The year is almost over, and we are sad to be enjoying our last few weeks of FIT in Florence!

First things first– I highly recommend travelling to Greece. It’s beautiful and beachy, the food is incredible, there’s great shopping, and the Greeks are some of the nicest people. Our hotel looked up at the ancient Acropolis, which tells stories of times before Christ. The ancient ruins were mind-blowing and I feel so privileged to have seen them. All in all, Athens is a beautiful city with a ton of character and individuality.

Some highlights were the changing of the guards at Parliament, seafood dishes, ATV safari on the island of Corfu, sight-seeing and sandal shopping.

We met with their Management/Merchandising team, an elegant group who carry out all of the production, from sourcing raw materials and working with the design team, to fashion shows and in-store delivery which is of course, global.

It’s inspiring to see how the legacy of Salvatore is carried out and translated to RTW, something that Mr. Ferragamo did not specifically specialize in. The team still uses values and construction processes from almost century ago.

After a lovely and informative presentation, we had a coffee reception with the team and heard some wise words from Ferruccio Ferragamo, son of Salvatore, pictured below. What a privilege! We then concluded our appointment with a visit to the museum, now featuring an exhibit of Marilyn Monroe.

For us FIT/Polimoda students, it’s free entrance, so there’s nothing better than taking advantage of this place. Here are some photos from my visits:

It was inspiring to see the way fashion has changed over the past couple of centuries for men and women. They certainly did not dress for comfort, and can you believe it took hours to get dressed each day?

Check it out!

The winter break went by definitely too fast but we’ve already jumped into many fashion activities at school so we can’t complain about boredom. Last weekend in Florence was full of fashion fun with Pitti Filati (a yarn trade show) as well as Vintage Selection 21 (a huge vintage clothing fair). I really enjoyed both of them. It was great to see all of these trends in knitwear industry and talk to the professionals. It was a real B2B (Business to Business) experience. But hunting for some unique stuff during Vintage Selection made me very excited too. You can never be tired of old school Chanel, Hermes or Louis Vuitton products. And all of these unknown funky designers made my heart beat faster! I need to admit… it was a paradise for every fashion lover.

Soon, in less than two weeks we’re heading for our academic trip to Paris. We don’t know the exact schedule yet but I’m sure we’ll have numerous industry and cultural appointments over there. I look forward to seeing one of the most fabulous cities in the world! Just to tell you a little secret… we’ll be at the top of the Eiffel Tower the first night!

However, before setting off to France, we’re going to participate in Venice Carnival on Sunday. I bet all of my friends are already getting their masks ready!

I know you’ve also just started new semester at FIT. I wish you good luck and enjoy it as much as we do here in Italy!

We are so excited to have begun our second semester here in Florence. It’s been a great holiday break. We are all well-rested and ready to go. Some of us went home to see our families and friends, while some of us stayed (I personally stayed and had my family come visit me–why not?). We’ve had to say goodbye to some of our classmates who only stayed for one semester, and have welcomed some new students into the program for the Spring 2013 session. Anyhow, classes have commenced and we couldn’t be happier to get right back into things.

This semester looks promising for me. I have two classes in the lovely Villa Favard, both in the Sala Rosa, pictured below. It has magnificent frescoes on the ceiling and the walls are colored with a cute pink. It’s easy to zone out and get lost in the allegorical beauty shown on the ceiling, above the dangling chandelier. It’s quite a picturesque room to casually attend class in.

Another one of my classes is located in the French Institute of Florence. Since there is so much going on at Polimoda, we had to relocate in order to meet all of our classroom needs, which is fine by us. The Institute is right next to the Arno River, and our room has a window view overlooking the picturesque scene. It’s quite nice…

In other news, we’ve now completed a full week of classes and are looking forward to future classes and opportunities to come. We’ve seen better weather, but that’s expected during the winter season here in Florence. At least our school is looking mighty pretty. Please see the main entrance of Villa Favard, pictured below.

Expect some exciting posts in the near future–we took a class trip to Pitti Filatti, a textile tradeshow that bi-annually takes place here in Florence, and we are anxiously awaiting our academic trip to Paris this coming month.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, may 2013 be filled with good health and happiness!

Until next time,

I’m Zach, FMM 3rd year…. Ciao!

Although it was wonderful to see my family and friends again, it’s time to be studying my passion again. I flew back to Florence three days ago with a layover in Paris, where it was snowing hard. I arrived in Florence with relief that no luggage was lost and flights were not terribly delayed. Florence is no longer a foreign environment. The bumpy cobblestones, insane Italian drivers and spontaneous rain just all feels so familiar.

Although I am in the same city as last semester, there are many differences between this semester and the last. I moved into a different, more spacious, apartment with my Fashion Merchandising Management friends. I live further away from Villa Strozzi now, but I bought a student ATAF tram pass today so my commute will be quicker. I have one less class during spring semester, so hopefully I will have more leisure time to relax. Though my professors are predominately the same, I have a few new professors for courses such as Patternmaking, Italian and Photoshop. It will be exciting to get to know them!

I am unbelievably nervous for the new semester, but I am looking forward to it. I am still adapting to living away from home since this is my first year doing so, but I have been learning to deal with my homesickness really well. I put so much hard work into my courses last semester and finished with solid grades. I hope that I can continue maintaining good grades while balancing a social life this semester as well.

Last Friday, the designer of Lemuria came to Polimoda to speak to FIT students about her brand. She demonstrated how her garment could be transformed on a student model (me!) Different jersey swatches and hem finishings were passed around to the students as she spoke about the fashion business and design process. Though she spoke mainly in Italian and needed to be translated by our professors, we all learned about her brand and working with jersey knits.

It was a wonderful experience to see a designer as a guest speaker for our school who we previously saw in Milan. It was great to hear about the business world from someone who had plenty of experience. It is events like this that make FIT in Florence a truly memorable and valuable experience.

To check out a video of one of her garments, check this video out: