Italy | zaidd'or

June 13, 2014

World Cup Fashion

So the world cup has started… SURPRISE! Whether you live under a rock or somewhere on another planet you’ve probably heard the fans screaming at their TV’s. You’ve probably seen this phenomenon that even Freud didn’t predict, men stocking food and drinks but don’t get me wrong its not for apocalypse its for the games. Yes, if there were aliens studying our habits they will conclude that the TV is hypnosis and its not a relaxing one. It’s a drunk, screaming, anxious spell that has been cast on 95% of the world’s Men and a mere 35% of women’s population.

We always know that when men compete their cave man instincts come out and there is nothing stopping them from doing things that would piss off the opposing team. Some teams want to compete on every level that took their competition to their looks and how they present themselves. In comes England and Italy, two countries known for their men’s tailoring, with Marks & Spencer on the left with England in grey and Dolce & Gabbana on the right with Italy in navy blue, LET THE MEN COMPETE! I will let you be the referee on who wins the best suit! Keep in mind, a suit for a woman is the equivalent to what lingerie is to a man!

esq-italy-bests-england-in-battle-of-world-cup-suits-06114-xl

esq-italy-bests-england-in-battle-of-world-cup-suits-06114-hyK5A2-xl1

Pictures were taken from GQ, Getty, Huffington post, and Dolce & Gabbana

1 Comment

June 11, 2014

Bellagio

As a friend of mine has been visiting me for the past few days we decided yesterday to take a day trip to Como and Bellagio. As I have been to Como many times, I was keen on taking the ferry to see other towns on the lake. On our way to Bellagio the ferry usually stops on every town on the way for people to embark and disembark to get to their destination. This one hour journey was breathtaking,I personally have never seen anything as beautiful. The Italian villas that are situated on the water, the rolling hills, the tiny winding streets, and people spending their hot days on their boats. LA DOLCE VITA! As we got to Bellagio it was beautiful and definitely a great choice on our behalf for choosing to end up there. Right away off we went looking for some food after subduing our hunger. We decided to roam this great place. While walking around we ended up at Villa Melzi d’Eril, ughhh the view from there, if heaven looks something like that please do sign me up! The villa was built for the Duke Melzi by Napoleon, Melzi played the role of vice president for Napoleon’s short lived Italian Republic. Check out the images below to see the beauty I have been talking about!

Click on the images to enlarge them!

Leave a comment

February 2, 2014

Learn Italian From Dolce & Gabbana Models

Have you ever been interested in learning Italian? Well Dolce & Gabbana models and Swide magazine can teach you a few hand gestures that can make you fluent with the language. Enjoy and may you always be taught languages by Dolce & Gabbana models. I am guessing if models taught us languages we would be fluent in them in no time.

Leave a comment

January 29, 2014

Theft and Suicide… A Day In Verona

A week ago a friend of a friend had just visited Milan and while we were having brunch on Saturday afternoon we decided that we should go to visit Verona that night and we would be back to Milan the next day at night. We tried calling car rental companies but none were answering or the prices were obscene -As we were sitting next to the Duomo – we went into one of the hotels there and asked if the know a car rental company. We found a car at a reasonable price, then the same hotel informed us they had another hotel in Verona and if we would like to book with them. We were given a great rate and we saw the pictures it looked like a good 4 star hotel. We hopped into the car an hour later and off we went. Driving on the way there we booked at a restaurant called Osteria la Fontanina. Our plan was to get to the hotel, change, and get to the hotel for our reservation. As soon as we arrived to the hotel we were surprised by how the hotel looked so different from the photos. We decided to suck it up and stay a night, after all it was just one night. We got changed, hoped into the car and off we went to Osteria la Fontanina. It was one of the best meals I have ever had I advise everyone thats going to Verona to go there. AFter the amazing dinner we decided to go back to the hotel early. As we were driving up to the hotel we saw a police car, we were worried as why would a police car be at the hotel at this time at night. We asked the officer he informed us that everything is ok there is nothing to worry about. Being assured by the officer we went up to our rooms, but we were astonished by the amount of people standing next to our rooms, walking faster to see whats going on we realized that it was the room right next to ours’. We asked what was going on and they informed us that they were robbed. All their money, bags, and jewelry were stolen. We didn’t even think about it for a second we didn’t even give them a reply we all sprinted into our rooms in order to check if our belongings were still there. Everything was ok thankfully. The next day three of us decided we want to head into town early to go sightseeing. Our fourth friend wanted to sleep in.
We spent the day in Verona visiting both Juliet and Romeo’s houses and seeing the town. While at Juliet’s house everyone was putting locks on her door and they say its a bad omen to put your name with someone you don’t love. I wanted to join the experience though! So I bought a lock and wrote “me, myself, and I”. The three of us were present and we love each other, so whats the bad omen about that? We then headed to Romeo’s house and I had to take a picture of the door. It was flooded with names of Arabs in love. After a few hours we decided to head back to Milan. But we needed to pass by the hotel to pick up our stuff. As we were going in we see fire trucks, an ambulance, and a police car in front of the hotel. We were surprised again saying what is it this time. It turns out a woman jumped of the ledge into the river in front of the hotel to commit suicide, it had a very fast current as it was raining all week.

