Iris Van Herpen – AW2018
I started my blog and styling gig in 2006 – when the internet was not saturated by bloggers, vloggers, style influencers and the whole lot of “fashion influencers”. My blog were for people who were looking for inspiration and were over 35. My writing was and still is an outlet for my feelings about fashion and style: it is not all over after 35. One can still be stylish, cool and relevant at any age and at any budget.
My every-day job has not been in fashion – fashion for me if something I do because I love what it does to people (famous or not): it gives you an identity, it allows you to show your feelings, albeit different ones every day, it helps you express your personality without words. It can help you make every day mini-revolutions. As a woman in makes you feel relevant, part of the game –whatever this means to one- it gives one’s often mundane urban life colour and a purpose to go out.
Fashion is a bit cruel if one if over 35, as it is focuses on young girls, youth, a specific kind of beauty: willowy, ethereal, alien-like. The one thing that fashion magazines don’t tell you right-out is that all of this gets harder to emulate as one grows older. Fashion as widely promoted by the big fashion retailers and designers is for the young, the ones that are discovering life now, the ones that want to be noticed. Older folks better stay invisible: after all their prime is over.
THIS IS SOMETHING I WANTED TO CHANGE WITH MY BLOG. Back in 2006, women were meant to be invisible especially after partnering with someone and having kids. I was not going to let this happen to me and I would not let that happen to people who were around me who sought after my advice in how to dress to express themselves and feel better altogether.
Fast forward a few years and I’m finally seeing things to shift. The fashion industry (after so much pressure) has opened a tiny door to add diversity in shape, size, colour, gender and age. People like Lynn aka the Accidental Icon prove it every day. I wish in the future people express themselves more freely like her and some others (including me). You don’t always need a huge budget – even if I wish I could afford some of Lynn’s one of a kind designer pieces- you need to know who you are and embrace it.
Here is a great video from Accidental Icon’s social media. Enjoy!
