Barcelona

So here's a funny story. I've been to Spain twice now, in less than three months, but I still haven't been to SPAIN Spain. Confused? Well, my first trip was to Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands. So many people told me that it wasn't really Spain that I thought I should return to Spain to be able to properly judge it. Upon arriving in Barcelona, my friend informs me that Barcelona is also not really Spain, it's actually Catalonia.

Ok, Spain. I get the hint. You don't want me.

But that's fine. I was happy to escape the rainy Vancouver-like weather in Milano to enjoy a weekend of sunshine in Barcelona, with two friends that I actually met over Christmas in the other non-Spain.

We were only in the city for less than 36 hours, so luckily Teresa (who lives there) was able to pack those hours full of activities. Here are some highlights:

The market: We started our morning here, and were pretty much in awe of the fruit and veggies here. The colours were incredible. The only thing I can think to compare it to (in terms of visual) is the Granville Island market, in HD. So much variety, and so inexpensive!!! For my photography friends, if you find yourself in Barcelona then make sure to go to the market first thing in the morning to beat the crowds and take tons of beautiful photos.

Starbucks: I know. I'm ashamed. But when you've lived above a Starbucks for 3.5 years and then you move to a country without a single one, it's a bit of a culture shock. I bought a Starbucks latte. The good news is that in the end I didn't really enjoy it. But try me again in October when the Pumpkin Spice latte is out...

€3.50 mojitos.

The beach: What. Is. Up. We walked on the beach, in the sand, in t-shirts and bare feet. The day could not have been any more beautiful. Oh wait, it was! Later that night we went back to the beach to go to the bars! Life is pretty good when you can spend all day and night on the beach if you want.

€3.50 mojitos.

Street performers: The music coming from these artists is incredible. We stopped to watch one group in particular because they were so amusing (and we had to take in some sunshine!). Here are both videos, but watch the old guy on the left in particular. When he wasn't playing, he looked like a grumpy old man, but when he got started on that trumpet he was having a great time!

Shoes, Glorious Shoes!

A Shoe Museum.

I know, right? Some of you had to read that first line 3 times because it seemed too good to be true. But, I'm happy to report that just a short and cheap train ride from Milano, is a museum dedicated to footwear. Even better, entrance is free!

The magic happens in a little town called Vigevano, where every shop closes between 1:30 and 4:30pm,  there's a castle in the middle of the city, and there's a merry-go-round in the town square for no apparent reason other than for pure daily enjoyment.

The museum is small, but packs in a lot of different shoes, from those that are hundreds of years old, to more modern ones made in town; from the smallest shoe in the world, to a size 59 shoe! I'm no guide, so instead I'm just going to share some photos with you for your viewing pleasure!

An "Italy" boot, a shoe with a built in stocking, the smallest shoe, and a size 59 shoe.

Just general shoe-beauty.

And just general shoe-awesomeness.

Milan Fashion Week

Belated updates! But I have a good reason. The last part of February and first part of March flew by because the end of the term ran into fashion week ran into exam weeks ran into Spain ran into the start of term 3. My life was like that run-on sentence!!

Anyway, let's talk Milan Fashion Week. In September I scored tickets to some pretty sweet shows. So, I was pretty happy to have the opportunity to work backstage this season and see things from another angle! In all, I worked backstage as a dresser for the Trussardi and Musso shows, and also worked for a day at Christian Dior as dresser when they presented their Spring/Summer 2013 collection to their clients in-store. All amazing experiences, and all very different.

Trussardi F/W 13/14

I saw the difference between a show where everyone and their dog is allowed backstage, versus a show where only those involved in the show are allowed backstage. It's safe to say that I prefer the latter. Admittedly, I wasn't really familiar with Roberto Musso before the show, but I fell quickly in love with his clothes. So classy, and they made me so excited for <don't hit me> fall!

Backstage at Musso. Tired but happy!

But then I got to flashback to the season that we're getting in to now, Spring/Summer 2013, as a dresser for Dior's in-store presentation. It was a fun group, four dressers and four models, and to spend the day fawning over this collection was pretty surreal. Also, because I got to see one of my favourite tops from the collection up close and personal. Seriously. I fell in love with this top when I came across it during trend research in the fall, and when I saw it on the racks that day I knew that I had to dress the model who was wearing it!

