Mingling with Von Dutchipsters.doc

The clouds have lifted, the rain has stopped, and the sun has been shining down on beautiful Amsterdam.

We had five straight days of gloomy clouds and scattered showers this past week. When it's melancholic for so long one almost forgets what it feels like to have the sun beating down. This was the realization that greeted me on Saturday morning (and continued through the weekend) as the sun streamed through my windows all day. It's a taste of the type of weather we can expect to make the city really sing in the spring and summer - I can't wait to don shorts and sandals again.

Starting this past weekend and continuing throughout the week is Amsterdam International Fashion Week. All of the official events are closed off to professionals in the business (it's a smaller week in comparison to NYC and Paris) but they have a whole "downtown" program of events all designed to involve the city's artists and the wider public. The photography event I mentioned in the last post is at the end of this week, but in the meantime I've popped into a few events over the course of the weekend.

The first stop was a photo shoot taking place in Amsterdam's Central Station. There were six makeup and hair stations where extremely tall models were getting done up Maybelline experts. I think the shoot was looking to juxtapose the soft looking dresses worn by the models with the really urban and industrial surroundings of the station - the room in which the shoot was taking place had a bunch of construction material and exposed wires. There were not many people there to watch in addition to all those involved in the shoot. In fact, I got the feeling that the happening I might have wandered into was part of the official fashion week rather than that open to the public. I continually pretended to check my cell phone like I was really important. I also devised a story in my head if asked what the hell I was doing there: I was doing a "piece" on the fashion week for a mag back in Canada (I had my UofT card ready to flash if need be). Luckily no one pestered me as to my credentials...I was of course dressed the part. I managed to snap some of my own shots very sneakily. No free drinks.

The second event of the day was definitely part of the fashion week open to the public. It was a hat and coat fashion show (a term I use loosely). It was presented in a really tiny, but quirky, boutique. The "catwalk" was a strip of red carpet that had been laid down and the space held maybe twenty spectators. Because I was fifteen minutes late to the start of the show I was positioned at the end of the "catwalk". I joined three other photogs who were snapping shots of the scene. Some of the models actually stopped and posed while I took a photo - kind of a wild experience. It was quite a makeshift show. You could see the backstage area from the end of the catwalk and even heard the directions given to each of the models. After the show there was a little socializing and a lot of patting on the back going on. I scored free drink number one.

The final event of the day was the launch of a new line of clothes from young urban Dutch designers from a fashion school in the city. You should have seen some of the kick-ass fashion sported by these trendsetters. They called their line Hooligans. I suggested they should call it Von Dutchipster - it didn't really translate well. I didn't have to supply my lame Canadian magazine lie, but they were really excited to have a youngster from another country come to their launch. Free drink number two.

The next day, Bec and I went to another event. In this boutique each independent designer's dress was featured on a stand in the centre of the room inspired from a concept they had thought up in the past year. The lanch was also the reopening of the boutique which had undergone some sort of renovation. The coolest dress was a royal blue trench coat that had solar panels built into the design - the concept was that you could plug your ipod, iphone, blackberry, or other technological necessity into the coat to recharge. There was another dress made almost completely out of white garbage bags. There are some friends back home who would have been in their element at these events. Free drink number three!

Last night, I went out on the town with a new friend who also just arrived in the city. His name is Colby and he lives in my building. He's from San Diego and is studying economics for a term. The bar we went to was really neat. It's called De Trut which translates to The Bitch (hey, it's Amsterdam...). It felt like a really small and alternative spot the likes of which you'd find in Queen West. Cover was a tiny 1.5 Euros and half-pints were 1 Euro. With prices like that I'm sure it'll be a spot to return to. We met two other international students there from the UK, Stuart and Becs, who are studying Law at the university. New friends everywhere! Unlike Warwick, because there is stuff happening all around, it's really easy to connect with strangers and strike up a conversation - especially if you hear English being spoken.

Doc's Prescription of the Day: OK, I'm not a music guy per se - most of you know that. But today's prescrip is a song from Adele that I'm really digging these days. My neighbour downstairs is learning this song on the piano and it's really neat to hear her practicing. It reminds me of life back home and what it feels like to be a travelin' man: Adele's Hometown Glory.