Olivier Zahm

This is Olivier Zahm, photographer and editor of Purple magazine and he is currently working on the first biographical book about Carine Roitfeld Chief Editor of French Vogue. The book is set to be published in the Fall of 2011. Funny thing about this book is that publisher Rizzoli sent out an email to bloggers (for example to 'I want to be a Roitfeld') asking for questions for Carine to answer in the book. Though you would think she and Olivier would not be short of things to say to each other on the topic of sex, being French, fashion and many many other things. Rizzoli typically makes big books with lots of wonderful pictures, so hopefully this one won't be short on those! Photo from Chanel News.

Paris!

It takes another 2 months until PFW starts but I am already looking forward to it! Booked my traintickets and the hotel last week, so that's settled. I will be going with friend H and hopefully she likes to hang around at Tuileries Gardens now and then. In any case I will be 'hanging around' there with my camera again, that's for sure! So hope to see you all out there and maybe I can shoot a few more Dutch editors this time....

Bag

The last couple of weeks I am thinking of buying myself a new bag. I love my Louis Vuitton Speedy Damier (and those few other bags in my closet) but sometimes it is just time to start looking for a new one, don't you agree?

I read an article in the Vogue Collections UK issue today called 'What's in my bag...?' where they had asked some fashion people to disclose their personal things from their bag. Very interesting, at least, that is what I think, because yes, I like to read what Garance Doré carries around in her red Louis Vuitton by Sofia Coppala bag. So here it is: 1. pink leather Prada wallet 2. a few notebooks - I buy them when I am travelling. I have quite a collection. Usually, I make sure they are recycled paper. And I love the Smythson ones! One problem: I always forget my pencils! Soon I hope to have an iPad in my bag, too. 3. Blackberry 4. Canon eos 5D camera (it's way too heavy) 5. pinky red Chanel lipstick 6. Chanel lip gloss

And for those who are interested in what I carry around in my bag: 1. old black wallet 2. small black leather bag with zip 3. Nokia N96 4. Pentax camera 5. Dior Addict 914 lipstick 6. Ray Ban Cats5000 and of course you will understand that my Canon eos 5ooD does not fit into my Speedy! ;-)

What's happening @Modefabriek?

Today I was at the Modefabriek with friend H, the summer edition of the Amsterdam Trade Show that brings together over more than 600 labels. This edition was divided into six segments with a varied programme of shows, exhibitions, a great miniature golf course (with DJ's!), wonderful catering and entertainment.

I really liked the wood exhibition where artists put together traditional craftsmanship and modern technology. There where a pair of wonderful wooden trainers made by Paul Coudamy for K-Swiss, hand-carved and produced in a limited edition of 25 pairs.

Bookstore Mendo had a nice stand in the Limited segment. Mendo is specialised in creative books and one of their philosophies is that they do not sell books online, because 'you have to leaf through the books'! Well, I do agree with that philosophy! I bought only 2 books, but I could have bought many many more! To get some extra inspiration we visited the Aaiko fashionshow and I must say this young Dutch fashion brand had some nice items in their Spring 2011 collection. It seems like we all will be wearing jumpsuits next year! After the show I had the pleasure to go backstage to meet up with one of my Twitter friends Nathalie. Took some nice photos of the Coup d'État hairdressers while doing the hair of the catwalk models! Thanks Nathalie, it was really nice meeting you in real life! Enjoy the photos which will give a nice impression of a nice sunday afternoon at the Modefabriek.

Rika Fall 2010

Although the Scandinavian brand Rika has got a shop in Amsterdam for 5 years already, I kind of discovered it only just a year ago. Strange and regrettably, because I now wish that I had known about this amazing rock 'n roll mixed with romantic vintage brand much much earlier! Check out the website for their Fall 2010 collection! Well, my fashion wishlist is getting longer and longer....and wow, I love this Liv Bag!

Models

I saw this photo of this group of models (taken after the Chanel Couture show in Paris) on several fashion blogs come by and I picked this one from Stockholm Streetstyle. These girls look amazing with all their indivuals styles. And yes, of course, they look great because they are models, but in a way they have such a personal style...which is wonderful to look at!

Net-a-Porter

Meet former fashion journalist Natalie Massenet, the founder of the first online luxury clothing and accessory store Net-a-Porter, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Ten years ago Natalie had this Eureka moment realizing that luxury clothes should be delivered directly to the wearer's door, beautifully packaged in tissue paper and ribbon. Ten years on the site gets between 2.5 and 3 million visitors a month! 'Natalie is so talented,' says Christopher Baily. 'She has an incredible vision and she has built a real brand with a great team!' Happy Birthday Net-a-Porter!

Dutch ELLE

I was quite excited when Cécile Narinx chief editor of the Dutch Elle asked me if they could use one of my Paris streetstyle photos. Of course they could! Nice detail is that she asked me this on Twitter so the next day everything was settled. I took this photo in March during PFW outside the V&R show at Tuileries gardens and it was actually the first time that I could really experience that 'streetstyle fashion vibe'. And I really loved it! So I already bought my trainticket to Paris for the next PFW which will be held from September 28th to October 7th 2010. Hopefully I will be able to shoot many, many beautiful streetstyle photos again...so I will be seeing you all out there! And keep checking my blog of course!

Personal Style

Discovering your own style takes a while and for some of us it takes years. And yes, sadly, there are still people who will never find a personal style, which is not the end of the world either. But having your own style is great I think. It took me years to find my own style and I have been through many phases. I have been wearing very elegant penny loafers (sorry!) and I loved my Palladiums as well. My friend D is a very good example of having her own fashionable but yet personal style! She has got that interesting mix of sporty, vintage, sometimes rock-like style finished with an Italian fashionable touch (hopefully I described this right D?). Anyway, yesterday fashion blogger Garance Doré posted a new blog about her personal style talking about wether her watch was matching her ring. First she thought that they did not go together but after a while she liked it more and more. This is such a good example of discovering your own style! And it made me think about my personal jewelry style, so that's why I posted this photo of my own watch and my beautiful handmade rings (made in Italy by Marco Balderi) and yes, I think they match wonderful together...because it is my personal style!

Denim Hot Pants

It is beautiful weather in Holland at the moment, so a pair of denim hot pants will fill some gaps in your summer wardrobe. You can dress them up, dress them down.....and you can create so many cool vintage-inspired looks with them. They are comfortable, relaxed and fashionable! Last year I cut off an old pair of Replay jeans, a perfect (and cheap) way to wear denim hot pants as well. But I also like the vintage 70's look of the ones above! Photo from Street Style Aesthetic.

Cavalli 40 years

He is called the grandfather of animal print in high fashion and the master of the sexy dress. Designer Roberto Cavalli is celebrating his 40th anniversary of his fashion house this year. He is not my favorite designer, because in my opinion his collections are always a bit too much. But what is too much? If you ask Cavalli himself there is no such thing. 'For me, fashion means creativity, joy, fun...and seduction of course!' Interview Magazine did a special photoshoot in their June issue with Cavalli pieces only and one of the models was our Dutch Patricia van der Vliet. She rocks in this picture!