Travel Report: Fashion Around Europe, Literally – Week 3
Here we are talking about the third week of the Fashion Around Europe, Literally tour. It was an intense one, we visited so many cities, we’ve met again incredible people and once again they have touched our souls.
Read here about: Travel Report: Fashion Around Europe, Literally – Week 1
Brussels
Our first stop this week was in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the host of the main offices of the Members of the European Parliament. It is a very beautiful city with happy people, good vibes and lots of places and museums to visit, but I am sorry to tell you this, Brussels, but we stayed for three nights at The Hotel Brussels and it was so cozy that we couldn’t get out of it to visit you more.
Those moments when you are visiting a new city, but you don’t want to get out of the hotel because everything is just perfect are very rare but it happened to us. Why? First of all, because The Hotel Brussels has fashion in its DNA and it’s known as the fashion city’s hotel. You can shop the big brands right in the reception and you could devour quality fashion in the lounge which is located at the 24th floor. It’s like a small library of fashion with snacks, drinks and breathtaking views over the city. What could you ask for more? A gym? Sauna? Of course we have tried them all and it was so good to recharge our batteries. Ah, if you are around and you feel like having a cocktail, you have to try the Globe Trotter, which was voted the best cocktail in Belgium and you can find it at the hotel’s bar.
Brussels filled our hearts with lots of fashion and inspiration that we “stoled” from the people we met. Yvonne Ivanescu is one of them. She is Digital Experience Manager for The Hotel Brussels and we had the pleasure to discuss with her about social media and its effects, fashion, origins and the places that we have visited.
Travel Report: Fashion Around Europe, Literally – Week 3
Alain Mukendi
After our chat with Yvonne, we met the designer Alain Mukendi, who is creating handmade sneakers. Seeing how he combines the latest innovations and technologies with the art of designing and creating from scratch sneakers was incredible. He is so devoted to it, he lives for it and he wants to inspire through his work. I can assure you that he succeeds this every day.
Ireene Be
Ireene Be is the designer who thought us that wasting should’t exist because if you are using your creativity a little bit more, you could save tons of fabrics and create unique items. Ireene uses high-quality fabrics, which are leftovers from big factories. In order to achieve her goal and to reduce the waste as much as possible, she designs unique items and she found a way to cut and to sew the fabrics so good that you won’t find in her designs hidden parts, this allowing you to wear them both ways: inside and outside. I am sure you’d like her collections instantly.
Catalina J
Sustainability is a very important trigger for Catalina J who is a young designer with a clean and geometric aesthetic. She found in Belgium, in Brussels a new home and the inspiration to create slow fashion. This is the identity of her brand. She is creating timeless items, uses already three sustainable fabrics, tracks the provenience of them and very soon she wants to replace them all with sustainable ones made from recycled plastic or fruit leaves. We are so curious to see what she will prepare for the future.
Travel Report: Fashion Around Europe, Literally – Week 3
Gent
We were totally looking forward to visiting Gent because lots of people told us that it is incredible, that it has a nice vibe and that it’s surrounded by students and happy people. When we arrived there, our expectations were already very high, but this coquette Belgian city managed to overcome them. The architecture, the canals, the small buildings and the small squares are just breathtaking.
Read here about: Travel Report: Fashion Around Europe, Literally – Week 2
Gent is very well known in Belgium for its high education. Here you can find lots of schools and universities. Because one of our fifth goals is to discover the education in each part of Europe, we stopped at the School of Arts, Kask of HoGent where we met Bram Jasper, Head of Fashion Department. We had such a pleasant talk with him and we discovered how different are the systems from one country to another, from one school to another. We appreciate the fact that here, you won’t find more than 16 students studying fashion in a year. All the resources and attention are focused on them and on their evolution. They are guided step by step and are getting prepared to face the real industry, and its problems right from the beginning.
