To continue on my five steps towards your personal style, here is one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to looking feminine yet powerful. Dita von Teese.
I am having a serious girl crush on her since 2008. Back then, I had my first big style rut. No wait, rut does not cut it, major style crisis. After years of trying to neglect the fact that I was, in fact, a girl, I was in desperate need of help. I had not cared for myself or put any effort into my outer appearance for so long that not only did I not have a ridiculous wardrobe, I also had no idea how to change it.
When thinking back I remembered that I always admired the way women were dressed in the old Hollywood movies. When I was little, I sometimes stayed over at my grandparents' house and they would let me stay up late and we would watch old black and white movies. I gazed at the screen, smitten by the amazing outfits the female characters wore. Beautiful costumes, always with fitting hat and gloves. They wore seemed stockings and of course heels. These were the woman I looked up to. My heroines were Lauren Bacall, Katherine Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. But, oh well, no one dressed like this anymore.
Then, one day, in the middle of my 2008 style crisis I found a picture of Dita von Teese on the internet and, even though this sounds ridiculously pathetic, a new world opened for me. I had no idea that there were women out there that would dress in vintage every day, that they were more people listening to old rock'n roll and swing. For a week straight, I was lost in this world, trying to gather as much information as possible about it. And the amazingly stylish Miss von Teese was everywhere. I started collecting pictures of her, bought her book, learned how to get those lovely old Hollywood curls for my hair and within no time, had a very impressive collection of red lipsticks and nail polishes (*cough* 15 nail polishes, all red *cough*).
Then, my first craze cooled down a little and I re-evaluated. What can I say, I am a scientist, we analyze data... And as much as it hurt, I had to admit that Miss von Teese's style was not exactly fitting my lifestyle. BUT I could sure as hell learn from her. She knows how to dress, no doubt about it. She knows what fits her best and always looks so incredibly well put together. Now these were attributes to hold on to. And I did. To this day, I let myself get inspired by her whenever I feel stuck. This style is what I am striving for with my new wardrobe. Feminine, yet powerful.
Let's take a minute to admire her, shall we? All pictures from pinterest. Sources can be found here.
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