MBFWA

 Mercedes Benz Fashion week in Amsterdam is a combination of fashion shows of upcoming talents, designer and different Dutch brands.  It might not be well known yet , but the truth is most of the Dutch designers did not grew up or  lived all their life in famous Amsterdam, but rather come from smaller cities of Holland who are not that commercial but offer much more fashion than you would imagine.

 

 The nethelands, Amsterdam

Mercedes Benz Amsterdam Fashion week

MBFWA

During my internship this summer which I had in a city of Holland called Arnhem, when I was working for a small individual fashion designer, I got a lot of knowledge about the designers that come from there.

Did you knew that the designer Iris Van Herpen, one of the most famous designers not only known in the Netherlands but also in cities like London and Paris, started with a small atelier in Arnhem?

Also the designer Irving Foster which I had my internship with attended in 2013 in Amsterdam’s Fashion week!

The Mercedes Benz Fashion week in Amsterdam, is organized twice a year, once in July and once in January.

It is not a secret that the Netherlands is struggling with having “too many designers” so during fashion week every designer has the opportunity to show his talent and hope for getting discovered.

So let’s take a look of some designers that took place last Fashion week show.

The nethelands, Amsterdam

Mercedes Benz Amsterdam Fashion week 

Designer Fernanda Fernandes

  Fashion Show July 2014

The nethelands, Amsterdam

Mercedes Benz Amsterdam Fashion week 

Designer Zyanya Keizer

Fashion Show July 2014 

The nethelands, Amsterdam

Mercedes Benz Amsterdam Fashion week 

Designer Said Mahrouf

Fashion Show January 2014

I AM AMSTERDAM

The Netherlands, Amsterdam

I amsterdam letters

Museumplein street

Photograph taken by me 

 

I AMSTERDAM, one of the oldest cities in Europe, even older than Paris and London which has remained until today a must place to visit! Holland in general is considered to be small, but Amsterdam has managed to be seen as the smallest of the biggest cities.

When it comes to shopping Amsterdam is so much fun, and that’s because Amsterdam is a city that is completely “under” water, so don’t panic if you might not be able to reach some stores by foot!

So the best shopping street for Amsterdam are, first of all, Kalverstraat, which is probably the busiest street of Amsterdam. This street goes along the city centre; it is only for pedestrians so it is always crowded with a lot of tourist and locals. Three big shopping malls are also located on this street, the Kalvertoren and Magna Plaza and the famous Bijenkorf.

Bijenkorf for those who maybe don’t know anything about, this is a six floors high department store which only has high-end luxury brands, like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Channel, Michael Kors, YSL, Alexander Wang, etc.

And then there are sales? This department store gets so crowded!

The Netherlands, Amsterdam

De Bijenkorf department store

 

Another street called Leidsestraat, for tourists known as the leidesplein square where the BMW mini showroom and the apple store is located. Stores like Abercrombie & Fitch, Metz Co and Camper shoes are located there as well.

One street that not a lot of tourist are aware of but is definitely worth visiting is the 9 small streets, known in Dutch as De 9 Straatjes.

It is probably the most interesting shopping area in town!

The 9 streets is actually 9 small shopping streets paradise with the names, Reestraat, Hartenstraat, Gasthuismolensteeg, Berenstraat, Wolvenstraat, Oude Spiegelstraat, Rijnstraat, Huidenstraat, Wij de Heisteeg, all in Dutch of course. Every single street offers ten of the best fashion shops in the whole city.

The 9 streets I also known for its vintage stores, the only part of the city where you are able to find so many interesting shops just one next to each other. 

 

The Netherlands, Amsterdam

Scotch & Soda store

Dutch Brand

Photograph taken by me 

The other Copenhagen

This weeks topic is DK Fashion week!

Until now I have been writing about cities such as, Berlin, New York and Greece, concentrating on the way people dress, the different types of fashion trend and styles.

