Halloween preparations in Italy! Although being itself an Anglo-Saxon tradition, being able to discover traditions kept in this country which is already my home for a year is truly amazing. As Mexico having its "Noche de los Muertos" with their fabulous, colorful catrinas and Spain having the "Día de todos los Santos" with seasonal sweets and flowers left for those who aren't among us anymore, Italy has also some magnificent traditions depending on the town (or "paese") you are based in. For example, in the region of Veneto, there's a tradition of shaping pumpkins as skulls and it is told that in the night of the 1st to 2nd November, the dead could escape from their tombs, kidnap the kids they might find downtown and make animals in the stables talk.

I don't know exactly what the Tuscan traditions are for Ognissanti and Il giorno dei Morti, as they call Halloween here, but from what I've heard, they celebrate it eating of course! Everything here is about food (I can tell you firsthand. I've spent almost all my time here eating delicious food and I still have to figure out how I'll get home with all this extra weight) and as I've heard from italian friends, in the city of Firenze is typical to feast over Schiaccia dei Santi and Pane dei Santi (which is basically, delicious, dreamy focaccia). For all I care, I will be celebrating All Saints' night with my friends downtown with this dreamlike fluffy crimson fur coat from Lightinthebox, who once again joined the boat to help me find the best outfit ideas for any event to share with you. Firenze, and more exactly, all the zone above Rome gets awfully cold from Fall to almost Spring so, what better than a fluffy coat to rock my beloved (ehem, nope) cobblestoned streets without freezing. I love not only the super bright maroon-reddish color of the coat, but also the envolvent neck which allows wearing turtlenecks and scarves to get extra warmness. And the fluffiness! It's so fluffy and soft I would spend my days hugging it as if it was a stuffed animal. Now you can get yours as well, as Lightinthebox is hosting its Halloween Sale until 2nd October with discounts up to 70%. Because, is there something better than a Halloween disguise being comfy and super warm? I bet not!

With this look inspired in Halloween, I wanted to turn everything a little bit vampy, with the faux fur coat as the main character of the outfit, some black eyeliner and dark lipstick. I think the black and white pants also add a little bit of Beetlejuice costume inspiration, doesn't it?

So, is there any plan you're already making for this coming Halloween? What kind of traditions does your country, or town have? Do you have any fashionable costume already?

Do tell in the comments below, I'd love to know!

If there's one place I couldn't be grateful enough to visit last year's Madrid Openhouse event was Fernando Higueras' house-studio in the peaceful and picturesque district of Chamartín. Although it was very crowded for the event as it is quite rare for it to be open to public access, I really enjoyed the visit and I literally freaked-out when I experienced the true height of this underground house which is known as the "Hell-scraper" or "The Cave". Funny, isn't it?

So, when I found out Madrid-based luxury brand LOEWE did publish a new online campaign featuring Fernando Higueras architectural jewel as a background for one of their shoots, I knew I had to share it with you as part of the "Architecture and fashion" series here in Something Fashion.

Since Jonathan Anderson's arrival to Loewe's creative direction, the luxury brand has been involved in a cultural expedition to put the vanguardist Spanish patrimony into value. He accomplishes it with subtle interventions and photography campaigns taking place in Cuenca or Segovia, in the architecture of Javier Carvajal, or the abstract Ibiza of the 60's era. This season, Loewe presents its Autumn/Winter campaign through this photoshoot partially taken at this insolit cave. The spaces at Higueras' studio act as a perfect insolit, mysterious background to Loewe pieces, which are partially destructured in a space which is both contemporary and anthropologic.

First post featuring some incredible Firenze sights and buildings! I still can't believe I'll be able to spend a whole year living in this dreamy city full of colorful buildings, venetian windows, architecture holding so many stories and history of Europe in every brick of them! I feel so blessed and lucky. My flat and flatmates are also the coolest I could ever have asked for, and I think I'll easily get used to all of this (food, people, even language!). Of course, it has its little downsides as housekeeping for the first time on our own, and managing expenses (which are much higher than I thought, specially talking about cleaning products, OMG) but I think that is added to the whole year abroad experience.

