London Street Inspirations
Images that caught my attention during my daily walks here in London…
zaidd'or
By Zaid Taji Farouki
Tag: Travel
August 10, 2014
The Flight of Hope
As I am sitting on my bed here in London on a Sunday night. Expecting it to snow on a summer night from how cold it is outside. I realized that I needed to share an experience that I went through a few weeks ago that I still couldn’t get out of my mind.
After graduating from Milan I wanted to figure out what my next step in life had to be. I had to decide whether staying in Milan is the best viable option for me or is it moving back to the US or The Middle East, or even London, or Paris. So I took a few swift decisions. I booked a flight to Jordan to go see my family, I thought in the meanwhile I would go check out my opportunities in Dubai, and finally I enrolled for a summer course at Central Saint Martins in London.
Now the story begins when I boarded my flight from Dubai to Amman, I was heading to Amman to celebrate Eid with my family – celebrating the end of Ramadan. I had just boarded my flight and I sat on the window seat I asked for. It being a 3-3 airplane (6 seats on each aisle with 3 seats on each side). I realized the seat int he middle in between me and the man sitting on the isle seat was empty. When everyone had boarded the airplane, the flight attendant walked in an old lady, and sat her in that empty seat. We maneuvered to accommodate the old lady I assisted her in buckle her seatbelt as she settled in I went back to watching my movie, but I realized she had asked the man next to her to dial a number for her, over my earphones she I could hear her speaking to her soon and informing him to take good care of his wife, which she repeated 3 times. In those moments, the sun had set and people automatically pulled out their food to break their fast. Zoning back into my movie, I then saw man jump from behind and had a lady a sandwich and then a bottle of water. At that point I said to myself hell to the movie I need to get in and know what was going around me. I packed my iPad took my headphones off and decided to zone in onto the conversation that was going between her and the guy sitting on the aisle seat. I soon realized that the man behind me had asked her if she was fasting and she said “yes” so he automatically cut half of his sandwich and gave it to her, which she kindly denied, he also asked her if she wanted to have some water and that she gently accepted. Then as the conversation went on she informed him that she had just come to Dubai a few days ago and had lot consciousness due to her blood pressure. But due to her fall she had busted her lip, lost a tooth, and scratched her face. She had also informed him that she lives in New York and she was here to visit two of her children that lived in Dubai, and how they were busy with their own lives, and how she has no one else specially after her other son got shot due to some gang violence a few years back. And from how sad she was and her deep morning she had a stroke that affected her brain, and she can no longer see properly anymore. Registering all that I didn’t know what to do, here I was eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation, at the same time I couldn’t help but feel with the woman.
Throughout the flight people kept asking her left and right if she needed anything or any assistance. As soon as the flight landed they had made way for her and she was taken right away. I may never meet those people on the flight again but there was something that happened there that was somehow magical. No one cared about her past, or even who she was, everyone was there to help even if it was taking out of their own food and giving it to her after a long day of fasting. I sat there and wondered how our society was. Was that all for the sake of Ramadan, and then after that we turn into sharks? But I realized that no it has become an automatic instinct that we have because we were raised upon such morals. But its one of those instincts that you somehow brush away, because sadly in our modern society its either eat or be eaten.
I would love to think that the great majority still hold to such morals and ethics. I felt a great need to share this incident which took place around 2 weeks ago because I still can’t get it out of my mind or over it.
June 18, 2014
The City of the Seven Hills
On our last day in Rome we had to visit the last two places on our list, The Vatican and The Colosseum. We started our day by visiting St. Peter’s Basilica, The Vatcian museums, and The Sistine Chapel. I have never been this mesmerized in my life. The walk through The Vatican Museums and The Sistine Chapel – I can’t say it except in the most cliche way- took my breath away. The frescos, the detailing, the grand rooms. There was a force that tickles your taste buds, no your creative buds that allows you to imagine the feeling of the painter when creating these masterpieces. You realize that there is beauty hidden in every corner. The cracks in the walls which some people may claim as bad restoration, but I saw it as another distinctive layer that gives piece depth/history. And the beauty of integrating different cultures and nudity in their art-which could have been frowned upon among conservatives- inspires the viewer and gives them a new prospective to look at the world from (These topics will be further emphasized on in future posts). As you walk through the rooms and see the future and past colliding, you get to one of the world’s most prized possessions. The Sistine Chapel, as soon as I walked in you get this feeling of wanting to sit down or even kneel to such beauty. Even after 600 years for an artwork to be grasped by the viewer just proves the great mastery behind it. Sadly no pictures were allowed in the Sistine Chapel therefore, I can’t share this experience with you.
After The Vatican, off we went to The Colosseum to end our list of the most touristy things to do in Rome. The next morning off we went to catch our trains and flights to get back home.
The images below may seem too zoomed in. They are purposely taken like that to see the detailing, to serve as inspirations for my future collections.
June 17, 2014
The Eternal City
The second day in Rome, we decided to take it easy and not get up early as it was a Sunday and we were exhausted from the traveling the day before. So after I met everyone’s father on Instagram and Facebook we started off by visiting Sant’Ignozio and Piazza Venezia. As soon as we entered Sant’Ignozio I was speechless, nicknamed the church of illusions, the painter –Pozzo- used a painting technique called the Tromp-L’œil. This allows the viewer to see the frescos in a 3D form. You’ll find images of the fresco below that will further explain this technique. Later on under the rain we found ourselves in Piazza Venezia and later on in Piazza Spagna. The sky was beautiful that day as it got darker for the rain and then somehow it lit up to show a double rainbow.