Ps. The picture are uploaded in the order they were taken in. Click on the images to enlarge them.

2 Comments

January 12, 2014

Milan Men’s Fashion Week

Today is one of these days where I can go to bed and say “it was a great day”. Like a typical Sunday, I got up early but forced myself back to sleep. I was woken up with a call from a friend of mine informing me that she had just seen the Ferragamo fashion show and they are planning on going to see Vivienne Westwood’s runway show as well. I got out of bed, got dressed, and ran out like a maniac. We met up and off we went on our crazy fashion show adventure. We got to see the Vivienne Westwood show, as well as Missoni, and sadly we couldn’t get into Prada but we got to see the street style there.
During the fashion shows we got to see many style icons. The first people we actually met actually work in fashion and they live in Washington DC (Represent!) and then we met a Marangoni alumni Yu Lee who is a stylist, fashion blogger and reporter she runs the blog theyutopia.com (she can be seen In between the images below, wearing a blue fur jacket while mixing it up with red.) Then at Missoni we got to meet Angela Missoni, Mariano Di Vaio as well as Riccardo Pozzoli.
While I was waiting for the Prada show I saw Anna Dello Russo, Brian Atwood and his partner Jake Deutsch, Olga Rink, and Suzy Menkes.
The images below are a mix of street style as well as famous people. Hopefully tomorrow will be as crazy as today was! Enjoy!

Leave a comment

December 31, 2013

The Year In Review!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!!! I can’t but be thankful for all the change that this year has brought to me. I started off the last year being on a boat in Dubai watching the fire works with acquaintances. I ended this year with my acquaintances being the closest friends of mine and we embarked together on trips to different countries and continents together. And I can definitely say that those trips where the best I have been on. From Miami, to Punta Cana and West Virginia. I will always remember the crazy way we arrived to Punta Cana where it took us 24 hours to get there rather than 6 hours. The time where we got into our cars one weekend, and randomly went to Cracker Barrel and white-water rafting. And the amazing weekend we spent in Miami. Also the trips I took along the year to Milan, Venice, Bologna, Pavia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Washington D.C.
This year also means a lot as it is the year I graduated from University and the year where I embarked on the journey of following my dreams and moved to Italy to pursue a career in fashion design. I recently realized that I have lucky streak with odd numbered years. I was born in 1991, graduated high school in 2009 graduated university in 2013.
This blog also turned 1 year old in September. With 62,000 hits this year and views from 141 countries. I would like to end this year by thanking everyone the good people for making me a happier person and for the bad people that I have met that taught me not to care as much anymore and that my happiness is the most important thing.
I can’t wait and see what the next year has to offer!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Here are some pictures that summarize the year:

Leave a comment

December 8, 2013

A Week In The Life

So as you may all have known I had finals for the past two weeks and I was tortured by the amount of work I had to get done. I had to submit my collection, fabric book (a personal fabric encyclopedia), discuss fashion history, as well as submitting my own dress, pants, and skirt.

After I was done and I am safe to say I think I did well. I slept for an entire day, explored the city, went out clubbing, went to Bologna. I can finally say I have had a weekend at last after 3 months of working non-stop.