So, what I've been up to this last week? Well, after finding ourselves, put up everything, deal with the firsts of all (full house cleaning and settlement, the trip to IKEA, first misunderstandings with the language and presentation of the course at uni...) we finally had some fun time strolling the city, getting lost in the cobblestoned streets and wander around to be welcomed by the most touristic and crowded, yet beautiful and statement constructions in Firenze: the Santa Maria dei Fiori (or Duomo di Firenze), the train station of Santa Maria Novella and its homonymous church, or the Piazzale Michelangelo at the very top of the city, where we photographed this breathtaking sights while enjoying the Gelato Festival of Firenze this past weekend!

To wander around the city, and if you don't want to get unexpected attention, I would recommend to cover up a little bit (in fact, it's already getting a bit colder in the evenings, so a light jacket, shawl or blazer is always welcomed) and put aside your running sneakers to a pair of comfy flats or ballerina shoes like this ones from Gloria Ortiz shoes I'm wearing here. Italians like to keep it simple, yet stylish and comfortable, so black blazers and white, basic shirts and T-shirts will be my main pieces this year!

I can't believe it's been already a week at the bellissima Firenze! I never told you about our crazy flight due to cancellations to our home abroad, but I think that's an issue for another post maybe coming soon. Meanwhile, I wanted to make a Fall fashion wishlist with that might be a nice idea having in anyone's closet for living here in Italy, or even traveling to cold weather Europe. So, today I'm partnering with Zaful to bring you some cold-weather-proof, cozy fashion items to wear to Firenze (or anywhere with a harsh Fall season).

First of all, let me tell you about the florentine style and the reasons behind so many stylish people around here, for what I've seen and my humble experience in these few days. Firenze is known for its quality leather, for being home of renowned Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo among others, for being a cultural capital for centuries and always in vogue of the latest trends either talking about fashion, architecture or any kind of thing, actually. Maybe it's not as big as Milano is, but for me, this city has the perfect balance between heritage, craftsmanship and love for things done in the best way in a very medium sized spot. Firenze is perfect on its own way, although what I've been told is that its Autumn Season's are not so perfect. Cold temperatures, humidity all around and rain anywhere you go makes the perfect cocktail for staying stylish while cozy and classy without standing out the crowd a lot. Blending with the oh-so-stylish italians is key to avoid unwanted gazes, pickpockets and street vendors, and that is possible with the help of Zaful team in today's post!

 

Architecture graduation ceremony à la Spanish. We talked graduation and prom outfits before in this post, but this is the real deal: what I wore to our 2012-2017 Architecture School of Valencia graduation ceremony, how it felt and what was the whole evening like! First of all, I can't believe it's been almost a week since the whole thing and I'm already at Firenze, Italy with almost half of my luggage to unpack, two boxes to hit the mail and lots of sightseeing to do!

So, last Friday evening we, more than 200 Architecture students, relatives and professors gathered in the Palacio de Congresos of Valencia (built by architect Norman Foster) very early in the afternoon (and when I say early, I mean "early for an Spanish gathering of people". With these warm temperatures in all the Mediterranean coast, we are all night owls who like to convene very late!) for a graduation ceremony which had both its institutional and more serious side; and the other way round which had us laughing and enjoying to no end. For what I've heard from friends at other Universities and Faculties, graduations in Spain basically consist in reuniting all the students on a hall, listen to a couple of speeches (we even had some videos played in ours!) and then call us one by one to stage to put on our shoulders the beca (which translates directly as "scholarship" but it's actually a kind of sash which color depends on the field or studies you take) to finally reunite with our relatives to take pictures, meet our friends' families and head to dinner all together to celebrate and party.

It was very moving and special to share with all of them this evening, and let everyone on that hall know that every project we've worked hard on has a bit of their soul, for accompanying and holding us during this journey. Then, we headed to dinner and had lots of fun dancing, catching up with those who left this year for their abroad year and basically enjoying the night with our friends and classmates.

