My Dear Vienna

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Vienna Opera Ball with Swarovski

Dear Vienna, Fashion Stories

Vienna Opera Ball with Swarovski

Jewelry: Swarovski

Outfit: Dolce&Gabbana

Locations: The Guesthouse Hotel, Hotel Sacher, Vienna State Opera

Photos of me in the Opera House: Franco Federici

I wanted to go the Vienna Opera Ball this year but I didn’t dare to think that it could actually happen. In fact, when I received the invitation from Swarovski, I couldn’t believe my own eyes.

I had to check my mobile twice to convince myself that my wish did come true.

Not only was I happy to attend the Vienna Opera Ball with Swarovski, but I was also happy for my Instagram friends and readers because I knew that they would love to see photos and visual stories of the Ball through my lenses and my social media channels. I got this impression back in 2016 when I attended the Vienna Opera Ball for the very first time.

From the photography point of view, this blog post could be divided into two parts.

In the first part, we have the photos that were shot at The Guesthouse Hotel, where I had my makeup and hair done by a professional team of hair dressers and makeup artists. As you can tell from the photos, I love product photography. When I have beautiful products in front of me, I feel the need to photograph them and I can spend hours doing so, playing with the light and with different compositions. In this case, my beautiful products were my jewelry pieces from Swarovski and the cutest little bag from Dolce & Gabbana, that I chose to wear this special night.

In the second part, we have two shots from the gala dinner which took place at the Sacher hotel. And the blog post ends with photos that are shot in the Opera House, one day before the ball, during the official final rehearsal. How lucky was I to be given advance access to the Opera House to take my photos before they let people in!

It was quite challenging to cover photographically all those amazing happenings that occured one after the other: the rehearsal on Wednesday, the preparation before the ball, the gala dinner, the Opera Ball on Thursday 8th of February. But believe me, if I have the chance again, I would do the same thing all over. It made me feel alive, honored, and blessed to have been given this opportunity to attend the Vienna Opera Ball with Swarovski, and to have been chosen by the Dolce & Gabbana family in Milano to wear this dreamy evening gown. Grazie tante!

Each detail was so perfectly organized by the people involved. Eveything from the correspondence I had with the person who was behind the entire organization, to the fitting at the Dolce & Gabbana boutique in the first district, to taking photos with the girls on the red carpet, to the moment I was dancing Quadrille together with Michaela from Elastyle.

The craziest thing about that night was when I discovered the disco room in the basement of the opera!!! I’ve been to the Vienna Opera House many times before, and I never thought that a room in the basement could ever be transformed into such a fun disco dance hall. There is always something new to discover in Vienna…

Nothing but A BIG THANK YOU to the SWAROVSKI famliy for having me as one of their guests!

More on Instagram

♥

February 19, 2018 by silia | 0 comment

Vienna Ball season

Dear Vienna, Video

Ball: Ball der Wiener Sängerknaben / Video: Lorin Canaj / Dresses: Peek&Cloppenburg
Hair: B.lounge Vienna / Jewellery: Pour Toi Jewelry
Guest stars: Anastacia Kay & Lilia Briukh

Vienna Ball season – I have some great news. First of all, travelling starts over again for TVG (=The Viennese Girl). I am leaving for Italy tomorrow together with Anastacia for one week. This is the first press trip for the year 2017. It is organised by ENIT-Italia. Check out our Instagram channels for daily updates. And the second good news is that Lorin from Canaj Visuals did one more amazing video for The Viennese Girl blog and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did filming it. Thanks to the invitation from the Ball der Wiener Sängerknaben, who gave us the opportunity to attend their Ball and create this beautiful video. It was also an opportunity to get together, talk, laugh, dance and forget all the rest…for a night! What do you think about the choice of the music? Lorin initially had the idea to go for a classical Mozart song, but I thought that we should give to the ball a more young modern touch, and so we went for the song,“Falling”, from Secrets in Stereo. In general, I never thought that The Viennese Girl would ever have videos. But look how things turned out! Unexpectedly good! Fairy tale styling hair was from my all time favourite hair salon B.lounge Vienna, and my pink pastel dress was from Peek&Cloppenburg. Hope you like it and you get the chance to visit a ball during the Vienna Ball season.♥

February 17, 2017 by silia | 7 Comments

The Viennese girl presents Christmas in Vienna

Dear Vienna, Video

Earrings: Pourtoijewelry / Make up: Bobbi Brown

The Viennese girl presents Christmas in Vienna. – It was a while ago when I talked with Lorin from Canajvisuals.com over a cup of coffee, and asked him to help me create a video that will showcase how magical Vienna is during the Christmas season. This is the first time that I’m doing a video for The Viennese Girl blog, and it is also the first time that I worked with Lorin. I explained to him what exactly I had in my mind and how I wanted the final result to be. It should be magical with a fairy tale feeling. It should be exactly how Christimas in Vienna is, and it should stay true to the philosophy and the style of The Viennese Girl blog. Everything went perfectly. The only problem we faced was the music. We both had in mind two well-known beautiful songs and we knew that one of the two would complement our video beautifully. But it turned out to be impossible to get them because of the super expensive copyright license. We had to find another solution. However, I loved working with Lorin, especially for the reason that he takes my opinion into consideration and we have something in common: we are both perfectionists. We strive for perfection, and we worked hard despite the freezing cold out there to create something that you will love to watch. This is our way of wishing you a Merry Christmas. If you like the video Christmas in Vienna, feel free to leave a comment (because I am so curious to know your thoughts….) ♥

December 24, 2016 by silia | 32 Comments

Fête Impériale 2016

Dear Vienna

All pictures were taken by me

This week, on Friday the 24^th of June, I had another opportunity to play dress up, to feel like a little princess and to fall in love with my life here in Vienna. It was the first time I attended the Fête Impériale Ball, but it was my third ball of this year, after the Vienna Opera ball and the Kaffeesiederball at Hofburg Palace. To be honest, after experiencing three balls in Vienna, the Vienna Opera Ball is on the top of my list. But I liked the Fête Impériale very much as well, especially for the decoration and its summer character. Yes, on The Viennese Girl blog, we do love summer balls.