I have to share these small anecdotes with you about what went on while I was out clubbing one night. My friends and I decided we should go to a club called “Old Fashion” the music was really good. It was very old school, it reminded me of our 6th or 7th grade dance parties. But a disadvantage of the club is how hot it gets in there. So there is this door at the end of the club that opens to the outdoors smoking section, as I was standing next to the door trying to get some fresh air yes, it is an oxymoron catching some fresh air in the smoking section. I was greeted by two random people a guy and a girl (the girl I have seen before somewhere though). They point at me and just scream out “Marangoni right?” I was like “yeah” in a weird way trying to figure out what the hell is going on here. So they ask me which program I am in, I reply, I ask them the same question. Then some other friends of there’s now stood by our side. and they looked at me and said “we see you around in school a lot and we realized that your straight, right?!” I shook my head in agreement. They continued by saying pointing to the other 3 or 4 guys with them “we are the straight group in Marangoni”…. Yes it was confusing I don’t know what they were trying to get to there, I just smiled and said nice to meet you and left. Yes, I am still confused. (But hey if I get noticed in fashion school I ain’t complain’n) On my way back into the club I decided to use the bathroom. While waiting in line this guy who was extremely drunk looked at me started saying in Italian what I understood was “You look like Gesù” and then just looks at me and says “Gesù, Gesù, Gesù” I was so confused thinking in my head was he calling me Jesus?! So I blamed it on my bad Italian and was like that is not possible I probably understood it wrong. Then the people in line also started calling me “Gesù”. Some of them later in the club when I bumped into them even continued calling me “Gesù”. I finally realized that it truly meant Jesus when I asked my Italian friend.

So all I could think of is having to leave before creating some form of cult in a club in Milan, and the fact I had to be up in 4 hours to be on a train to Bologna.

The next day I was off to Bologna! I was in love with it, the food I must admit is way better than Milan! It is also very Medieval due to the castles and churches being in the center of the city. Here are some photos of the trip.

Ps. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Leave a comment

November 2, 2013

Venice

So just a few days ago my friend and I decided to take a one day trip to Venice. Never would have I expected how beautiful it is. As I was telling my friend, I felt like I was seriously walking through a painting. The majority of the trip our conversations surrounded the idea of being transported to the past and being able to live in Venice in the medieval times.
As we arrived there on Halloween we soon went looking for Venetian masks to be able to wear to go out at night. We toured the city, bought our Venetian masks, had dinner and went straight for a night out in town. As great minds think alike, without planning or talking about it we both had brought a full black outfit with us thinking by just adding a mask to the outfit voila we would have a costume.
The next morning we went out sight seeing and toured the rest of the city. Here are some photos from our trip.

1 Comment

October 28, 2013

My First Skirt!

With so much going on and everything being up in the air, I just realized today that it has been 8 days since I last posted on my blog. Yes days feel like hours to me at this point. Yesterday I had to the opportunity to visit Pavia as one of my friends invited me as well as a few other friends to her home there. I found the true meaning of a small Italian city. I have to visit again soon, as it is only 30 minutes away from Milano.Below you will find pictures of the cathedral and views from my friends balcony. As well as visiting Pavia, I got to execute my first skirt. Please don’t look at the type of skirt as its a basic exercise everyone had to do from a book. Will I be able to give designers a little run for their money? NAHHHHHHHHH I know this is such a short post, but I am swamped with work tomorrow as I have to hand in my sketch book which includes “my aliens” as well as have some of my aliens colored in using Pantone. Ohh the joy of staying up all night, I am pulling more all-nighters than my freshman year at university (which was record breaking for all-nighters)

Ps. Click on the images below to enlarge them

Leave a comment

October 10, 2013

Rain, Rain, Go Away

First of all I would like to thank everyone that has followed me and liked my pictures on Instagram so far. If you haven’t gotten the chance yet it’s @zaidfarouki. A special thank you for everyone that did! So today was my day off from school. In the morning I had to go run some errands as I had to prepare my papers for tomorrow when I go get my residency in Milan. While I was running my errands I passed by my favorite place for gelato here, its the best I have tasted so far. So I had gelato for breakfast yes I felt like I deserved it on my day off with my stressful week. But I must admit as I lay in bed reviewing what I ate today I feel guilty hahaha.. Later on in the day I went shopping, I knew I had to be ready by 7:15 as I was invited to an event at the BVlGARI store at 7:30. And it is a 15 minute walk from my apartment. As my friend and I arrived to the event it was going really well until it started raining, it wasn’t just raining but it was a torrential downpour. So here is how I look before I got home soaking wet. I can hear the rain now while in bed. I have an early start tomorrow as my class starts at 8:30, Good night everyone!!!

