Un Bellissimo Autunno

Can't stop myself from taking photographs everywhere i go these days for its such a beautiful autumn in Tuscany now.

One Lovely Sunday

I had such a lovely sunday morning. I woke up and made some pancakes for breakfast, prepared a cappuccino, sat on the sofa and read my current book. The pancake was successfully nice and fluffy, it makes me happy!

Fluffy pancake recipe :
1 cup all purpose flour
2 spoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
100 g melted butter
1/2 cup of milk
a split of fresh lemon

The secret : until everything is mixed, wait 10 minutes until the dough raised before put and flip it in the pan. :)

Remembering Summer

It's been a long time since I wanted to blog about my summer in Europe but I was either too lazy or don't have the time. Now that the weather is going colder everyday, I'm doing a lot of missing my summer days. The most memorable summer trip in my life so far.

The journey takes place in August. As I had a full month summer break from school, I planned a solo trip around Europe. The thing I always wanted to do and also one of the reason I chose to do my master in Europe.

So yes. 1 month, 6 countries, countless cities, even more countless train rides, all by myself :)
(well not actually a full month alone because i visited friends here and there, and also made new friends along the way). This trip enlighten me a lot as i get a lot of time thinking, reading, and contemplating with myself. I learned how to survive and to protect myself in any circumstances. I knew how its like to rely on myself and not having anyone to help or to complain to (once i missed a train from france to italy and i had to spent the night and slept on my beach towel in the station floor waiting for the morning train). I learned that expectations may not always achieved, but then it's about being grateful for everything we got. I got to see the world and a lot of different culture, and how it really shaped the surrounding. I learn how to be easygoing and to get along with different people. I learned how to appreciate life a lot better...

Food as Fashion

How funny is that now everytime we look at fashion, it is somehow connected with food.  And even funnier to see that now the habit of people eating are not merely to fulfill their stomach with something to make them stay alive and well but rather to feed them something “in style”. Eating habits changed as well as the fast spreading of global food to different continents. Don’t we realized how trendy eating sushi was 5 years ago and how now it becomes a habit and a way of life.  Not to mention the fact that now sushi is a fad, raw fish is praised as a "high-protein, low-fat" source, ignoring the high rates of stomach cancer in Japan. Or for the case of that silly colorful cupcakes, which you didn’t even like before it was considered trendy and fashion to go to a cupcake café and to purchase a box contained of 12 beautiful creations of compressed calories. As with all fashion industries, food fashion thrives on change; it demands it. The vast industry can only survive if people’s tastes are constantly induced to change.

The era of food-snob admiring the idea of fancy food which are arranged in the most mesmerizing way and if you’re lucky, tastes really like heaven. What you eat on your plate have become a form of self-expression much like a dazzling pair of Christian Louboutins, or a vintage YSL handbag. Just as the label "fashionista" bearing up an entire lifestyle, so, too, does the term "food-snob."

Is food just another accessory? Food and fashion was long ago a relationship fraught with difficulty. But now look at the number of cafes owned by a fashion label, say Gucci, Bvlgari, Chanel, etc. Oh and the chocolate line of Armani, Armani Dolce? And speaking of food trends, my favorite example is The Berkeley London designer afternoon tea, Prêt-à-Portea, which is inspired by the themes and colours of the fashion world. The menu is transformed every six months to follow the changing seasons in fashion. Here you can actually taste what “Miu Miu vanilla bikini biscuit with navy icing and signature white bow” tastes like.

Berkeley's Pret a Portea

This re-fashioning of food is an interesting and exciting phenomenon. Also we realized a great number of curious cooks and adventurous eaters embrace the culinary arts, as well a super fast growing number of culinary blogs and books. This food trend can also be frightening to imagine what will come up in our plates in the next year. A miniature of Lady Gaga wearing that meat dress as an exchange of my lamb chop? But a good thing we can hold on to, same case in fashion, classics religion will never dies. That a great food can be not complicated or expensive, a great simple food savored together with family and friends in celebration of good times. Like the classic little black dress, that particular kind of food will never go out of style.

