If you are a big fan of Game of Thrones, you will probably know their song “Bones”. My favorite at the moment is “BTKS”. I love how dramatic their sound can be and how fragile Lizzy’s voice is in this song. This band reflects their personality in their album. Lizzy is as fun in real life and they both are really energetic.

The listen session of their new album took place at Club 69 , a small club in the center of Ghent. The perfect location to have a talk with Lizzy and Max. They looked extra cool with colored lights. I am always a bit curious to find out how artists are in person, and I have to say that this band is so nice and open. We had a great talk and they were very friendly. I made a video to give you a small impression of the interview. So check it out.

This summer they will be back in Belgium during Pukkelpop. I am sure they will be a crowd pleaser. Apparently the band loves playing in front of a Belgium audience. One of their biggest gigs was here in our small country.  I sure can’t wait to see them perform with a live band on stage. As they said during their Q&A, they manage all their own social media. If you really want to know what the band is about, you should visit their tumblr.


Max and Lizzy were kind enough to sign a small poster for one of our readers. This means it’s time for another give away! How can you win this signed poster? Well answer this question;
Who directed the music video for their song Fantasy ?
The first person who sends the correct answer to julie@strutterview.com wins. Don’t forget to give me your home address.

Good luck!

Julie

One light beam. A hooded girl enters the church and moves like she’s possessed. 6 tables in one line, long enough for 12 people. Apostels? Maybe. In this case: 2 girls performing the same actions, but the roles get switched. The music is theatrical, almost religious. It’s not only movement: it’s dance.

They are not afraid to make a dance look like a dance, a thing that’s not always in fashion in the contemporary tradition.
You could see the influences of P.A.R.T.S. and Akram Kahn in several scenes, due to the virtuosity and fluidity of the dancers’ movements along with the repetitiveness of some sequences.

‘O Mensch’ also got me thinking about the influence of gender on the perception of the dance piece. I know this seems pretty vague and theoretical, so I’ll give an example. One girl moves fluently but wildly. It feels like she lost control. A man approaches her and touches her. She finally calms down.
Another one: a girl lies on a table. The guy throws her off. She climbs on the second one. He throws her off again… six times in a row.
To me it felt like the girls’ movements were always influenced by the man in the room. They were wild and possessed. He knew what he was doing.
On the other hand, I’ve never seen so much female power in a church, which to me is a typical place of male power. It felt refreshing and it looked amazing.

‘O Mensch’ made me think about the eternal contrasts (good-bad, light-dark, male-female, hard-soft…) and that while entertaining me and captivating me with movement, music and setting. I think with Nono C, Antwerp has gained a new group to be proud of.

Vincent

What do you need?

- 50gr Rucola
- 30gr mozzarella
- puff pastry
- one egg
- parmigiamo
- 1/2 zucchini

1. Cut the 1/2 of the zucchini in pieces. 

2. Preheat the oven at 220° 

3. Shortly brown the zucchini in a frying pan before adding the rest of the ingredients. 

4. Mix all the other ingredients together until the mozzarella is melted. Season with some salt and pepper.

5. Put the mixture on a square of puff pastry and add some parmigiamo. 

6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 220° until the pastry is golden brown. 10 to 20minutes. 

7. Serve it straight from the oven with some extra parmigiamo. Also very tasty with a green salad on the side.

Enjoy.
Cheers
Julie

Inviting strangers to have dinner with you is not common in Belgium, although we read about a smiliar story in the States some time ago. These people started their restaurant in their own living room. Definitely check out the full story here.

As you might know, we love to discover new things and share them with you all, so we made a little video with a small summery of our lovely evening at Louise’s place. We had a delicious Focaccia for starters, ‘vol-au-vent‘ for dinner and our favourite part of the evening: a blood orange trifle for dessert. Dutch readers can find the recipes on http://thursdaydinners.com , enjoy!

Britt & Julie

Kunsthal Rotterdam did a really good job with original presentation ideas. Some of the mannequins had moving faces thanks to precise projections. There were even a couple with the face of the designer himself who gave some insights about a piece or a collection. Other sang siren songs, for example.

I particulary liked the Spring 2007 Couture collection.

You can’t have a proper Gaultier exhibition without at least two iconic pieces: the sweater with sailor stripes and Madonna’s famous corset with pointed bra. The latter was in the same room as the very first inspiration for the piece: Jean-Paul’s teddy bear Nana.

Jean-Paul Gaultier is French and he doesn’t hide it. He loves to play with the stereotype of the Parisienne. Then he takes the concept one step further (or too far, depending on your taste).

I have to say that for me Gaultier is more a costume designer than a fashion designer. To me he is at his best when he designs for the performing arts, such as Dita Von Teese’s black sparkling skeleton burlesque outfit. Check out the video.