And, moving on to the outfit part! I had a couple of graduation gowns at home I actually planned on wearing. I was very undecided for months, and when I finally cleared my mind about which one I was about to wear, this gorgeous blue gown (is it actually blue? Blue and orange? Multicolored? I don't have a clue) appeared right in front of my eyes on a random Summer sales' afternoon out (I didn't even started my Summer internship yet!) all put together beautifully in a mannequin. I runned towards it. Like, literally running. At the mall. Like a crazy thing. I knew I was looking for something different, not too crazy or showy, nor revealing; but something that depicted as much as possible the kind of woman I am, and who I want to be in the near future. My ideal dress didn't have any shape nor particular color until that moment. I wanted something both as unique and special as playful, fun and classy. My dress needed to be an statement of intents of all sorts, and I think I made it!

To top off this graduation outfit à la Spanish, I needed accessories worth the dress' style and an appropriate hair updo which fitted the event and the whole look. The prom-inspired hairdo I'm sporting came from this Instagram video from Heather Chapman's profile, and was beautifully and patiently crafted by my mum (although some hair pulling and tangles were made, I must confess). The ah-mazing tassel earrings came from Emokë Diseños, who handcrafted these unique soutache earrings according to my preferences, and who kindly lets you customize and take care of all the colors, sizes and details. I also wore her designs here. No comment on the makeup, I just did my regular day-to-day cat eyeliner with a blue pop of color on the lower lash line and put some (Well, OK. Actually, TONS of) signature red lipstick.

Leaving to Firenze tomorrow guys! I can't believe Summer is already gone, and with that, the internship at the studio, the weekends spent at the beach, the goodbyes. Oh gosh, I'm a tough girl and known to be quite reluctant to exteriorize my feelings, but I never thought it was going to be so hard to manage goodbyes to family and close friends. And I'm presumably coming back home for Christmas! Anyway, it's all fine, I'm super excited to get there, start living on my own at the rented flat downtown, finish all the paperwork that needs to be done, and start knowing more about Italian culture and lifestyle.

So, you might be wondering how the preparations for a year studying abroad have gone so far, and why I've been away from the blog (and almost all social media channels) for almost a week and a half. I landed home again after being totally away for a couple of months due to the Summer internship in town, which felt super awkward (believe me when I say I didn't remember properly where some things were stored at home) to be received by a huge empty suitcase that needed to be filled as soon as possible. Plus, dealing with another large suitcase filled with Summer work outfits and stuff that needed to be washed, organized and put back into place. Plus, paperwork and stuff that needed to be done in the city prior to leaving the country. That translates into two weeks of non-stop running from one place to another to get all done in time.

All this studying abroad craziness has led me to some interesting conclusions and tips that I needed to share with you before leaving to Italy. This is:

#1 Two hands, one luggage
Are you traveling solo, or getting to your destination by your own? If so, don't you think about embarking a huge suitcase and a taking a cabin carry-on. Will you be carrying all those things by your own, probably late in the evening, once arriving at a place you might not know at all? (Or even better when dealing with transfers). Instead, embark all your stuff in your luggage and get a cabin-sized bag which you can wear on your shoulders as a backpack.

#2 Get some info prior to your departure
Are you flying to an airport which is not in your town of destination? Are there any buses, trains or transfer at your arrival time? What do you do if your luggage gets lost or your flight delayed? Gather some information which might be useful once you arrive to your abroad destination (like complaint and information numbers, etc), and get ready for the worst situations. Even if they might not happen at all. Prevention is better than cure!

#3 Pack wisely
Back to when I went to Boston, due to flight connections in Madrid, my luggage got delayed a couple of days. Fortunately, that happened on my way back home, and not in my way to the US, as that could have caused a massive situation in my 17 year-old-self. Once that happened, I learned the hard way to always put in my cabin bag a couple of clothing changes, my most valued items (laptop, camera, tablet) and to pack inside the carry-on a little purse for the ID's, passport, money and phone.

For Firenze, I'm also carrying a set of bedsheets just in case the first night on our new home away from home things are a bit, let's say, nasty.