Travel Report: Fashion Around Europe, Literally – Week 3
Zaandam
Zaandam is a city in the North part of the Netherlands and it’s famous for its windmills as in the past it had a huge milling centre. It had thousands of windmills and some of them are still very well preserved and you can get to see them rising above the water beautiful and colourful. We stayed there for a few hours, we enjoyed a nice lunch by the river and then we headed to Geithoorn, a small village in the Northern part of the country.
Travel Report: Fashion Around Europe, Literally – Week 3
Giethoorn
Giethoorn is called the “Dutch Venice” of Netherlands and it totally deserves this nickname because it is so beautiful and peaceful. One piece of advice, try to get here during the day time and not in the evening as we did. Actually we didn’t even arrive there that late, it was before 7 pm, but until we did the check in it was already dark and everything was closed. We felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Not even one shop opened at that hour, not talking about bars or restaurants, it was almost complete dark on the streets and of course not people around. At it was only 8 pm.
We went to sleep a bit disappointed, but the next morning, when we stepped out of the hotel, we understood everything and it felt like we where in heaven. We rented a small boat and we sailed the canals for two hours and enjoyed every second spent there. This small village is surrounded by water, before it didn’t have streets, it was accessible only by boat and has less than 3000 inhabitants. Make sure that if you ever travel to Amsterdam, you will also stop here because it’s just incredible.
Travel Report: Fashion Around Europe, Literally – Week 3
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is very close to Giethoorn and we went there for a few hours in order to meet two designers and talk about their inspiration and future plans. We also visited the city, but we didn’t have time to party if you are wondering. In the same day, we were waited in a small city close to Bruges in Belgium.
Acide
The first stop was at Acide‘s showroom, which is a new born baby brad. It has less then one year but it’s already selling in about 40 shops around Belgium and Netherlands and also online. The brand is reaching the independent and brave woman, who feels empowered and confident while wearing a silk dress at work or a daring one. Acid is modern, dynamic and niche. Talking about each aspect of the branswas very interesting.
Tess van Zalinge
We met Tess van Zalinge at the Fashion for Good museum where a part of her latest collection was exposed. Tess has such a nice energy and she is always smiling. Her latest designs where impressive because she created a collection in collaboration with @withlotte dedicated to the wedding gowns, to her roots, history and sustainability. All the outfits are made from the fabrics from old wedding gowns. Each outfit has a story and an inspiration behind. For example one is dedicated to the white colour, other to the cake, another to the bouquet or to the pearls. Each piece is unique and Tess talked about craftsmanship and her way of feeling and seeing fashion.
Travel Report: Fashion Around Europe, Literally – Week 3
Bruges & Knokke-Heist
For the past two weeks we have moved a lot from Belgium to Netherlands and back and these two were the finals stops before heading to France. We didn’t stay in Bruges, but in a small city by the sea which is considered to be the country’s Monaco.
Knokke-Heist is a small city by the sea, very close to Bruges. This is the city where very rich families are coming in the weekends and holidays to relax and spend quality time with friends and family.
We stayed here in a superb two bedrooms apartment from B2B Apartments and we enjoyed it a lot because we felt like home there. It is a luxury apartment and you could observe this in each small detail. It was designed by its owner Filip, who really made every second of our stay there just amazing.
Travel Report: Fashion Around Europe, Literally – Week 3
Filip worked in the fashion industry for more than 25 years. He was a hair stylist who had over 200 salons and traveled the world for fashion weeks and fashion shows all the time. We liked each other from the first second we met and we spent such a good time together. He showed us all the interesting things and places in Knokk-Heist and then he drove us to Bruges, where we had such a nice lunch. Bruges is a bijoux of a city, with many places to visit and good restaurants to try, but unfortunately around 7 pm it gets very quiet and almost everything is closed. Most of the turists are gone and you could get a bit bored if you are spending to much time there, but thanks to Filipe, we had such a good time.
That’s it for now. Can you guess where are we heading now? Ah, I’ll tell you because I am so happy… We are visiting the Loire Valley and on top of that, we are going to sleep in a chateau. Talk to you soon!
Travel Report: Fashion Around Europe, Literally – Week 3