The last couple of months, I have been obsessed with the Rolex Submariner watch. I’ve been obsessed with this watch since I was a little kid. Sturdy, stainless, pure Rolex. I guess it’s time to make dreams come true!!!

Last Tuesday Marie-José Jalou, Sandor Lubbe and Nicolette Goldsmann from L’OFFICIEL gave me the opportunity to take part in an exclusive launch dinner of L’OFFICIEL HOMMES NL. And oh my god it was amazing. It all started with some oysters, good music and lots of good drinks. After finishing all the oysters, we enjoyed the three course set menu which was beyond expectation. Everything was perfectly prepared and presented. I especially enjoyed the crème brûlée dessert. It was truly exceptional and unique in a good way with the crisp top nice and thin. I met some really interesting people in the course of the evening, and I am quite impressed how international and mixed the Amsterdam Community is. The organisers and everyone involved did an amazing job. Thank you very much for inviting me to take part to this prestigious event and for extending the invitation to the evening dinner at Lion Noir. Congratulations on bringing out this unique magazine and successfully organising such an important event.

Friends featured on the above pictures: Sandor Lubbe, Cherrelle Lubbe, Yael Temminck, Igor Guinau and CommedesLeroi.

Pictures courtesy of: Cherrelle Lubbe

This luxurious, Lamu-style hideaway in Msambweni, Kenya the ‘land of the sable antilope’, was opened in 2007 by the brothers Frederik and Filip Van der Hoeven. Arabian lamps and golden silk cushions accent the predominantly white suites and villas and outside one can enjoy unrestricted views of the ocean from the pools and the private beach. The beach house and country is definitely one of the must-see destinations next year!!!

TASCHEN’s Favourite Hotels

Amsterdam Fashion Week is always an exciting time but this year I just didn’t have the time to check out all the fashion shows. It was frustrating, yes, mainly because I had to study for multiple exams and deal with multiple projects. Oh, what a bummer!!! But despite all time barriers I tried to put together a small archive of the best (in my opinion) fashion looks, enjoy!!!

Pictures made by Team Peter Stigter

It’s been a while since my last 1 Year Anniversary post, as I’ve been fairly busy with my last exams. Now back in the saddle, here’s a recap of what I’ve been checking out this last week at the Amsterdam International Fashion Week. These are some really neat pictures of the Bas Kosters en Spijkers & Spijker show, enjoy!!!

Pictures by: Liza Dikkerboom

The Amangiri Hotel (‘peaceful mountain’), which opened in 2009, nestles within the dramatic desertscape of southern Utah, surrounded by canyons and plateaus. The architect Marwan Al-Sayed, Wendell Burnette and Rick Joy have created buildings of concrete, stone and steel with room-height windows that merge with the natural landscape. The interiors have soft accents in wood and cream-coloured fabrics. The Amangiri Hotel is one of my absolute favourites and is definitely on the must visit list!!!

TASCHEN’s Favourite Hotels

Ksar Char-Bagh is a luxurious and peaceful Mororrcan oasis that sits right outside of Marrakech’s mystical and bustling Old City. Nicole and Patrick Levillair were inspired by Moorish, Ottoman and Persian architecture when they built and decorated this Relais & Châteaux hotel in 2003. The soft sounds of water (a symbol of life) are heard everywhere and guests can relax under palms, in the hamam or in the ‘Harim’ (Persian for: ‘little place apartment’) suites that truly do their name justice…stunning!!!

TASCHEN’s Favourite Hotels

It’s the season of Fashion Week. Every day’s a Friday and every night is a sex scene. Every week is fashion week and every day I’m pressed clean (Big Sean voice). Naa… just kidding!!!
I just had the privilege being backstage at the Cold Method show and I have to say these pictures do not do the collection justice. Let me just point out first that there is backstage and then there is BACKSTAGE. All capital, bold letters is reserved for those behind-the-scenes where you feel that you was part of an inspiring team of people, who were just so dedicated to do things the right way. I was told to expect something very cool for this runway and honestly Dieter de Cock was right, beautiful collection. The collection is young and casual as usual. The collection truly exhibits the style of the young men’s wear. I also find the color palette of greens, blues and grays to be amazing, mostly due to that is all my closet consists of. I would rock this collection anytime during any season.

