‘Clothes are something you stand for’

“I do not want to be part of the fast fashion industry”, says the 23-year old designer Danya Weevers. Danya just arrived from London Fashion Week – with success – and is already back in the spotlights of the Sustainable Fashion Week in the Netherlands. Danya welcomes me in her atelier. It is a small […]

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Couture in water

In a beautiful, white dress I am sitting in an old, wonky, wooden boat. I am on the forefront of the boat with my legs hanging over the railing. The paint on the railing is flaking off and with my nails I peel it 0ff. My feet move along the rhythm of the little waves which […]

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‘Perfect beauty bores me’

A big smile and two open arms welcome me: “Jacolijn!”, a high, excited voice fills the cafe. The voice comes from the 41-year old photographer Maria José Castillo Pérez (yes, what a name). “I am so happy to see you!” The last time I saw Maria was in October. It was a warm day and we […]

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The other side

When friends pushed me to become a model my first reaction was: “I would rather stand behind the camera than in front of it.” Which was basically the truth. Ever since I was a little child I have loved photography. As 8-year old girl I used to take photos with my tiny, red, analogue camera. […]

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Retouched reality

A purple eye and bruises in my face. With raised eyebrows I see a photo of myself dropping by on Instagram. It looks like I had a huge fight. Apparently, the photographer photoshopped my face. Are there any limits in the use of photoshop? And what right do models have in this? Models always have […]

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Model talk – part two

In part two of Model talk Judith, Britt, Eline and me answered questions like; “What is your favourite city to travel to?”, “What is it like to travel on your own?”, and “What is an option?” This was still on the same friday in Britt’s appartment in Amsterdam. Like I said before, one video became two […]

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Blisters & callbacks

Fifteen kilometres of walking, eight castings, two fittings, one new e-mail and two missed phone calls. Jup, it is Fashionweek.  hello-thank you-goodbye castings With a satisfied feeling I walk into Esselunga (a supermarket). Today was a nice day, busy but nice. Casting directors were friendly and I think a lot of clients liked me. Most […]

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Dear fashion industry

Dear agency, I am sorry for not being such an outgoing person. Like the model from Brasil who came into the agency singing and laughing last week. She laughed like someone had just told a really good joke. Everybody in the agency seems to like her, or they act like they do. I was just wondering why […]

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Photographer of truth

On a grey, rainy day in September (I know, this is a late post) I went to the exhibition ‘A Different Vision On Fashion Photography’. This exhibition at De Kunsthal in Rotterdam is about Peter Lindbergh, a famous photographer from Germany. Lindbergh’s photos show that his fashion photography is about more than beauty. With his black-and-white photographs […]

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Monkeys in the zoo?

Flashing cameras fill the room. All eyes are focused on the jungle-like setting. Here we are, standing in between several plants. Like some monkeys in a zoo. An Asian man dressed in an Adidas jacket and with (seemingly) an entire jar of gel in his hair, takes photographs of some models with his polaroid camera. […]

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