Dior Donne!

By now, you're probably all thinking it was a pretty good week. But, it doesn't end there! Through a stroke of luck / stars aligning / someone hearing my prayers / a horseshoe up my butt, I scored a SECOND ROW TICKET TO THE MARNI SHOW. I actually squealed when I found out. Sorry to those of you who were around me at the time and had to hear that. Anyway, back to business. The collection was beautiful. Definitely one of those moments where you get to the end and wonder why it's over so soon.

Motivational Monday

Ciao tutti!

I had a really interesting evening at school today, and heard a quote that I think everyone needs to hear. For those of you who have seen The Pursuit of Happyness (I actually had to ask Google why the title is spelled incorrectly!), you'll probably remember. At one point during the movie Will Smith tells his son:

"Don't ever let somebody tell you... You can't do something. ... You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. 

If you want somethin', go get it. Period."

Take 2 minutes and watch it if you haven't already seen it.

This hits home, but let me clarify. No one has told me that I won't make it as a Fashion Buyer. But what I do hear constantly is people telling me either that I won't find a job here, or that if I do, I'll make about 100€ per month. As I near the end of my program, this happens more and more often. I usually just try to brush it off, because I know that isn't the case. I'm not saying that it's going to be easy, but I didn't just decide to pursue my dream willy-nilly. I did my research. I'm doing this because there are jobs available as a buyer, especially for those who work hard at it. 

So today, I declare that I will make it as a buyer, where I want, and getting paid what I want. It's my dream, and I'm going to go get it! Period.

Teaser

Every so often I feel bad that I have abandoned my faithful readers (my Mum and Dad?) by not writing  an update since 1976 (give or take 37 years). Usually this happens right around the time that I should be studying, and updating my blog seems like a great way to put off my homework just a little bit longer. But then I realize that I have nothing interesting to say because all I do is study!

Last week I did get to see one of my best friends, Christina, who came all the way from Victoria to visit ME! Or so I like to think :) I would tell 99% of you to avoid Milano if you come to Italy for just a short vacation, but for her it was perfect. We knocked off the touristy things (the Duomo and the Castello) in a couple of hours and then spent the rest of the time checking out some amazing shops. Only come to Milano if you like to shop. Or if you just desperately miss me. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos because I was more like a "tourist in my own hometown." Fail. So let's start pressuring Christina to post them! Which reminds me that I never saw all of the pictures from someone's trip to Venice... Chica! Anyway, if you could both get on with posting photos then I could at least steal them and add them to my blog.

But back to my life of studying. My school has been very silly, and has planned our exam week right alongside Milan Fashion Week. Another fail. This means that while I'd like to loiter outside all of the shows checking out the street style, I'm stuck inside working on papers, presentations, and exam notes.

But my school has redeemed itself by being able to provide some exciting opportunities during fashion week. Tomorrow morning, and tomorrow evening, I'm working as a dresser at two different fashion shows. On Sunday morning I'm going to an fashion show for a brand that I have fallen in love with since I moved here. And on Tuesday, the MAJOR event of the week, I've been selected to work backstage for a MAJOR designer as a dresser for three private presentations that they're doing. Names have all been removed in an effort to create some suspense, hence the teaser title. I'll *hopefully* take lots of photos, and write lots of posts about the shows So, stay tuned!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a photo of a little piece of heaven. Also known as Italian breakfast.

Reality Check

Sometimes I wonder if the downside of studying fashion is that you start to lose touch with reality. Case in point, last week my brain set off no alarms when our teacher told us about a 30,000 Euro custom fragrance from Cartier. I hope that at least 50% of you are shocked by the price tag.

This made me think back to a few years ago in Vancouver, when I remember seeing a one bedroom apartment in my building going for around $400,000. "OMG," I thought. "What a deal!" Yep. For 640 square feet. I had lost touch with reality, and I was only familiar with Downtown Vancouver prices. Then I'd see ads for apartments in Langley, that could be bought in full for the same down payment you'd use towards an apartment in Vancouver, and have to remind myself that you can't compare apples to oranges. $1,000,000 for a two bedroom apartment in downtown Vancouver with no water view? I'm certainly not in the market for it, but I think the price is legitimate. That scares me. But at least real estate is an investment.