At the moment

When I was in school I said to myself "I can't wait to finish school and start working!"

When I was finally got a job I'm thinking all the time "Oh my god I miss going to school.. can I go back to school?"

And now I'm doing my master at this moment and all I can think is "Man I can't wait to get over with all of these.."

People are truly never satisfied with what they are having, don't they?

What I've seen : Pitti Uomo 80

Fellow men, be ready for colors!

At the first days of summer I went on a school trip to Pitti Uomo, the biggest men fashion fair based here in Florence. 5 days of exhibition and installation of Men's collection for Spring Summer 2012.

There were not just one but enormous venue inside the Pitti Uomo area. There is The Main Pavilion which was the main part of the exhibition, I saw some brands I have never seen before such as Albert Arts, Altea, Kiton, Herno, Luciano Barbera, Sartorio and so on. In these brands I saw a very classis image with an high class craftsmanship touch. There are also names like Brunello Cucinelli, Church’s, Cruciani, Isaia, Lardini in the lower level which I think are more experimental but also done with true craftsmanship. And on the ground floor I saw some brands which are more sporty and casual. There is also the Urban Panorama which has installments from urban-metropolis brands. Here we can see brand such as Superdry, Denham, Jesus Jeans (a famous Italian denim who just rose again), Paul Frank, Casio, etc. There are also Futuro Maschile who offers unique interpretations of the developments in classic-contemporary men’s fashions. There were a lot of new twist in the style offered. Some of the brands are Mackintosh, Marchand Drapier, Pierre Louis Mascia,Roda, Salvatore Piccolo, Sundek by Neil Barrett. But my favorite venue was MY FACTORY and NEW BEAT(S), which was the area of emerging new talents. Here we can see how young talents describe fashion with freedom and creativity. The brands are Adam Kimmel / Carhartt Usa, Button Noise, Ciaboo, Civic Duty, Hells Bells, Kos Technology, Letom, Monsieur Lacenaire, Moveroma, O-Range, Resho, Rivieras Leisure Shoes, Skive and Sopopular.

Beside the whole exhibition, the more important thing I saw is the people who attend the exhibition. There were approximately 19,000 buyers came to Pitti and there were a lot of personal style to see.

Tommy Ton's Street Style Shots

My first thought was how massive is the effort for such brand to open a booth in Pitti because I knew it costs a lot. And every brand trying to stands out from others, trying to get as much attention they can get, and try the best to show the originality of their product and to communicate the message in their brand. Not to mention the huge cost of opening a drink bar, giving out freebies, even Boss has their own pool inside which was really elegant and marvelous. Such a huge effort for a brand to be known in an international environment.

Because it was my first time in Pitti, I didn’t really knew so much about development on trends and interpretation of style in menswear. But I did saw a lot of colors in the season. And the colors was rather hue and vibrant. I Saw a lot of suits in colors, cashmere sweaters in interesting colors, and a lot of detail on patterns such as checkers, polkadot, woven, and so on. Beside the vibrant colors shown  on fabrics, I also saw a lot of faded colors in materials. For shoes, I saw a lot of suede materials with different styles, classic, formal, laid back, all with suede. For me who haven’t really pay attention on men clothing before, I realize that they put so much attention in fabric, technology and materials. And a lot of it are meant to be functional.

From this event I can see how all brands made their projections and set an upcoming trend of the next spring summer. And I can see an understand how buyers work and make orders. And for visitors can absolutely see the exhibition as “shopping the market”.

But for me the more interesting part of the event was the “people-watching” part. Because a lot of beautiful people dressed up, it’s so interesting to compare the “fashion” going inside the exhibition and the real “fashion” going outside. It was like to compare two completely different visions of men's style going on simultaneously with such different results. For me the clothes people wear are much more interesting to see because they mix it with their personality and character, which makes the clothes stands out from they really are.

What a true eyegasm experience!

