A week in the zoo: Monki Party and Swan Market

This Wednesday Lotte and I went to Amsterdam for the Monki Party. They were having a party to showcase their spring/summer 2011 collection and everyone was getting a 20% discount on everything! We decided to spend the entire day in Amsterdam and went to Restored to buy Frankie Magazine, which is a great magazine, but I’ll write more about it when I finish it. 

Lotte also bought Russh, another Australian magazine, at Athaeneum Newscentre (this is the best place to get magazines anywhere in Holland) and she bought really sweet smelling chocolate tea at Tea Bar, which is apparently delicious and even available online!

The Monki party was pretty fun. They had champagne, pink champagne, beer and non alcoholic drinks. There were two very female dj’s with very awesome moustaches and lots and lots of people. I’ve never seen a store that busy. We had to stand in line to try on the big stack of clothing for about half an hour and also had to wait the same amount of time to pay for them. But the 20% discount was worth it and we both bought some nice new items! I think it’s a really cool idea to have a party for the new collection and I hope they’ll do this again for autumn/winter.

Back in Rotterdam we went to the second edition of the Swan market. It was at Rotabs Stylecenter, which is an awesome location. The weather was delightfully sunny and the place was buzzing with people. It was nice, but we did think it was too bad that there weren’t that many new people there. We did off course, take some pictures!

Harmonica Necklace made by VanRox

Filler Inspiration Post

Due to a serious lack of inspiration I won’t be making a real writy post this week. But to still do something this week I decided to post some pictures of awesome things I came across.

First up! Chet Baker Sings.
My boyfriend and two of my friends have been having a jazz/blues fase and it turned me onto Chet Baker. He’s a jazz trumpeter and made this one album called Chet Baker Sings, which is just such a sweet, but cool album. And Chet Baker used to be quite attractive!

Just like most people on the internet, I’ve been looking at the runway pictures of fashion week and there were really cool designs! I’m already on the lookout for a really long wintercoat like the ones at Theyskens Theory. They make you look really cool and careless and I really hope the trend will carry to high street fashion stores. Otherwise I’ll just have to make one myself. That is how much I want it.

I’ve also been in love with Mary Katrantzou’s Autumn/Winter 2011-12 collection. The prints and shapes are amazing. I usually don’t go for really bold prints, but the material she uses and the style just make it work so well.

More fashion related info, I watched My Fair Lady for the first time last week and it was really good. I’m a big sucker for musicals anyways, but it had a great story and really nice outfits. Although I was a bit disappointed by the dress she wore to the gala, but I think my expectations were just a bit too high.

I’ve also watched the entire first season and what is already available of the second season of The Vampire Diaries. I thought it was going to be terrible, and to be honest the first episodes were (Who ever came up with that writing in my diary voice over monologue should be fired) but after that it got really good. It’s less violent and sexy than True Blood, but it’s funnier, has shocking stories and pretty decent characters. And also hot guys!

All the cast pictures look a bit ridicolous, but the show is really good!

The last thing I found through a somewhat old post on the Pamflet Magazine Blog. It’s a Australian Magazine called Frankie and the look reminds me a lot of Oh Comely. I haven’t read it yet, but there is one store in Amsterdam that sells it. I’ll be going there on Wednesday and I’ll let you know if it is as awesome as it looks.

There’s quite a busy week coming up. Lotte and I are going to the Monki Party for their new spring/summer collection on Wednesday, to the Swanmarket on Sunday and I also want to go to Museumnacht on Saturday (It’s a night where all the museums in town are open and host special exhibitions and stuff). So lot’s to do and hopefully more to tell that week!

Unlikely Fashion Icon: Jimmy Olsen

Most people know Jimmy Olsen as that goofy kid from Superman wearing a bowtie. As soon as people stopped wearing fancy bows as neckwear, he was made fun off by the comic community and everyone else who laid eyes on him. It’s time to change that! Bowties are awesome and Jimmy Olsen’s getting back into style.

Let’s dive into the history of bowties. According to Wikipedia it originated among Croatian mercenaries during the Prussian Wars of 17^th century. They used a scarf to hold together the opening of their shirts, which they called a cravat. So not actually a bowtie, but that’s where it all started. Soon it was the fashionable thing to do. Later on it became a real choice. While most people switched to the necktie, some made the definitive decision to make the bow their signature look. After looking like that in public, there was no turning back. Some famous bowtie-wearing men of the olden days are Winston Churchill, Pee-wee Herman and Fred Astaire. Nowadays, wearing neckties is as fancy as we get, but there are still some fashionable figures out there who don’t believe that bowties are for old men and clowns.

The most famous one for me is Jimmy Olsen, which is why I picked him as the style icon. He accomplished the adorkable look and turned himself into a style icon for many men who weren’t as tough and muscular as Superman. The geeky guy became a dapper hottie. Although not every ‘reïncarnation’ of Jimmy Olsen has sported the neckwear (they changed his look in the ‘70’s), to most it is still his iconic image.