P.S. I shot all pictures. I really need to buy a camera, it’s addictive!!!

With his 1952 ‘Cité radieuse’ (radiant city), Le Corbusier realized his version of a ‘vertical city within a city’. The huge, brutalist concrete building is still very much in use and the Hotel Le Corbusier occupies several floors of it. The rooms retain the original proportions and colour palette of the architect and are furnished with classic modernist furniture such as his legendary chaise longue.

Source: TASCHEN’s Favourite Hotels

To tell you the truth, there’s really no definition of an American Apparel girl. Being an “American Apparel girl” is a state of mind-not a fashion statement. There’s no way to become an “American Apparel girl in just tights” overnight. You just are. Unless you’ve got unbelievably long, gorgeous legs, it’s very hard to look like a typical “American Apparel girl”, but you can still try!!! If you happen to be that girl and you happen to live in Amsterdam, send an email to hussein@yesterdaysucks.com with your name, measurements, picture and mobile number, LOL. I am looking forward to add you to my black address book.

American Apparel, thank you. You started this.

Last Monday, my good friend Yoga Priyautama from Overdose.am did a interview with Designer Drugs in this beautiful hotel over here in Amsterdam. I felt so intrigued when we stepped into the hotel, of its modern decor and of its characteristic atmosphere. Wow….. I just couldn’t stop staring at the spacious hotel lounge with the funky modern fireplace, and maybe I only liked it so much because It’s freaking cold outside these last couple of days. As you might guess, we had to wait in the hotel reception for at least an hour so we decided to have a couple of drinks while we waited. The waitress convinced us to try one of their fresh and tasty organic herbal tea blends, and it tasted good too when it cooled off. As most of you already know, I’m a big fan of modern architecture for a few years now, and though I don’t know too much about it, and don’t have the money, I still try to pick up some architecture magazines once in a while. After this impressing modern, high standard hotel I think it’s time to head back to the bookstore to recoup some of my favourite architecture magazines.

Park Hotel

T +31 (0)20 671 1222
F +31 (0)20 664 9455
E info@parkhotel.nl
W www.parkhotel.nl

Last Thursday I was invited to visit the Luxottica pressday and take a look at all the new designer eyewear, designer frames and designer sunglasses for Spring/Summer 2011. When it comes to eyewear, Luxottica Group has it made in the shades. The world’s largest eyewear firm, Luxottica designs, makes, and sells eyeglass frames and sunglasses, offering more than 20 licensed designer brands (Burberry, Chanel, Tiffany) and a dozen house brands (Ray-Ban and REVO). The one thing that really caught my eye was the double bridge Aviator sunglasses style that is copied by many designers brands in this new season. I think that it has something to do with the versatility of these sunglasses. You can wear it every day with your casual jeans outfit or with a suit. At the end of the evening, Luxottica really surprised me with a new pair of Ray-Ban’s Outdoorsman Road Spirit. Thanks for the gift en thanks for having me here.

Friends featured on the above pictures: Andy Torres, Dieter de Cock, Edwin Goudens van den Handel, Mo Anwar, Sabrina Meijer and Yoga Priyautama.

Yesterday, H&M celebrated the opening of it’s new flagship store in a beautiful restored monumental building at the Dam-square in Amsterdam, with a star studded event. I went to the grand opening of the new H&M Flagship Store last night and it was a madhouse. At 7:30pm H&M opened their doors to Amsterdam’s fashionistas and we got to shop the amazing Lanvin x H&M collection before everyone else gets their chance at the official Lanvin x H&M release this morning. The atmosphere was perfect (I was honestly afraid of shopping wars) and you could tell by the sparkling eyes of most shoppers what a happy night it was for them. The lines at the fitting rooms formed early– but it was worth it in the end for most of them and the prospect of some hot deals combined with free drinks kept everyone entertained.