I sometimes feel like an observer in the world of luxury, the same way I felt like I was an observer in the Vancouver real estate market. I was never the consumer, but that wasn't because I felt the price was unjustified. I was just not in the market to settle down in Vancouver.

In the fashion luxury industry, I feel like an observer simply because I can't fathom spending so much money on something that might be useless after a season. Sure, some pieces are investment pieces and I can understand those purchases much more, and will probably make a couple in my lifetime. But with the 30,000 Euro fragrance, I just can't imagine spending that much money on something that will disappear after a while. I would either never use it, or I would break down in tears if I accidentally missed my neck while spraying and wasted 100 Euro.

But, just as there is a market for Vancouver real estate, there is a market for fashion luxury.

I plan to be a successful fashion buyer, and want for nothing, but at what point is 30,000 Euro considered reasonable for a fragrance, even if it is customized for you and takes months of consultations and work to create? I just don't think I could ever get to a point where that's a consideration. Could you? If so, at what point?

The Joys of January!

Milan has a great way to deal with the depression of January. You know, that feeling you have when you realize you have almost a full year to go before Christmas, a heck of a long way to go before your next holiday (usually Easter), that you spent way too much during Christmas break, and that the weather just sucks. Just. Sucks. Oh, and you realize how little you studied over the break, and how much work you have to do now. Just me? Right.

So now that I've brought you down, let's bring you back up!

January starts with one of the most beautiful words in existence. SALES. That's right, forget lining up for Boxing Day sales while you're still trying to digest your Christmas dinner. Give it a couple of weeks, let your credit card cool off, and then hit up the sales that start the first weekend of January, and usually last until the end of February. This happens twice a year, so don't worry, if you can't get your act together to come and visit me in the next few weeks, you can always wait for the July sales!

Then, Pitti Uomo starts in Firenze. I did a bad thing, and skipped school one day to go. In my defence, I had already bought the train ticket and found out after that the class was being rescheduled! A little history... Pitti Immagine puts on international fashion trade shows and events. Pitti Uomo in January is a huge trade show where designers show their Fall/Winter 2013/2014 collections - designers who don't show at the various fashion weeks. I had no idea what to expect when I arrived, and my first (and second, and third, and fourth...) reaction was THIS IS HUGE. I got lost countless times. More so when I tried to find specific booths. I call them booths, but that's not the right word. They're pop-up shops. Hundreds, and hundreds of pop-up shops. They were all really well done, but two in particular stood out. The first was the Happiness brand. We're doing a school project for them so I was really excited to see what they had going on. They had built this hotel idea, with each room showcasing the different products. Sunglasses in one room, clothing in the "laundry room", shoes in another, prints in another. The other that blew my mind was Ballantyne. They had created a kind of magical forest, and in addition to deep, rich forest-y colours which I love already, they had this guy walking around the room with a bag full of noisemakers subtly making these sounds of the forest, from birds chirping, to a babbling creek. I literally wanted to throw the cashmere sweaters on the floor, curl up in them, and spend 3 hours in the forest.

A few days later, White Milano started. I have to admit that with Pitti so fresh in my mind, White was really a letdown. It's much smaller in size, and more of a booth set up than a pop-up store set up. The positive side of White was that the booths were less busy which gave me a chance to talk to the reps and get some information and actually meet some people. That didn't happen at Pitti - who wants to talk to a student when you have a line up of buyers waiting?

Last, but most certainly not least, Milano Men's Fashion Week started the same weekend as White. It was a mix of disappointment and awesomeness for me. The disappointment came from being cut from being a dresser for the Vivenne Westwood show, because they had 10 more people than they needed. So after leading all of us backstage and making us stand around and ogle male models wait for almost an hour, we had to go home. But the awesome part came when one of the other dressers got invited to the after party, and invited me as her plus one! Sadly for me, Vivienne spent the evening behind the VIP ropes where I certainly wasn't allowed, otherwise I would've tried to sit next to her and talk to her all night long. She fascinates me!

So, all this said, it's January 16th right now and I'd say it's been a pretty great first half of the month. I've taken part in all of these industry events, AND I even scored myself an awesome deal on a few new things that I "had" to buy.

Has this post convinced any of you to come and visit me yet? ;)