Before serving dessert at last night’s beautiful dinner, the opera singer sang us Der Hölle Rache from the Magic Flute by Mozart. Incredible.

I cannot help but marvel at this breathtaking view of Florence from the rooftop of my friend Ania’s gorgeous home in front of the American consulate.

I finally took my newish Dries van Noten trousers out for a spin today. Wore it with my Ferragamo navy blue top and Ferragamo shoes.

Because of the lifestyle and nature of my work, I am constantly surrounded by people. I talk to dozens, if not hundreds each day, online, real life and on the phone. Over the years, I’ve been extremely lucky to have met a ton of incredible and inspiring individuals from all walks of life around the world, some of them I personally admire. It’s one of the very many things that I truly love about my job.

As much as I love interacting with people, there are times when I want to be disconnected from everyone to recharge myself. From time to time, it’s nice not to be with the company of others, whether physically or virtually. No friends, no acquaintances around, no laptop, no ipad, and no phones. I call it “alone time”. That’s exactly what I had yesterday. A meaty dinner (carpaccio to start and bun-less burger for main) at Gilli, two glasses of red, a few cigarettes and a stroll around Piazza della Repubblica at sunset. Life is not good. Life is very good.

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I’m confined here in my room. The paralyzing weather doesn’t want to cooperate with me. It’s sunny for five minutes, raining for five, sunny again for five minutes then rainy again. Oh Florence….

I’m finally back on the trail after spending a few days catching up with my family who I miss so much. I landed in Florence yesterday evening. I was here the same time last year and the weather is so much better this time around. It’s sunny with patches of cloud here and there. I hope the cool breeze doesn’t go away in the next few days because I’m not really a fan of hot and humid European summers.

Jil Sander Spring 2011 Menswear Show Finale

Here’s are two quick videos I took of Raf Simons’ spring/summer 2011 collection for Jil Sander. I apologize for the poor quality due to the lighting. The show was held outdoors in this breathtaking villa on the outskirts of Florence. I guess they were aiming for a sunset show but the weather didn’t cooperate with us.

… and here’s the final walkthrough.

Anyway, I had the pleasure of meeting Raf before the show started. He’s tall and he’s lovely. It was somewhat eerie to shake his hand. It’s like touching Jesus.

More pics and text to follow. It’s late and I have to pack… I’m going to Milan tomorrow!

I think I don’t have that many shows on my checklist this time around. As you know, I’ve been traveling so much the past few months and I haven’t had the chance to sort out my requests. So far I’ve got a few blue-chip shows confirmed: Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Gucci, Burberry Prorsum, Calvin Klein and then I also have D&G, Cavalli, Etro, Ferragamo and I think two or three more. I’m gonna make a conscious effort to go to presentations and showrooms of smaller labels.

Haider Ackermann Spring 2011 at Pitti W_Woman Florence

The Fondazione Pitti Discovery will present Haider Ackermann's spring 2011 show later tonight at Palazzo Corsini.

I'm a big fan of Haider Ackermann (though I could never seem to afford his pieces) and I'm looking forward to seeing his show.

Mrs. Repossi

I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs.Repossi in our hotel while on the queue to ask our concierge for a cab. She came up to me and introduced herself. She liked what I wore a few
days ago, specifically my printed harem trousers. She's a lovely woman.

They own Repossi, fine jewelers from Monaco. Her daughter, the super chic Gaia Repossi (photo of her as a child above — see the Anya Hindmarch bag), frequently appears on street-style blogs. Gaia also collaborated with Alexander Wang for jewelry that was used on his show.

A Shaded View of Florence

Fellow fashion blogger and friend Diane Pernet arrived today in Florence for Pitti.

She’s staying at the same hotel as I am and she’s one floor up. Thought I’d visit to say hello… it’s been quite awhile since I last saw her.

You should have seen her reaction when she opened the door and saw me. She was like, “stop! wait right there…” and she grabbed her camera to take a photo of me. It turns out that it was the first time she smiled today.

Fun times!