Even for the tiniest family event, I always feel like I have to dress the part. We shot this pictures in late March, on a very sunny morning going to my grandparents' for family lunch. Just my parents, grandma and great aunt on the table. Some might think it's a bit overdone, but for me, playing dressup is an everyday indulge. Every event and daily situation requires its own approach when it comes to fashion, always staying true to ourselves and following our own sense of style.

One of the questions I hear the most is, "why the heck you come so dressed up to university, even if you are just going to deal with a pair of presentations and you'll be seated the greatest part of the day working in your desk?". Well, is the way I choose to say out loud who I am without shouting. For me, wearing a pair of kitten heels to class is how I boost self-confidence to approach every situation the daily routine may keep. My lips covered in red lipstick help me articulate words when I'm in front of my classmates trying to explain why I choose to use concrete instead of wood, or why being involved as a student representative is such an important role. I might even feel more comfortable wearing a sleek suit than my sportswear (well. Not my white fencing equipment. That is something I wouldn't change, EVER).

Fashion is the language I choose to track inspiration. I do not pretend to impose my sense of style to anyone, nor do I pretend it is imposed to me. Fashion helps us gain inspiration from our surroundings, embrace our culture and the marvelous elements it has to offer us and also, inspire and give ideas to relatives and friends when in need of advice. There's nothing more touching than a friend who asks for my fashion advice for her prom day. It makes me feel that my opinion into the matter counts, and that they really trust me for the task.

So, whenever you're having a super casual family event, dress the part with your truest self as I did here. Embrace your favorite pieces and rock them in the streets. Here I wore a pair of earrings which are typical from Extremadura (I bought them in Mérida. Remember my adventures around there?) and an asymmetric black dress which my grandma wasn't very fond of, as she hates it when I'm not wearing bright colors as she did on her twenties. 

(Thanks for the pictures to my marvelous turned-influencer-photographer for a day friend, Cristina)

I've spent all Easter holidays in Valencia, finishing some homework and projects, and studying hard for coming exams as well. There was so much stuff in here to do I couldn't leave even for a couple of days to town. But, that doesn't mean I've been bored. At all! There's so much fun waiting for everyone in Valencia, and these days have allowed me to do some recap and update with friends I hadn't seen in a while. I had a blast meeting my friends at Fridas en Valencia for breakfast, the new blog in town for everyone who wants to take a trip to our lovely mediterranean city. They also have an Instagram account where you'll know what's up in Valencia!

We spent a lovely morning downtown, just playing tourists at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento (city hall square) and Palacio del Marqués de Dos Aguas. For everyone who doesn't know, the last one is one of the very few rococo architecture in Valencia and for me, one of the most beautiful places in town. It also hosts the national ceramics and pottery museum, and have incredible pieces of furniture, antique valencian jewelry and even two impressive coaches at the very start of the tour. It's a super photogenic place: every picture you can imagine looks lovely here. I encourage you to discover a little bit of its history at the link above.

And I think that's pretty much in today's post! We've been having such a crazy weather lately. The day we shot this pictures was super warm, and I couldn't think of a better day to put on this fluffy T-shirt which felt too hot. Now, it's been a couple days since it's chilly and damp outside, with a very cloudy sky. What a mess. I only wish for a better weather to start planning and packing for Firenze soon!

A lot of you might know about my preparations for the next year studying abroad and some of you might also know about me being dressed in the traditional Valencia costume. How does this two things get together and what's behind this bizarre beginning of a post? Well. Today's post is about what are we and where do we belong. Since I'm already starting to get my preparations for my year abroad, still not very sure where I'll be traveling next course I've realized how much I appreciate my city and how I'll be somehow a representant of Valencia soon.

I didn't really appreciate being a Valencia citizen since I cut off my belonging to a falla and saw my friends dressing proudly their traditional and super colorful dresses this year. It's made a whole change in my mind. Like a click. I didn't really realize how much I missed dressing as a fallera and how much I'll miss the cultural heritage in Valencia until I started searching for silk fabrics and accessories like a crazy thing. How in this city we have one of the most ancient silk industries in the world, as Valencia was a key spot in the Silk Road between the 15th and 16th Centuries.

So, in today's post, I would like to approach a little bit of what means silk to us valencian people and our fiesta; I'd like to show you some hints of the kinds of patterns, colors and contemporary uses we give to this fabric and also how it represents our culture and history. Nowadays, the main use we give to this floral patterned fabrics is for making the traditional fallera and fallero (woman and man) costumes, which we only use during March at neighbourhood parades and processions during the fallas festival in Valencia. Well, and also during some events taking place during the year, but only related to fallas. Some designers have also found out how to commercialize this traditional fabrics as souvenirs or as more on-the-go fashion pieces as skirts, dresses or purses.

Second thing is that although the silk is the main and original material used to manufacture these fabric pieces, the common thing is to find artificial silk dresses, as it's cheaper and its use is more extended. Anyway, these fabrics are not usually sold "to cut": a fabric roll might measure up to 1,4 metres wide and up to 7 metres long, and you usually buy the whole roll for asking to your local fallera dressmaker to made the whole dress custom to your measurements. You might find fabric remnants to make children fallera dresses or to cover our shoes, but it's not a very common thing. The approximate prize for a fallera fabric roll starts at about 100-150 euros. And then, sky's the limit.

Then, there's the espolín. Espolín is the handmade fallera fabric fully made out of silk threads and 100% by a handmade loom. It's the thing we aim to treasure, appreciate and pass on generation to generation here. This fabric is also named after the little pod used to carry and pass on the threads through the wooden loom, which is also called espolín. An espolín fabric is a very rare and unique thing. There are only a few companies in Valencia which make these silk fabrics following the ancient tradition, usually custom-built for those who are crowned "queens" of the fiesta or are inherited from generation to generation. An espolín fabric may cost from 5,000 euros onwards; all depending on the threads' colors, metals used and the pattern difficulty.

Since these last fallas festival that I started doing some research to help one of my friends to get her first and own fallera dress ever, I really felt like I needed to share with the world the amazing things you can find at the places where we come from.

("Espolín Lidón" silk fabric from Les Barraques)