Looking over a list of bow tie wearers on Wikipedia I’m extremely surprised James Bond isn’t on it. Although he also wears other sorts of neckwear, he still is the most dashing when wearing a big black bowtie. It gives him more charm and style than the British accent and his suave words together.

Other contemporary wearers are fashion designers Alber Elbaz from Lanvin and Karl Lagerfeld. I was so excited to see that the Lanvin loves H&M collaboration included his signature bowtie! Steve Jobs had a bowtie fase in the 80’s and Matt Groening has a tendency to give a lot of his characters awesome neckwear as well. 

 

But there have been two recent characters who’ve really brought it back into style: Doctor Who and Chuck Bass. I mentioned Doctor Who in an earlier post, where he said the following about his appearance:

Doctor: Trust me?

Kazran: Okay...

Doctor: Oi. Eyes on the tie. Look at me. I wear it and I don't care. Trust me?

Kazran: ...Yes.

Doctor: That's why it's cool.

— Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol

Why wear a bowtie? Because they're cool! After the start of the new Doctor Who season, a leading fashion retailer exclaimed that they prompted the sales of bowties! Good news! Not only did he bring back the bowtie, he also made the fez fashionable and will work his magic on the Stetson next season.

Another contemporary dandy is off course Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl. He wears bowties for many occasions and has really brought them back to popular culture. Take a gander on Lookbook and you’ll see lots of boys creating outfits with a bow in the center. But it’s not just men wearing them anymore. Even girls are getting in on the action, and I’m not talking playmates.  Alexa Chung, Rihanna, Diane Kruger, so what’s not to like! Famous people are wearing them, so should you!

I ran into bowties in a second-hand clothing store in Antwerpen. They had this big square bowl filled with colorful bowties. I especially liked the thick velvet kind, so I bought three of them. After that I started to wear them with as many different outfits as possible, but the reactions of most people weren’t as enthusiastic as I thought it would be. They would say, ‘how quaint’ or ‘My, what a big bow you have on’. Even though my new style didn’t catch on as I thought it would, I still think wearing bowties is the best way to look dashing. Next stop: suspenders and a Stetson!

Swanmarket

Everybody who’s been in London knows and probably likes the Camden Market.
Rotterdam, in an attempt to show off its creativity, now has their own version called Swanmarket, which includes shops that sell vintage, art, clothing & accessories and tasty treats. This weekend was a Christmas version of the lifestyle market, but the Christmas aspect was limited to Glühwein and the massive amounts of snow outside (my feet are still frozen!) To give an impression, we have some pictures and some links of cool sellers we saw today and luckily for you most of them have Etsy stores!

There was so much snow, people had built an iglo!

Empty houses were turned into a marketplace where several people could sell their creations. I really liked the leather bowtie necklace and chrochet jewelery from Van Rox. I have been trying to make a leather bowtie all night, but all I'm really doing is breaking my sewing machine (damn my hubris!). Another cool artist was Remona Poortman who makes twodimensional as well as threedimensional art. I love the drawings, but also the felt and leather teardrop necklaces

My favourite thing and what might be our new meeting place, was Rotabs. This is a stylecenter where  creative people can sell all kinds of things. You'll find big pieces of art like a stripped down slotmachine, but they'll also sell clothing, magazines and vintage! I was happy to find Mint Vintage, because Rotterdam really needs more vintage clothing stores. We'll probably write some more about Rotabs later, but just to give you an impression of the amazing things that are happening there we give you visual inspiration!

The most tasty scone ever at Lof der Zoetheid

They let you fill your own teabags!

Beating Roodkapje with a burger in ROT(T)TERDAM

Our street style shoot didn’t go as planned… While walking through Rotterdam, on what might have been the coldest day of the year, we only encountered people wearing Uggs and fur-trimmed jackets. We’re blaming it on the cold right now, because it would be a bit disappointing if this was all the street style Rotterdam had to offer. Never the less, we met some nice people at the Meent! The old City office is being redeveloped, but to make sure the street will still be nice for shopping and wandering about, upcoming artists get a chance to show their work in the empty stores surrounding the old building. The initiative ROT(T)TERDAM was formed by Roodkapje, an art platform interested in new and exciting artists, willing to challenge and contribute to the social debate. The project uses about 700m2 and calls itself a cultural supermarket. Artists rotate in a small shop to show and sell their work, there are two galleries for workshops or temporary sales and a small burger shop for biological or vegetarian hamburgers. They show movies, curate events, parties and cd releases. If you’re looking for art and culture in a new and interesting way, you can definitely find it here.

Sander, de van der Poort in Duran//vanderpoort

Today we found a really cool art exhibition and store by Duran//vanderpoort called Enlightenment. They look for designers who take a lead in this new era of Intuition.