I was wearing An Armani jacket, Theory pants, and Fratelli Rossetti shoes

Leave a comment

October 7, 2013

The Day of Changes

Well today it was one of those things that I had to do. I had to create a public Instagram account @zaidfarouki. I will try me best somehow later integrate my Instagram feed into the blog. Well as we all know if social media if used correctly is one of the greatest marketing tools the world has to offer. Because of what I want to do and the work I want to go in. I need to synchronize everything from twitter to Instagram to my blog. Therefore, I have created an Instagram account with the same username as my twitter account, so I will be easier to find on social media. So follow me on both Twitter and Instagram at @zaidfarouki

So after clearing this issue, today has been one of those hectic days, long working hours and getting frightened by my old smoking neighbor that stands between the pots. I think this week our relationship took a new level. We saw each other on the street and greeted each other, I am worried that our relationship is escalating to fast…. So now whenever she sees me she smiles and says “Ciao”. The only conversation that goes on between us is “Bonjourno” and “Ciao” but then she smiles whenever she sees me. Anyways so today I was late to leave my apartment and it was probably the third time I come back from standing in front of the elevator after remembering something I forgot. After I left my apartment for the third time. There she was in black and a grey shawl in between the flower pots smoking and our typical conversation of “Bonjourno” and “Ciao” took place.

Today has been a long day. I woke up early and finished the sketches for my class. And of course the internet limit decides to end today so I had to walk to Vodafone and recharge my account. As this took time there came the lunch hour which every place in Italy closes from 1-3 pm. No one messes with the Italians and their lunch break, So I had to wait around for the art supply store to open again. I met up with a friend for tea afterwards and then I headed off to my pattern making class. So to add even more work to the work. We are supposed to sketch 4 different patterns of skirts and ready by Wednesday and have 1 actual skirt made by Monday. This is going to be a fun weekend. I don’t know whether to be excited or worried.

So below your going to find some sketches that I have made. of course only the presentable ones, not the alien formed ones hahah. Now off to create 2 things on Photoshop and then off to bed because tomorrow is going to be a long day! Classes from 11:15am – 8pm.

Ps. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Leave a comment

October 6, 2013

The Weekend

This weekend after doing some work and running errands, my friend and I decided to go sightseeing around Milano, we went to Castello Sforzesco, the castle which is located in the heart of Milan has many museums as well as a fresco made by Leonardo da Vinci as well as Michelangelo’s last sculpture Rondanini Pietà which he worked on before he died. Below you will find photos of my day as a tourist in Milan. Hope you enjoy it!

Ps. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Leave a comment

September 29, 2013

A Day With Me, Myself and I

Today has been an interesting day. I woke up at 9 am then went back to sleep but at around 1 o’clock i woke up dreaming about food. I realized that because my windows were open the smell of my neighbor’s cooking had entered my apartment and it smelt so good. Afterwards I showered and got dressed and went out in search for a trash can to put in my bedroom/sitting-room as well as a side lamp. After visiting a few stores and not find anything, I decided to have lunch. While I was looking for restaurants, they were either closed, or full because it was Sunday. Walking around I passed by the Four Seasons, so I decided to go in and have lunch there (you can see the photo below). After filling up my belly “Kirsh” I decided to continue looking for a side lamp. I went two department stores Excelsior and La Rinascente.

On a side note am I the only person that their eyes water up when they see beautiful clothing? I was just wondering, am I the only one weird like that? Anyways I saw way to many god looking clothing articles that I may have felt like I was in my own Disney land. Well I may have fallen in love with a few things in the store. At first I saw these amazing camouflage shoes by Valentino and formal sneakers by Hogan. I later saw two sweaters by Kenzo. One of them I didn’t really like, but what grabbed my attention was how products are specifically tailored to the Middle – Eastern market. I must admit its a creative twist, but after thinking of it for a while, the sweater might look like a parody. An example of these parodies have come up in the past two years with t-shirts instead of saying Hermés it says “Homies”. Or Comme des Garçon which they turned into Comme des f**kdown.

