for a cabaret show of Jochem Myjer at the Royal theater. I had so much fun, it was exactly what I needed this weekend. A little break from my homework and have fun!

Sunday morning, time 10:15. Finally, I can have some good sleep. Just what I needed! Today I finished all my homework, and I'm so proud I sewed my skirt! So... this was my fashion week. You likey? I hope I find some time to update you guys more often! xoxo Alyssa