From a photography point of view, the situation was quite out of my control because I couldn’t really move and get the picture composition that I wanted. However, in one of the photos above, there is a beautiful picture of the Director of the Ball, Elisabeth Gürtel, together with Princess Benedikte of Denmark.

I wish I get more opportunities to dress up like this and to take pictures of fairy tale moments like this ball, not only in Vienna, but also on a more worldwide level. In Cannes for example, I am just saying… : ) ♥

June 26, 2016 by silia | 3 Comments

Thermalbad Vöslau

Dear Vienna

This blog post seems to be more current and relevant than anything else because summer is finally here. As the temperature rises, all of us more or less are trying to find a pleasant place to relax on the weekend, or during those precious hours after work. Apart from that, it has also been a while since the last time I revealed a Vienna tip here on The Viennese Girl blog. Ops, wait a minute! Did I say Vienna? I meant to say Bad Vöslau, a spa town only approximately 40minutes away by car from Vienna.

I didn’t know that a place like this, or something similar to it could exist close to Vienna until last week. As you can see from the photos above, I found myself in a green oasis surrounded by big trees, green field and a huge mineral water swimming pool. We had the chance to spend the whole day doing nothing but relax and enjoy our surroundings. Needless to say, I am happy to reveal one more thing to do in your leisure time here on The Viennese Girl blog, just in case you also didn’t know that place yet. On the day we went to Thermalbad Vöslau, the weather couldn’t have been better. We laid on sun loungers, ate ice cream, and it felt like we were on holidays somewhere in Italy. What a beautiful day!

I should not forget to mention the little wooden house, called Milchbar, which is located up on the hill. We had yummy snacks, drunk mango smoothies and chocolate milkshakes, all while enjoying the pretty view. If you visit Thermalbad Vöslau, it’s a good idea to walk around as the thermal bath is huge and spacious. Make sure you also pay a visit to Milchbar. More info about Thermalbad Vöslau here. ♥

June 12, 2016 by silia | 13 Comments

Vienna in April

Dear Vienna

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vienna in April the viennese girl wien bloggers (1)

With all those flowers and trees blooming around me it was impossible not to take some pictures of Vienna in April. I was thinking all the time that spring in Vienna with all those cherry blossom trees and all kinds of flowers is actually a very good reason for foreigners to visit the city. But if you come to Vienna in April for the flowers, which by the way also smell damn good, you have to know where to find them. Since I have lived here for many years now, it wasn’t difficult for me to spot them.

The photos above were taken at Burggarten, Volksgarten and Stadtpark and they are to my eyes more like paintings than photos. It is like someone has drawn them. Similar photos (or paintings) from last year’s spring you can find here.

Once, I recall, they called me pastries photographer, now they will probably call me flower photographer, but in the reality what I really love taking photos of is this. Now I am leaving you for a couple of days. I am invited to paradise, also known as Greece, for a press trip. Bye bye dear Vienna. Auf wiedersehen.♥

May 9, 2016 by silia | 5 Comments

University Campus Vienna

Dear Vienna

Photography: Margarita Shut

Bucket bag: Leo&Violette

With the photos that Margarita took for The Viennese Girl blog, I would like to show you a little part of my University Campus Vienna which is situated in Alsergrund, the 9th district of the city. The University Campus Vienna used to be General Hospital but now is a joyful place, with gardens and bars! Oh and parties, especially when the weather is good!

The imagery we created this time is obviously focused on the big pink tree that blossoms this time of the year. We went to the University Campus Vienna very early in the morning to be sure that no student would be around in order to take a few photos uninterrupted. In the Campus there were me, Margarita and the gardener and it was a great way to start the day. ♥

April 27, 2016 by silia | 1 Comment

Best time of the year

Dear Vienna

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Photography: Margarita Shut

I feel a little bad about all the radio silence here but I need to finish a thesis for the University of Vienna that has to be ready by the 20th of April. So, apart from the photography love, I am still a student who deals with thesis and deadlines. However, I always try to find a bit of time for a little stroll in the center of Vienna during the day and I promise to myself that I can always study at night. This time Margarita joined me to that little stroll, and as she always carries her photo camera with her, she snapped some photos of me. I thought I should share the photos she took on The Viennese Girl blog to show you how spring looks like in Vienna.

Which is the best time of the year for you? Which is the best season to visit Vienna? I have always wondered how spring is in Sydney, or in Tokyo, or in Singapore… Maybe because I have never been to those places, so I am just a little bit curious, as always! But soon I am going to discover how spring is in Munich ♥

April 14, 2016 by silia | 9 Comments

Vienna Opera Ball 2016

Dear Vienna

Uber picked me up from home and drove me in the direction of city center. The ring was blocked by the police for security reasons and the uber driver was telling them that he had a princess who wanted to go to the Vienna Opera Ball. I laughed and thought that I was feeling more related like Cinderella than a princess because I knew that all this would only last for one night…a cinderella with a camera though..

The police men asked for a proof, so we had to show them the entrance ticket in order to drive to the opera. I have never experienced something like that before. The music, lights, decoration, they all felt dreamlike. It was a very special night, one of those nights that once more confirmed my decision to move abroad, one of those nights that I will cherish for a long long time..♥

February 12, 2016 by silia | 4 Comments

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