While you’re at Kunsthal Rotterdam, have a peek at the Pastoe interior exhibition. You’ll see there is something between Ikea and Eames, which combines aesthetics and practicality too.

The Fashion World of Jean-Paul Gaultier is at Kunsthal Rotterdam until the 12th of May.

Vincent

We visited the store-opening and for the occasion, the lovely people at Hema invited the amazing nail artist This Made Up Life, a talented and inspiring lady from London who even managed to paint ‘Jip en Janneke’ on Britt’s nails. Since there’s nothing more to say and a lot for you to see, we made a little video with some great shots of our day at Hema, enjoy!

Britt&Julie

The reason for my Roffy trip was the invitation of my friend Lindsey to stay in a design hotel for free as her ‘plus one’. Got to love Bongo.

Here she’s posing with Rotterdam’s giant ‘buttplug Santa’ statue which was decorated with marine stripes in honour of the big Jean-Paul Gaultier exhibition. More about that in my next post!

We stayed in the impressive Bazar Hotel in probably the coolest street in town: Witte de Withstraat. Bazar Hotel is entirely inspired by the best of the Middle East. Beautiful tiling, oriental chandeliers, bold colours and golden ornaments. Good choice, Lindsey!

You don’t even have to stay in the hotel to enjoy one of its best features: the restaurant! A ceiling with mirror tiles, oriental lighting and most of all mouthwatering dishes. We had their special, the Bizar Bazar, for dinner and with €15/person it was their most expensive dish.
FYI, Bizar Bazar = mixed grill kebab with lamb, chicken en turkey, with a Persian style stew of lamb with almonds, with rice, fried potatoes, yoghurt sauce with moesir and salad. Not bad at all, huh? Check out the menu here.

In the morning we were served the giant and delicious oriental inspired breakfast. A perfect start for a busy day in the city.

Because Rotterdam is a city with a lot to do and a lot to discover. I’m going to be honest: it’s not pretty. The city was bombed during the Second World War and what they constructed afterwards is just plain ugly. But what Rotterdam lacks in architectural beauty is highly compensated by exciting experiences and a surprise around almost every corner.

Whatever you decide to do, go to these 3 streets:
As I already mentioned, Witte de Withstraat: Hotel Bazar, WdW Contemporary Art Gallery, MAMA Showroom, Ecce.
Don’t stop when the street changes names and becomes Schilderstraat: Margreeth Olsthoorn, Haring Design, Bagel Bakery & Burgers.

Make sure to pass by Pannekoekstraat as well: the absolute favourite of Lindsey and me is Pierre. Beautiful interior and dito staff. Great service, great wine, great music and all kinds of people. We’ll definitely go back next time to try the food.

You’ll also find Smaakatelier Zoet & Zout in Pannekoekstraat, which is perfect for lunch or a relaxing drink. Other interesting assets of this street include Depot Rotterdam, No Robot, Very Cherry and Shop4aday.

Do you want to have a night out “Vincent & Lindsey style”? Then this is your itinerary:
Have dinner at Bazar, have a cocktail at Tiki’s, drink Straffe Hendrik at Sijf, activate your party mood at Rotown, make a brief stop at Hemingway, have a late-night snack at Burger King and party the night away underground at Toffler.

Ok, I’ve already given you 18 things to do in this post (Burger King not included). Now it’s time for you to go to Rotterdam and discover this amazing city. You can do everything on foot and we did all this and more in just two days. Trust me, you won’t get bored.
The post about the Jean-Paul Gaultier exhibition at Kunsthal Rotterdam will shortly be online, so keep on checking our site, Twitter and Facebook page!

Vincent

I had the opportunity to see (and feel) the complete SS13 collection during the opening of the Wolf. shop at Collectif d’Anvers. A good thing, since I had only seen some pieces during the Oona press days, plus Sofie Claes was there herself!

A cool extra: the model, Daphne Velghe (Dominique Models), is a friend of mine. She was featured on Models.com just one week ago as ‘Model of the Week’ in the ‘New Faces’ section. Way to go, Daphne!

Now back to Wolf. by Sofie Claes! The jewellery line is perfectly complimentary to the clothes. Tough yet refined, a game of textures and materials. I especially like the reflection of the little plate.

Sofie Claes is such a friendly person.She told me collaborations are really important to her.
She shares the space with Natalie Van Lijsebettens and Bieke Vanduffel of Collectif d’Anvers, who make raw, hand-made, sustainable footwear.
The pictures of the stones behind her are made by her partner Bram van Stappen. He has also photographed every collection so far. Furthermore the designer joined hands with the perfumer Louison Libertin for a special cream.

With all these projects help is always welcome. I had a talk with her interns Hannelore (left) and Anona (right). They said an internship in a smaller business actually gives you bigger opportunities to develop your skills and discover what you’re good at. For Hannelore the shop opening was the last project and for Anona the first. Good luck, ladies!

