Ah holidays. That time of the year when streets fill with tons of Christmas markets, and there're sweets and amazing food no matter what country you live in, and cold and chill stays the whole day... Well, that's about to come very soon! For the first time in my life, I will be "coming back home for Christmas" this coming December, and I'm sure everyone will expect of me to go back to Spain not only with tons of experiences, fun facts and a bit of italian in my tongue but also, loaded with new fun-tastic outfit ideas and crazy wardrobe changes with some florentine flavor attached. I can't wait!

So, now I can finally assure you that Firenze belongs to northern Italy, and that means that it's a much colder città than I ever expected. I was warned long before the chill arrived, because every single window in every single shop downtown was filled with fluffy fur coats and cozy sweaters I would have never imagined wearing back home. That should have given me the idea of what was about to happen in late October/beginning of November. But, as innocent as I am, I didn't trust those first signs and kept going out every day with my light sweater and blazer jacket because, "it's OK, it's sunny outside and the birds are singing around". WRONG. It's cold, deal with it. Even in this amazing pictures my friend and I took at the Tepidarium Roster here in the Giardino dell'Orticultura while being sunny and lovely.

That's why, my advice is... Why let cold beat you instead of battling it face to face with a warmer outfit? It's precisely in holidays and festive Winter days that one of the things I miss the most is pairing a cool, flowy maxi dress with just a pair of sandals and a nice purse. Well, with this green velvet dress I got from Lightinthebox now I can achieve that without freezing while staying super in-style. Velvet always feels so cozy, so classy and kind of glowing that it doesn't only travel me back to holiday memories, but also makes me want to show everyone that fiorentine je-ne-sais-quoi ligated somehow to amazing fabrics worn for centuries here, and that I'm trying to acquire every single day I spend in this city. So, a velvet maxi dress might be one of the best ideas I've ever had when picking a Winter-proof outfit that will also help me get through a long flight and crowded lines at the airport. Coming back this holidays is a perfect excuse to rock a great outfit!

I can't believe it's almost Christmas and we're almost done with our quarterly subjects, which include (as always) tons of work deliveries and presentations for December 21st-22nd. After that, I'll be mostly at home for the coming exam period and working on some nice architecture contests we've been looking after. But, as Christmas always is, the season includes uncountable relative meetings, dinners, casual meet-ups with old friends around cups of tea and biscuits and so on. That means having a bunch of easy and quick outfit fixes for every event the holidays might come up with.

A nice idea is to take out of your closet all your mid length, mid sleeve dresses in warm tones or with subtle details and pair them with your best opaque, thick tights or leggings and medium heels. Then, get wrapped in your warmest scarf and coat and you're done to rock this Christmas! I did so in this grey, A-line dress from Lightinthebox which arrived just at the perfect time to assemble my Christmas outfits for casual events or evenings strolling through the streets of Valencia. This dress is the perfect match for the holidays, and for less than 30$, which is a real deal!

It's made of an elastic grey cotton, it ends a little bit above the knee, has a side zipper, is cut at the waist with a ribbon to adjust to your back and a lovely V-neck. It runs true to size, but I must say I was a bit scared of if I could wear it successfully or not as I ordered an XL as these kind of dresses usually run pretty small. But, if you follow the size charts at the Lightinthebox site as I did, I'm pretty sure you won't face any problem. As you can see, I succeeded at the sizing and it fits nicely.

The quality of the dress is also great. It has no lining, but I don't think there's need of it, as the grey fabric is thick enough and nothing can be shown through it. All the hems and final touches have been sewn carefully, as no thread has gone rogue in the way of wearing the dress. As said: a real deal to wear this coming Christmas season, and a dress you'll get tons of compliments with!

The whole shipping process was also very easy and quick. The dress came in about 2 weeks since I ordered it, and arrived to Valencia during one of the stormiest weeks I've ever lived. Thankfully, we've been having an exceptional warm weather for the past two or three days, which allowed me to wear the dress for a family lunch and to an event at the Architecture School without even carrying my coat with me. Not even a light blazer. Seriously. Valencian weather is the craziest thing.