Every culture and traditional element is meant to portray our lifestyle, our way of viewing and shaping the world we live with our own particularities, having as a vehicle for that the different rituals, dances, food or textiles among others. That's the reason why playing with cultural elements and turning them into a piece to use daily is risky. One reason is because you might endanger the main character and identity of the piece itself, the other, for obvious reasons is that you might be careful on the cultural connotations of what you're wearing and how. When it comes to tradition, innovation is difficult but necessary.

I've personally been very concerned about the topic, and trying to find balance between heritage and present times. As an example, there are so many amazing aspects related to our Spanish ah-mazing festivals and fiestas (which you can see, we're very proud of) that only those who are deeply attached to it might have the chance to appreciate it. Let's take a look at the super intricate hairstyle from Murcia (or "pleita"), the espadrilles made out of esparto surrounding all the Mediterranean area, the awesome and embroidered skirts and textiles for folk dresses at the west of Spain and, as the closest example, our rich and unique valencian silk and fabrics which have a deep connection and relationship to those used in China or Japan for kimonos and celebration gowns.

So, the fabric used in our folk gowns has been of only use for that aim during the decades, except for some dresses, jackets or accessories for fancy purposes such as local events or celebrations related with the Fallas festival. Is something which has been kept very, very local after all. But, I'm glad some entrepreneurs in Valencia have managed to turn tradition and the amazing and colorful brocade textiles into wearable stuff for the everyday such as flats, espadrilles, bow-ties or diadems among other accessories. My red patterned silk flats, which are called Fallerinas (and which you can find at the Espai Ripalda shop if you're near Valencia) are now a piece of my daily wardrobe, and a statement accessory I will use for sure to stroll the streets of Italy in my coming year abroad as evidence of the place I come from. These flats have been lined with a red silk with floral motifs in blue, purple and green shades I could place myself for the design to be set at the shoe as I wanted to. The shoe feels a bit tight at the beginning, as fabric linens are a bit reticent for your feet to fit, but the rest of it is made out of leather, so it's pretty comfortable and nice to walk on after a little while.

I will always be faithful to the local traditions, heritage and craftsmanship any place has to offer. However, if done with passion, respect and the right dose of creativity, I'm 100% with innovation and the rethinking of the most characteristic things every culture has on its own. Somehow, by reinventing and giving visibility to them (in this particular case, in the shape of a shoe), we guarantee these traditions to be kept alive for many more years.

My advice is, WORK ON THAT. Take a little moment to analyze and do some self-criticism and understand why you prefer setting things aside instead of doing them at the right moment. Or maybe it's not the time, and sometimes one has to realize that is perfectly fine and understandable that there are some days which getting off the bed is just enough.

#2 Two comes after one

Set up small goals you are able to complete. Take baby-steps and this way, you'll feel like you at least have done something productive and you won't feel overwhelmed by the huge volume of tasks pending. Just start somewhere. Be realistic, and set small goals you know you can achieve. It doesn't matter if you must plan a pair of extra days to get it done, but do some of it!

My class projects are usually surrounded by an aura of sort of an art masterpiece. They never get finished, and I am guilty of being obsessed every time I have to deliver any work that IT MUST BE COMPLETE and perfect.

Since I started being conscious that this would be absolutely impossible, and no matter what I did, my professors and teachers would ALWAYS find something lacking. So I stopped caring. And it worked. I may not get the best marks on my projects, but I always pass them and at the end of the day, it's what matters for me and what matters for my Architecture degree to be finished.

#5 Finding the real interest in what you do

Every time I put myself into a situation where I was required to organize, fill forms or documents or just get a maths problem done, I ended giving up by standing up of my chair and losing myself into piles of secondary things I needed to get the task done.

Third year already of the ETSA·TOPIA festival at the Architecture School of Valencia! I already wrote a little bit about last year's edition here but this edition of ETSA·TOPIA has been massive and nothing like you could ever imagine. This year's has meant the absolute consolidation of the architecture festival at the city of Valencia, of which I couldn't be prouder being part of the organization team and staff. We've worked a lot throughout the year, almost juggling with our daily homework, projects and stuff. But we architecture students at the Polytechnic University of Valencia are though and not easy to tame! It ended super smoothly although the usual last-minute issues and uncertainty moments always happening on this kind of events.

This year's topic of the festival was about transformation. Mostly about the profession of architect, but also, regarding our own transformation as individuals and as a collective, how to look for synergies and links to professionals and other disciplines and how not to take anything for granted. With two absolutely huge and first-row speakers as architect Anupama Kundoo and filmmaker, writer and journalist David Trueba as the main lecturers on the opening day talks, we had the chance to know how to think with the hands and how easy is to get the best of the world surrounding us on a super positive but critical way. As for some of our very crowded architecture workshops this year, we enjoyed a full day of building brick vaults (and loading them until collapse), a non-conventional photography tour, building architecture on wheels and so much more! As usual, we ended the three day architecture festival enjoying a paella on our Architecture School terrace filled with music and snacks.

So you might be wondering... How does an architecture festival relate to fashion? In fact, it relates a lot. If you've been reading Something Fashion for a while, you might know that I'm a big defender of the fact that fashion is architecture scaled to its littlest. Both disciplines call for spatial vision, care for materials, textures and colors; shape and form have an important significance in both design processes, and so much more! So, every time a couturier is working on a new fashion design, it's working with architecture at human body scale. That is what fashion means to me. And that's why these architecture events and festivals help me keep my mind open, help me boost my ideas about not only fashion, but also blogging; help me come with new collaboration ideas and ways to work with professionals of different disciplines, which is super interesting and enriching. A festival as ETSA·TOPIA in the city of Valencia brings the best in every one of us, teaches us how to teamwork and handle every situation and mishap, which also happens on every fashion studio, catwalk or conference you may attend to. Plus, having a paella lunch with your friends and inspiring people helps everything blend together!

Fashion and architecture are close to each other, and I'm pretty sure both disciplines can join forces and take the best of each to create amazing things. If not, tell Henry Van de Velde how he managed to get inspiration to match his wife's outfits to their house interiors. How cool is that?