But the truth is all these cities do not differentiate much from each other!

There is a country though in which I have been living in for one year now which cannot be compared with the other cities.

Which country you might be asking? It’s the big DK (Denmark).

Denmark,Copenhagen 
Copenhagen Fahion week poster
February 2014

That’s where Fashion week gets interesting for potential buyers!

Business people and fashion businesses that attend in a big amount of fashion week shows are always looking to find something unique and different.

And that is what Scandinavian fashion is offering!

Scandinavian fashion is known for its uniqueness, by combining both, modern and elegance to aesthetics of dress.  Male and female clothing of Scandinavian designers do not seem to have many differences, as all the garments are designed with the same style, which is, loose clothing, comfortable, minimalistic, sharp colours, good quality and basic design.

Every February and August, Copenhagen Hosts the Nordic Region's largest fashion event, Copenhagen Fashion Week. In this fashion week, a mixture of Danish and international, both classy and street style, designers are introducing their collections.

There are four trade fairs, which are the Vision, Gallery, CIFF/CIFF KIDS and Boast upwards which are representing more than 2,400 collections in all categories of style.

So let’s take a look at the Scandinavian designs that were represented this year.

 
Dansk designer
Anne Sofie Madsen
Copenhagen Fashion week 2014

Dansk designer 
Malene Birger
Copenhagen Fashion week 2014

Dansk designer
Ivan Grundahl
Copenhagen Fashion week 2014

The Big DK!

Copenhagen is not only famous for its Scandinavian designers, architecture and minimalistic style but also for its shopping experience!

Whether you are a shopaholic or just want to buy some home coming gifts, Copenhagen has a lot to offer.

Did you know that Strøget Street in Copenhagen is one of Europe’s longest pedestrian streets for shopping?  It’s true!

So when visiting Copenhagen one of the streets that definitely will cross your way at some point is Strøget Street. In this street you will find different kind of budged people, for the people who are looking for high end and international brands like Prada, Max Mara, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Mulberry  it has them all. Now for the people with a tighter budget who are looking for the chains like H&M, Vero Moda and Zara, you will find close to the City Hall Square.

You will also find some pure Danish and Scandinavian stores there, as the Royal Copenhagen Flagship Store,Illums Bolighus, Georg Jensen Silver and the famous Danish designer store Mads Nørgaard, to name a few.

 

But that’s still not all!

At Strøget Street you will not only have one of a lifetime shopping experience but you will also see some of the important attractions, so you can already cross them out of your places to visit list!

 

 

Denmark,Copenhagen
Strøget Street

Street Performance

Photograph taken by me 

One place that a big majority or people do not know or do not visit is the neighbourhood called Vesterbro. This neighbourhood is west of Copenhagen and it is the must location for the youth!

You must be asking, “What’s so different about this neighbourhood?”

Vesterbro does not offer any important grand monuments and it is also not know for a place any important legacy’s visited, but rather it is known for its urban vitality, which are, the cafes, bars and the hip mix of people.

Denmark, Copenhagen

Vesterbro Street 

Who would imagine that this neighbourhood was once known as the home of prostitutes and drug addicts? But this is not the case anymore.

Now Vesterbro is a place where underground art galleries and open studios are located at, such as the art gallery V1.

And you might be thinking yes but what if I want to do some shopping? Well, If you are only interested in international high end brands or brand chains then this place is not suitable for you.

Instead, the neighbourhood is offering a number of designer outlets which are cheaper than in the city centre of Copenhagen. Also a place called Designer Zoo offers designer garments of Danish designers.

If you are interested in hip clothing? Then stores like Rockahula and Donn Ya Doll are the right place to be.

Did you know also that Copenhagen has his own “Little Paris”?

On the border with Frederiksberg there is a street called Vaernedamsvej and it has some small classy stores for clothing and food specialities.

Denmark,Copenhagen

Vesterbro Steet
Local cafe