Melancholic Mood

Sometimes the things you want the most don't happen and what you least expect happens. I don't know - you meet thousands of people and none of them really touch you. And then you meet one person and your life is changed forever.
(Jamie Randall, Love and Other Drugs.)

Feeling in a melancholic mood tonight. Sitting here alone in my room on Saturday night. My mind wonders around. Can’t sleep yet. Wanted to do my project but too lazy too start. Just called my man a second ago who’s sleeping at the moment just to hear his voice. Been missing him terribly tonight….

I remembered having conversation the other day with my classmates during the break at the Chinese restaurant near school. We were talking about the day we’re going to finish this master and have to decide where to go next. Some of them want to go to London, Milan, Berlin, Shanghai, etc. They feel like it’s the time to look for a real job in the industry and starting over in a new place. I would definitely mention the same cities if I were asked 2 years ago. Instead that day I answered “anywhere near home”.

It’s funny to think how love and life has changed me a lot. I used to be this ambitious girl with tons of dreams and guts that can’t be blown by anything. I would go wherever I want and achieve anything I could grab.

But everything’s different now since I met this man.

I don’t know. Have you ever been so filled with love? You feel so much loved and you have overwhelming amount of warm love coming out of your lungs upon this particular person. You feel like you want to spend the rest of your lives with them. You feel like you only want to make them happy. And without realizing, you know that person is your source of happiness.

I just want to be anywhere near him. It’s like nothing in this world matters anymore if I don’t have him. It may sounds cliché. But I guess it all make sense when you’re so much in love.

Cagliari

Thank God for Ryanair, I was able to schedule a quick trip to Southern Italy. The choice was Sardegna. We only had 2 nights so we could only explore one city, Cagliari. Cagliari is the capital of Sardegna and was really pretty. First time after landed, I didn't know we were already in a different island until my friend Marcia told me! I really should learn more geography. The city of Cagliari looked a bit different from the other cities in Italy, then I knew that it was reign by Spain before. Since I never been to Spain yet, I was excited to get the little idea of how Spain is like. We did a city tour at the first day and went to the beach the second day. Liked the beach very much!

South France

Did a trip to South France (plus Monaco) with my classmates last easter break. Took a bus from Florence (6 hours, around 30euros, not bad!) to Nice. Spent 2 nights there, and took another bus to Cannes (1,5 hours, 1 euro!) for another 2 nights. Did a daytrip to Monaco in between.

To be honest I like Monaco the best. It's such a fairytale of  country. It's tiny, cute, but standing gracefully at the same time. Would love to come back!

Cannes Shopping District

Casino!

Cannes Beach

All building doors in Monaco are so decorative!

Monaco Harbour

Cuteness!

Pink walls in Monaco

Nice

View of Nice

Nice Beach in Spring. Still empty :p

Toast and Marmalade

Well I took way too many flower pictures!

Mission One

It really has been my dream to learn how to make a leather bag on my own. For those who knew me might know that I once started designing a bag and sell it online. But unfortunately I had to stop because of some misunderstanding with the craftman. Every once in a while I tried to find a another craftman who suits my taste but couldn't find any. That's why I really want to know how to make a bag. A leather one. Coming to Italy and Florence was one of the idea. Since Florence is truly the place where leather craftmanship born and developing. Thought I could manage to learn something beside my Master School.

Trying to find some leather classes to squeeze between my tight school schedule is not an easy task. Because most of the leather class I found required 4 days a week. That would be impossible. But lucky me a woman in Accademia Del Riacci sent me an email telling that their school were giving a 2 days workshop for leather craft. Excited as a child, I registered right away. And below you can see my excitement when finally I got to learn how to make my first leather craft in Italy. Well, coin purse and camera case today, beautiful handbag tomorrow? Amen! :)

Cut the pattern, create the sew lining, put a button hole.. not as easy as it seems!

Materials...

Never knew we even need a hammer! -to make the stitch smoother

Pattern made of paper

My creation ;)

Classmates

This wooden tool is useful to hold the leather while sewing the edges