Sweat sessions in the gym require disciplined and uncompromising schedules coupled with sensible eating. But all this goes for a toss when you travel abroad on somebody's invite, which means a packed agenda and tons of feasting.

So while setting out for amsterdam to cover the Amsterdam International Fashion Week, I asked the organisers if my hotel - Arthotel - had a swimming pool as I couldn’t find one on its website. Ït has a public pool where you can swim", was her response. As the weather forecast was 21-12 deg C, and I didnt know how far this public pool would be, I didn’t bother to pack my swim suit.

Just as well, I told myself as I drew the curtains of my room on the first morning, to find two huge swimming pools I could see from my room. In one of them, a guy was swimming in the buff. As two more men joined him, casually sauntering towards the pool, with not as much as a towel, I made a hasty retreat.  

So is this a common practice in Amsterdam, I asked Roel Mostert from Amsterdam Partners, which is responsible for promoting brand Amsterdam.

“It’s the only pool in Amsterdam that allows nude swimming,” he says. Of course I have many more questions and he soon gives up: “I’m an expert on Amsterdam, not nude swimming,” he smiles.

But Ken Pratt, a British member of our small media team seems to know much more about nude swimming and elsewhere in Europe too. He is very unhappy that the hotel misinformed him when he wanted to take a dip that morning. “I have no problem swimming with nude people. My problem is that the lady at the front desk gave me the impression that only nude people are allowed between 7 to 9 a.m., which is not the case as later I saw some people with swimming trunks in the pool.”

He clarified that he believed so because there are “pools in Berlin where only nude swimming is allowed,” and responds to giggles from the women in our van: “Oh yes, the Germans just wait to pull off their clothes at the first chance.” But then he has some pretty nasty things to say about other nationalities too; a veteran in fashion, he once cuts into a discussion: “Oh, that is the American definition of chic!” At another time, the Germans are under attack again: “Made in Berlin? Oh sure, but teach them some sewing skills please, because it is badly made.”

But getting back to nude swimming, some of the women from countries like India, Russia, China and Brazil – oh yes, BRICS – are curious about why people want to swim in the nude. “Guess it’s got to do with having a beautiful body, feeling good about it and wanting to show it. If I had a beautiful body, I’d swim in the buff,” says a Dutch woman journalist.

But then over the last three days there have been no female swimmers in that pool, I point out. “Ah, that’s easy to answer. It’s rather cold and men are more hardy and able to stand the cold much better than women. When the weather is better women too come out to take a dip,” is the reply.

The Dutch indeed pride themselves on being “an open society”. What we learn at the HTNK Consultancy, bang in the centre of Amsterdam’s famous Red Light District, where the firebrand and down-to-earth Mariette Hoitink gives us a glimpse into how she started the Redlight Fashion project, is nothing short of fascinating. Here, in 16 buildings, some of Amsterdam’s well known designers have set up their studios, alongside the homes of women of pleasure, sex shops, live sex shows, et al. The windows from where the girls one beckoned now display some famous Dutch labels , such as Ignoor, the Dutch label known for its body-shaped bags and accessories.

But of course the designers cannot sell their creations here; “these buildings still have Prostitute Permits, which means people can sell their bodies but not clothes or bags,” she shrugs. But then her astounding work and views deserves a separate column!

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