The store will be open to the public on November 25th and the doors will open at 10:00am and the first 100 costumers get a gift voucher that can run up to 500 Euros. Well, here’s the perfect product for the recession: a gift card that allows the lucky recipient to buy all their Christmas shopping. The mega store looks pretty amazing, I’ll have to make a trip up there back soon.

Pictures courtesy of: Yoga Priyautama

Local Vogue 11: Hussein from ‘Yesterday Sucks’ from Overdose.am on Vimeo.

I recently did a small video interview at my house with Overdose where Yoga asked me some questions about my blog, style and my goals in life. All you ever wanted to know about my little apartment is in this video, so take a closer look in my life, enjoy!! This is where the magic happens, You think you know, but you have no idea, LOL. I’ve always wanted to say that. Click HERE to check all the pictures Yoga made for Overdose.

I’m excited to announce that homie Guillaume, a 20 year old architecture and design student who got his own sneaker line called ‘Filling Pieces’ is still on his grind and works harder every new season to come up with beautiful versatile footwear with style and comfort. These new models on the pictures above are the latest designs from Guillaume. Each model was created to address specific requests from shops, family, friends and loyal customers. I got some high expectations for the brand. Stay well, strong, wise and happy Guillaume and you will fulfill all your dreams. Oh yeah before I forget, the shoes on the last picture are mine, all mine.

Black History Month is held every October in Britain, and February in USA and Canada.

The aims are to:
- Promote knowledge of the Black History, Cultural and Heritage.
- Disseminate information on positive Black contributions to British Society.
- Heighten the confidence and awareness of Black people to their cultural heritage.

The origins of Black History Month goes back to 1926 when Carter G. Woodson, editor for thirty years of the Journal of Black History, established African Caribbean celebrations in America. It is still celebrated there in February each year. At times like this it reminds me to never give up!! You must continue on. …. It’s taking a dream and doing anything, risking everything, and stopping at nothing to make it a reality. Black History Month is a time to honour people who are strong role models, and thats why I tried to show you some of my big inspirations in life, my role models.

James Jean is the author of a couple of my favourite blogs, The Mod Revival and The Mod Rockers. However it’s amazing that James Jean found a way to take quiet normal clothes and transform it into a casual cool. I have been drawn to simple clothing for many reasons, due to comfort and simple style and it shows a simple style that anyone can aspire to and pull off. Kudos to James Jean and Jake Davis.

It seems like everything I’m lusting after for my Autumn wishlist isn’t available in the Netherlands and is way too expensive. So I think my general style plan for this season is going to be mainly pops of these expensive brands combined with clothes from H&M. I’m also really digging all the military details that are showing up, so I’m hoping I can toughen up my look a bit with those. One of the great things about this military trend is that it is made to be functional; after all, it comes from a era when people could frequently be heard to say “there’s a war on!” Everyone has their own views on how to pull off some of season’s hottest runway looks and that’s why I came up with the idea of showing you guys how I would hit the streets, enjoy!!!

Big, Big shout out to Whizzkid Abderrahmane.

I’m featured in the latest issue of French magazine Shoes-up!! Together with my good friends we went to Paris for a few days to attend a Pigalle and Blackrainbow basketball tournament. Since we only had one day to tour Paris we were very pleased with the beatiful weather and we even decided to stop by at Uniqlo and Pigalle to buy some fresh summer gear. In the above picture I was wearing my new red Wood Wood shorts, American Apparel stripe short sleef tshirt, denim clarks desertboot and retro Super Future sunglasses. The backpack on the picture is one of my favourite possessions, and it’s an Eastpak X Raf Simmons collaboration what in my mind turned out perfectly. Big shout out to Shyne (my brother from another mother) from Montaignestreet to keep me updated with all great things happening in Paris.

Pictures came all the way from Paris and by courtesy of Ugly Mely
Big shout out to Whizzkid Abderrahmane