Well anyways here are a few photos of the things I loved and came across today. I will update you with what happens with me tomorrow with my first day at Istituto Marangoni.

Ps. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Pictures were taken from Keno, Hogan, and Valentino.

1 Comment

September 28, 2013

Viale Premuda

So today I blog for the first time from my apartment, sitting here alone as my mom left back to Jordan today. Before writing anything I would like to take a moment and thank her for all the help she gave me while she was here. Running from one side of the city to another to get to appointments and also dealing with (arguably) my “pickiness”.
So today starts a new chapter in my life. So far I have met a few of my neighbors, some are mysterious as they don’t speak a word of english and just look out of their windows and smoke. I was telling my mother that I feel like I am living in Egypt, but Egypt at the time of my grandparents or parents. When you open your windows you can see into other peoples apartments. You can talk to your neighbors across your windows. I don’t think it gets more Italian than this. While looking for apartments, we saw an advertisement for a one bedroom apartment on the 6th floor, but with a twist of fate people who viewed the apartment before us decided they wanted that apartment. It turns out that its a Turkish girl that will be attending Istituto Marangoni with me. So with that apartment taken, the landlord was so apologetic that she helped me find another apartment. Hence the apartment I currently live in, a few floors below. So it’s great as I finally know a nice person that will be going to the same school as me and we are neighbors. So hopefully I wouldn’t be singing “I am Mr lonely, I have no body I am on my own” anytime soon. THANK THE LORD..
So the first neighbor I met while I was moving in was an old lady that lives with a big fat grey cat, that smokes all the time outside her apartment, she is so experienced with smoking that she talks and smokes without holding the cigarette. Today she kind of scared me as she was sitting between the flowers and I didn’t see her when I walked onto my floor. The second neighbor is another old lady that also smokes, she lives two floors above me but this lady is different she loves looking out at the entire building while she smokes. There is an old man that also lives on my floor and he probably has the largest apartment in the building, how did I know? His front door was open the other day. Then on the same floor as mine there lives a young man, as well as a woman in her late 20’s early 30’s. There also lives on the 6th floor a basketball player with his model girlfriend.
So now that you know of my neighbors and the picture of my apartment building, now you can imagine my living situation. I can’t deny it I love it.. Although my parents are having the time of their lives making fun of me as they remember the times in Egypt by telling me to close the shutters by saying “Shangal il sheesh” or because there aren’t any driers we have to hang our clothes out to dry. they keep telling me “imsa7 il 7abl 2abl ma t3ala2 il hidoum” (wipe the hanging clothing line before putting anything on it).
So orientation starts after tomorrow and I am waiting to see how it turns out. Lets hope my classes are project runway style, and we will be starting our first challenge.

1 Comment

September 22, 2013

Milano

Ok, I know that I haven’t blogged in a while and thats totally against my birthday resolution! Anyways so it has been such a long week in Milan. We arrived last Sunday, starting from Monday morning we went to view apartments with a realtor I have contacted before arriving to Milan. Anyways remember how Cinderella’s room looked like? Well this one is something like it but you actually have to pay for it, it isn’t for free. And if cinderrella was based in Milan I don’t think she could have afforded her room at €1500 a month, with 2 months deposit and 2 months paid to the realtor for finding you the “apartment”. Well 15 apartments later, 4 realtors, and help from family friends. TODAY I finally found an apartment!!!!! And then in my head I started singing “Oh, hale, hallelujah Hale, hallelujah Hale” I have reached new levels of frustration over the past few days. But bump into my cousin who was in town for one day and planning a rendez-vous the next day was the highlight of the week. It was great seeing her and catching up with her! It has been such a longtime since we last met.

Milan has been great so far. But there is something that has been on my mind. Where the f$#% do they get the height from? Ok if your a man or woman below 6 feet your considered short. Is it because of fashion week or what I don’t know. But I would love to know where they you can but this s*^t because I am planning to hit that store and spend my life’s saving in it.

Well anyways I will leave you to the photos below and the new italian words I learnt along the way. one of the pictures is of my apartment building.

Allora,Grazie, Affittasi (for rent), Vendesi (for sale), piano (floor), and Pronto! (A must when answering the phone).

1 Comment

Tag: Italy