June 15, 2014
Roma
As I may have mentioned before, I have a friend visiting me here in Italy, and we decided that we should take a trip to Rome as we both haven’t been there before. So we hopped on a train heading from Milano to Roma and decided we should spend three nights. Hoping that they would be enough to see this eternal city everyone talks about!
As soon as we arrived we checked into our rooms and off we went to explore, yes we embraced our inner Marco Polos and headed out. On our first day we got to see the Spanish Steps, Fontana di Trevi, Piazza Navona and The Pantheon. We have these two sayings in Arabic that perfectly define our experience:
قليل البخت لا يتعب ولا يشقى ( 1 (He who has no luck should not waste his time working)
2) قليل البخت يلاقي العضم في الكرشة (He who has no luck would find a bone while eating a sheep’s intestine- which usually has no bones)
We went to the Fontana di Trevi and it was under construction. We went to the Spanish steps and part of it was also under construction. Exhausted from the long walks we decided to head back to the hotel to freshen up and get changed for dinner. I can safely say I gained 5 kg within a week. Here are some images from yesterday:
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.
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:
November 3, 2013
Venetian Masks
Dating back to the 13th century Venetians wore the mask to free themselves from class hierarchies as well as for romantic encounters, gambling, dancing and any other times where the person wanted to hide their true identity and become harder to recognize. Moreover, the masks were used during plays to emphasize the character of the actor. Wearing masks in public was outlawed for a long period of time. Furthermore the Carnival was outlawed from the 18th century until the Italian government in an effort to boost the economy reinitiated the carnival in the 70’s. Venetian masks come in many different shapes and forms. Below you will find images of the mask I captured on the street as well as my friend and I wearing the masks on Halloween in Venice.
But now the real question is.. How easy would it be to pull a look with a mask in the future. Hmmmm something to think about!
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.
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
June 17, 2013
West Virginia
Saturday was a very spontaneous day. We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and our initial plan was to go The Shenandoah National Park in Virginia for hike. But after getting up at 9 am and going to Cracker Barrel we realized that the park closes on Saturdays. So after a lot of research we decided to drive to West Virginia and go white water rafting. The raft that I was in managed to flip and we were saved by another raft. It was definitely an amazing summer day! Here are some pictures from our trip:
I was wearing a customized FC Barcelona jersey, grey shorts from H&M, and orange running shoes from Nike.
March 29, 2013
Graduation Gifts
So graduation is coming up and I know that most people already have some form of a “Graduation Registry”. I feel that in our world today people care more about “Graduation Registry” than a “Wedding Registry” it has become so uncertain when will a person be married, so people prefer to get their gifts earlier. In a previous post I mentioned how a friend of mine couldn’t decide which handbag she wanted her parents to get her as a graduation gift (You can read the post here). Well today I am going to talk about graduation gift ideas for men. This may be the best option if the man you are buying the gift for is a constant traveler. I fell in love with the colors of the travel bags, they are such statement pieces. The orange one is available online, while they yellow bag is from the runway show.
P.s. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Pictures were taken from LouisVuitton.com and Gianni Pucci/gorunway.com
March 18, 2013
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
The reason why I haven’t blogged for the past ten days was because I was on spring break in Punta Cana. The trip in general was amazing and I personally couldn’t have asked for more. We were a group of 10 people trying to get the fullest out of our last spring break before graduation. Our trip wasn’t all perfect though, getting there was a mission. My friends and I were supposed to fly with US Airways from DC to Philadelphia and then take a flight to Punta Cana. Well this didn’t happen, our flight out of DC got delayed, and the lady sitting behind the counter didn’t want to help us or find a solution so she assured us that we should get on the flight to Philadelphia and we would make the flight. We got to Philadelphia the flight had already taken off and the only flight with seats on it would be taking off from Philadelphia is after two days. After arguing for an hour and calling everyone possible, we found a solution, we had to fly from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale, drive from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, fly from Miami to Santo Domingo, then drive for three hours to Punta Cana. That’s excluding the trouble we had with locating our bags because the airlines mistagged our luggage. Nevertheless, we all had a great time and here are a few pictures from our trip:
Ps. Click on the picture to enlarge it.
December 27, 2012
Dubai
Sorry I couldn’t post anything yesterday as I had just arrived to Dubai. Starting from yesterday I went to my favorite places to shop here. An hour after I arrived, I ended up going to Mall of The Emirates-I couldn’t ask for more- I ended up going to Harvey Nichols and Carolina Herrera. Window shopping ended soon after as I was invited over at my friends house for a Mexican fiesta.
Today we went to my favorite place here in Dubai, Dubai Mall! After arriving to the mall in ten minutes we randomly bumped into two of my cousins, their children, and aunt (yes this happens every day in the Arab world). After bumping into them I had to go to the worlds largest shoe store, Level! Would you seriously expect less from the world’s largest mall?!! I was amazed, it was a dream within a dream or actually heaven within heaven. I try to convince myself that heaven would look this way, that I would spend my day shopping not only that, I don’t have to pay for it!! ( if that’s not heaven I don’t know what is)
Everyday I am going to add a post that is called “Spotted In Dubai.” Which will show the things I saw and fell in love with while I am here on vacation.
November 16, 2012
Daily Obsessions
I just arrived to Dallas, Texas to visit my Aunt, her Daughter, and Husband for Thanksgiving break. That’s why I haven’t posted till now!
I believe that accessories can always boost an outfit I just came across this Louis Vuitton infinity collar. The collar is a collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama. Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who became famous for her psychedelic colors and patterns. I will be keeping my eyes open for inspirations here in Dallas (as the home for Neiman Marcus). I will keep you posted as usual if I come across anything!
Picture is taken from louisvuitton.com
zaidd'or 