Wolf. by Sofie Claes at Collectif d’Anvers
Maarschalk Gerardstraat 9
2000 Antwerp

Vincent

Make up tips by MAC Cosmetics, coffee secrets from Illy, hair and bow extravaganza by Veritas or digital graffiti at Björn Borg… you name it, The Big You has it. And then there was the delight of wellness, wellness and more wellness. A pure stimulation for all your senses.

Remember the Illy post we did a couple of weeks ago? We did another Illy workshop at TBY13, because we looooove coffee, but if you want to know all about it head over to our previous post here.

We got the opportunity to smell some possible new fragrances and joy a cool competition.

These sodas/cocktails were made by Sodastream, we honestly had no idea this was actually so good. Looks appealing, right? YUM.

Britt signed up for a MAC workshop with make-up artist Elke to learn the techniques and looks for spring/summer. Like you will see in the video below, we created a very summer-y natural look with bold eyebrows and popping lipstick. We’re absolutely a big fan of this look, since you don’t need a lot of make-up and it isn’t time consuming at all. Even if you’re in a hurry, a bold MAC lipstick works miracles, ladies.
Beauty brands Rituals and Weleda told us some more about the new products they have. We all know Rituals because we use it ourselves a lot (think: the a-mazing Ritual shower foam) but we never really used the other products. Apparently they offer a lot of products for people with sensitive skin and redness issues too soo YAY, saaaaved by Rituals. Britt tried the ‘Sensational Soft Cleanser’ gel for sensitive skin and it’s really a fantastic product. It’s a very gentle way to cleanse the face, and it doesn’t leave your skin all dried out like most products do. When using it, the gel actually turns into a soft lotion … so refreshing. Julie tried the sensitive skin day cream since the day she found it in her goodie bag, and although she’s kinda picky when it comes to face products (sensitive skin girl problems), she was really happy with the hydrating and soft feel afterwards, it calms the skin and keeps the redness away. This is definitely worth mentioning because these are problems she couldn’t solve with her previous day cream.

Weleda is a brand we didn’t know at all, but the lovely lady at the Weleda booth was so kind to give us a brief, but very clear explanation on the brand (when actually the event was already almost over, oops). Weleda is a brand that makes all kinds of natural beauty products. What we liked most about the brand is that it only uses entirely natural ingredients, all animal testing free. They have a fixed range of products that are each directed to a particular audience, but sometimes some new products join their fixed line. We tested the Weleda cold cream and even though we secretly hoped that we would no longer need it this winter, the product is almost indispensable when it gets colder again. Few products can really hydrate the skin without making it any more oily.

Did we already mention all the fashion, accessories, music and drinks? No? Well, there was so much to experience the best thing we could do is making a little video for you to feel the vibe. Enjoy!

Our styling skills were put to the test during a challenge of Filippa K: create your favourite look with the latest collection. We had so much fun with this we did not do one but two outfits. One womenswear and one menswear.

We completely lost track of time with all the workshops, so before we knew it The Big You was over. See you next edition!

Britt, Julie & Vincent

I’ve tested this Marshall headphones for a couple of weeks now and I must say, I wouldn’t want to miss them anymore. I find them extremely comfortable, they don’t put pressure on my head at all and the earpads are so good, I can wear them for several hours without discomfort. Also, the sound is great. I’ve heard the Marshall headphones can break quite easily, so I’m really cautious with them, but to me they look really solid so let’s hope they stay this way. Now, it’s time for what we came here for: music!

The first song I’m sharing with you is The 1975’s “Chocolate”. The 1975 have been on the radar for some time now and I’ve shared the song on Facebook and Twitter a couple of times, but still I think it’s worth sharing on the blog too. The band released their Music For Cars EP two days ago and, if you like what you hear, you can find it here. Chocolate is a song that grabbed me from the beginning, and that doesn’t happen very often. From the first time I heard it, I knew it was going to be stuck in my head aaaaall day. Check out Chocolate below.

The second video I’m sharing here isn’t new or anything, but since Rhye released their debut album this week, I thought it would be a good excuse to post this video again. Well I’m not planning on ruining this video for you with all kinds of random talk or possible meanings to the lyrics and video, I think you should just listen closely to let the beautiful video and song melt your heart. I chose this video because I think it’s so touching, but definitely check out their video for Open too.

The last song I’m sharing with you today is a real classic. Because I’m seeing The Killers in 2 days (AAAAA IM SO EXCITED!!!), their new and old albums are constantly on repeat. I really don’t think they’ve ever made a bad song according to me, but when the first sunbeams are shining and spring is on it’s way, I can’t help but put Mr. Brightside on the highest volume and sing and dance along. This is probably my all-time favorite song, ever. Enjoy!

Britt