Age: 18 (since recently, I’m getting old)
City of Residence: Amersfoort (though I would love to be Amsterdam)
Pithy Title for your hybrid of Signature Style:
Feminine, romantic, playful and variable
Brief Narrative on your Personal Brand of Sartorial Fashion:
My personalized take on fashion? Hmm.. I dress how I feel, whether it’s in style or it isn’t. I can’t be bothered by that.
How old were you when you figured out your sense of style?
My mom was already busy with dressing me up when I was little. I never wanted to wear pants or jeans. I hated it. I always wanted to wear nice skirts and dresses. It took years to get me out of that habit! When my mom stopped picking out my clothes I chose everything without help and always came out with good combinations. I never looked ridiculous. When I went to high school I started to look like ‘everyone’. I was scared to be different, since children and teenagers can be cruel when you’re different. Though I did looked rather different in my last year of high school. I had my ’emo’ phase. After I finished high school and went to my fashion education my personal style really started to evolve. People didn’t laughe anymore about my appearance. I started to be more extreme with my hair. I got extensions, and my hair came down to the end of my back. A part of bangs was dark brown and I had stripes in my hair. After a while I became more girly. And from then till now I developed my sense of style.
Who is your style icon?
I don’t really have one. I never did. I always like to watch at fashionblogs and how those girls dress, but they never really inspire me. That’s pretty rare for me. I really like to look at it, but most of the time that’s it. Though with Alix from The Cherry Blossom Girl, Jane from Sea of Shoes and Stephanie from Archibald Maximilion on flickr it’s different. They are the only girls/women who inspire me! That I really think ‘I want to wear that!!’, ‘I want to create something like that’.
What’s your best piece of fashion advice for women?
Be yourself. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not and you don’t want to be. That’s something I tried to do and I came out miserable and clueless about how I really was. And I know teenage girls aren’t the only one with this problem.
Where do you shop when you want a bargain?
I don’t really go to a certain store when I want a bargain actually. Most of the time I just walk right into it. One time I was walking around in a big Dutch warehouse and I went to the shoe department, just to watch. Not with the intention to buy something. Then I saw some very lovely wedges from Viktor & Rolf at the discount table. So I though they were still expensive with only 25% off. I was wrong. I was so wrong. When I looked I saw there was about 75% off and there was just one pair left in my size! I couldn’t be more lucky. So everytime when something like that happens in a store, I didn’t go there because I wanted a bargain. Only because I was curious, haha.
Where are your top 5 places to shop overall?
Oef, hard one! Let me think…
1. The English Dahlia store! I adore Dahlia.
2. The Bijenkorf (a big dutch warehouse with an amazing shoe and clothes department)
3. www.Ilovevintage.nl. I site I look at daily
4. Elaganza, for the most beautiful shoes there.
5. Loft, a little store in the village Bussum with great clothes from See by Chloé!
What body issue do you dress around, and how?
I really have a love/hate affair with my lap (upper legs? don’t know what’s correct). One day I love that I have more curvy legs and hips and the other day I want to be more skinny in that part. Though I love my waist. It’s pretty tiny, so I always try to wear things that accentuate my waist and isn’t body hugging. So I’ll wear a waistskirt that’s till my knee and is very floaty. So not tight. In that way I try to cover it. But the older I get, the more satisfied I am with my legs. It’s just how I’m built. I can’t do anything about it!
Oooooh… the shoes are divine.