Andie'S.: Fashion's Night Out - Amsterdam Edition

Exactly a week ago I was leaving the P.C. Hooftstraat in Amsterdam, after a very nice evening dedicated to fashion. The little shopping and pretty-things addict in me was rejoicing the happening of that day, but definitely the happening of the month in Amsterdam - Vogue's Fashion's Night Out.

For the first time Vogue organized this evening, full of events happening in the famous Dutch department store De Bijenkorf (meaning 'beehive'), and on the renown high fashion shopping street P.C. Hooftstraat in the Museum District of Amsterdam.

The event started at 6pm and lasted until 10pm on the P.C. and until 11pm in the Bijenkorf. Needless to say, there was no realistic scenario in which 4 hours would be enough for me to go check out all the sports I wanted to. Therefore, I decided to calm down a little, and enjoy the things I can see to the fullest.

After trying on and tossing clothes to the side for about an hour and a half, I figured out what to wear and hurried to meet two of my friends at the Bijenkorf for the viewing of the fashion documentary "Diana Vreeland: The eye has to travel". Excited, but not with too many expectations, I joined my friends on the top floor of the Bijenkort where the first screening started at 18:45.

And OMG! The movie was so well done! It is made as an interview with Diana Vreeland, the figure who made Vogue Vogue. And there was one thing on my mind during the movie: "Wow, this woman is so funny!". This woman was the pioneer of crazy awesome fashion shoots and daring editorials. But I will not get into the detailed biography if this interesting woman, as I am sure I would not do better that Wikipedia. I will, however, post the official trailer to the documentary to spare you the YouTube search.

After watching the documentary, we made use of the cab service. There were three types of 'vehicles' - the Vogue FNO Mercedes, the Moet & Chandon tuk tuks, and the Tommy Hilfiger yellow cabs. Though the tuk tuk with a glass of champagne sounded awesome, we decided not to be picky (as the line was about 15 minutes of waiting, and it was quite cold outside), and hopped into one of the Vogue Mercedes cars with a sympathetic young driver who, though professional, did not manage to keep a straight face during the 15 minute ride. Not that he did not try. Let's just say that the conversation we were having was very girly and full of entertaining anecdotes, which did not start with "that one night, we decided to stay sober".

Finally, we arrived at the P.C. Hooftstraat. Almost every store had something going on. The huge line at Chanel made us suppress our desiree to see the special edition lipstick and nailpolish, so we continued down the street, and after a brief stop and the Frozz frozen yoghurt stand in front of the Italian luxury store Iceberg, we headed to Filippa K.

Filippa K did not not disappoint. We were greeted by the DJ's dancey tunes form the second floor of the store, which we sipped on a glass of champagne. To avoid the alcohol hitting the head, the guests were served finger-food (on a stick), which was delicious. A ball of goat cheese covered in pistachio and honey, or a trendy take on a simple meatball...it was delicious, and definitely excited the foodie in me as well. After browsing through the pretty clothes of the Scandinavian designer store, we decided to quickly check out some other spots on the street.

DJ at the Filipa K store

We entered the Diesel store, where the party was full power. Dimmer lighting, loud music. White wine, Russian Mules, Peroni, and Pellegrino. The whole shabang. It was definitely more about the Diesel motto, than about their clothes that evening :)

We continued to Hermes. My motto when entering the store "Indulge the eye, with what the wallet cannot buy". And we did. The experience was made even more magical by a handsome young gentleman who set a little paper on fire and turned it into a light-orange rose. Which he then turned into two...and that one in another two...until all the ladies watching had a rose to take home. And when you would look at it at home, you would dream of that Hermes bag.

After exiting dream land, we went to Karen Millen, where we savored a nice glass of pink champagne while checking out the new collection. Soon we headed back to Filippa K. to meet the rest of our friends. By now the shops were closing and the quite tunes of the DJ in Filippa K. had tuned to a fun party, which everyone was enjoying outside.

For some the evening ended there, for others at the after-party in the Conservatorium. My evening ended up with some beers with a couple of my friends at a bar in the centre of Amsterdam.

Fun night!