One of our favorite pieces was a light object called ‘Naked City Light’ made by architects Natascha Madeiski ( Italy) and Alexander Graef (U.K.).

Another great collection was by StudioRUIG, a clothing-label from Eindhoven that works with leather and soft jerseys resulting in sober fashion for wayward types (that’s us!) They also love moustaches, which we also do!

PIGBLACK, StudioRUIG

  
Also a designer based in Rotterdam is sold in the store: the young (only 21 years old!) and upcoming Ruby Verhoeven. 'The colour palette with an indispensable eye for detail, shows well thought combinations and the esthetic value of one-tone.' The details might not be seen on the first sight and you'll only see a simple dress, but as Ruby herself says: 'Take a closer look, and you might see what I see..'

Our next stop was a wintersale next to the beatburger organized by Zone 5300. They sell comics, art and other fun things. Angelika bought a really nice art print and Lotte was in love with a Superman Comic. The comics were sold by Comiquest, who is opening a comic bookstore in Rotterdam coming spring. He was nice enough to have his picture taken by us. Go see his store when it opens!

Comiquest

The nice people of Zone 5300

 We ended up eating a nice luch/dinner at the beatburger. They not only sell great biological burgers, but also make tasty pancakes, chestnuts and prosecco with a cherry. We’ll end with some pictures of our fancy feast!                          

Virgo's Galaxy Dress

This month's British Vogue has given me a new obsession. It contains a horoscope photo shoot showing all the star signs in great outfits. The shoot, created by set designer Shona Heath and photographed by Tim Gutt is not only pretty, it also shows really cool clothing!

Even though I’m not a Virgo myself, I just love that Christopher Kane dress. It’s so pretty and dreamy! The galaxy print is just great, especially with the really pretty pink and purples. If only I could afford it or put it on my Christmas list… 

British Vogue December 2010

Christopher Kane S/S 2011

Off course there is the option of making something similar myself.  If anyone knows where to find fabric like this, please leave a comment. I'll be so thankful!

The Dutchness

When I’m traveling around the globe and talking to people abroad the conversation mostly leads to one subject: each others home country. Asking other people about the country I live in (the Netherlands), the usual suspects always turn up: Pot, Amsterdam, Prostitutes and Clogs. A lot of people think Amsterdam is the weed-smoking prostitute capital of the world, where everyone is wild and free to do whatever they want and that is all there’s to the country. Well, some of those things are somewhat true of course, but a lot about the country is not at all that crazy and wild. When it comes down to the fashion-sense of an average Dutchman (or woman of course) they are pretty boring and not very noticeable. There is a commonly known saying: “Doe maar normaal, dan ben je al gek genoeg” meaning something like “Just act normal, ‘cause that’s crazy enough already”. If you would skim the streets for any glamorous people you would be better off in Milan or any other random Italian city, because here a t-shirt and jeans is everything you’ll need to be fashionable, that’s probably most practical riding our bikes.

Daphne, Trendstyle.net

                Yet, surprisingly the country also contains a lot of beauty. Dutch models are the most popular models (along with the eastern European) to use on a runway at the moment. Never in the history of the runway there were so many Dutch girls among the supermodels. To name a few big ones who are around for a little while now: Iekeliene Stange, Doutzen Kroes, Lara Stone, Kim Noorda and Bette Franken. But there is also a whole new generation coming up, among them Mirte Maas, Ymre Stiekema, Nimue Smit, Daphne Groeneveld, Bregje Heinen, Anna de Rijk and many many more. A lot of names for such a small county, but it’s no surprise considering we’re the tallest people in the world.


Not only the models are becoming more interesting for the international market, there is also some progressive fashion coming from the Netherlands too. Not the scream and shout fashion, with diamonds and glamour, but some real intelligent avant-garde pieces.

                G-star and Blue blood, two jeans brands with their own way of making rough jeans and the ecological jeans brand Kuyichi are international big names in the fashion-affordable-for normal-people industry. Nice clothing, but those brands might just keep up the jeans and t-shirt image of the Netherlands. More interesting to look at are the pieces of Dutch greatest: Viktor & Rolf, who are today’s most successful Dutch designers and who keep on making statue-like, intellectual and ironic haute-couture. They certainly didn't listen when their parents told them not to be crazy. The young and upcoming designer Iris van Herpen, about whom I would say creates the perfect crossover between fashion and art, uses the most bizarre figures and brings a whole new idea to the clothing. She uses handcrafted pieces combined with new innovative techniques. And then there is Bibi van der Velden, jewelry designer. On her website she calls her jewelery wearable pieces of art. These are a few among the great designers coming from the Netherlands, but I'll save the others for later. The greatness of Dutch clothing is not found in the streets, you have to look a bit further, but when you do, you’ll find great stuff.

Viktor & Rolf

refinery29.com

Iris van Herpen

trendland.net

ftape.com

dashempire.com

Bibi van der Velden

bibivandervelden.com