Happy Outfit: Fairytale

I get questions all the time about why I dress like I do. I always give the same answer: because it makes me happy. Which is true, and it is indeed the only reason why I dress like this. 

However, I started asking myself the question lately; why does it make me happy? 

What do I want to convey?

I feel that todays outfit really reflects what I like and why it makes me happy. I have been obsessed with fairytales, myths and legends for as long as I could remember, and I love to put some of that obsession into what I wear. In short; I like to look as if I stepped out of a story.

Todays outfit consists of a dress by Hell Bunny that I got for my birthday from the lovely ladies at my work. I saw it in the autumn-winter catalogue and I fell in love with it, but I had no intentions of buying it as I felt I'd spent enough money on clothing the past few months. I was so happy when I got this though! It's perfect and I love the print, the neckline and the sleeves.

The flower crown is by Claire's. I used Lime Crime Red Velvet on my lips.

My eyes are MAC Gleam on my browbone and eyelid and Lime Crime Incantation blended in the crease.

I am so happy with the shoes too! I found them at Vintage per Kilo (which is exactly as the name suggests a massive vintage sale for a fixed price per kilo). I only paid a few euros for them and they remind me of Cinderella's glass slippers. They go surprisingly well with nearly every outfit!

Love,

Jopie

Happy Outfit: Midnight Blossom

I'm already having the best week ever! Despite my anxieties and other problems I managed to pass this university year! I've started 4 different studies and this is the first one in which I actually manage to complete the first year, hehe. It's a good sign!
And I've got a new job and it's going to be awesome. Starting tomorrow! I will post more about that once I've had my first day.

Anyway - time for a new outfit post!

My mom sometimes gives me a bag of old clothing and other stuff that she got from friends . I got this blouse yesterday and I love it! I thought I'd make an outfit with it right away. 

I really like the bell sleeves and the print on it! It has so much detail!

The skirt is actually a dress and is 70s vintage. The petticoat underneath (though not visible here) is by Starline Lingerie. The belt is vintage too (I think 80s) and the shoes are LE replicas of the Ruby Slippers in the Wizard of Oz.

I love the dress too, it has so much flounce in the skirt!

My makeup is all Lime Crime today. The lips are My Beautiful Rocket patted on and the eyeshadows are Lotus Noir, Jade-o-Lade and Parasol from the Chinadoll Palette and Spellbound from the Alchemy Palette.

I hope you like it as much as I do!

Love,

Jopie

Happy Outfit: Esmeralda

One of the most awesome festivals of the year is coming up: Castlefest!
Castlefest is a pagan, hippy and fantasy festival held every first weekend of August in Kasteel de Keukenhof in Lisse, the Netherlands. I've been going there since the first one was held when I was 13 and I've never skipped one. It's customary to make or buy some kind of costume; be it pagan or fantasy related. I really like making costumes and I've been making them for Castlefest and other festivals for years and years.
 My costumes are usually elaborate, featuring hoopskirts or wings, or both. They're not very easy to move in so I'm mostly just posing for the photographers (there are a LOT!).

However, Castlefest is a festival with such an amazing ambiance that after last year I've really wanted something to be able to move and breathe in, and something that would allow me to dance to the music played there by the numerous folk bands and to walk around, eat delicious organic food and just celebrate.

However, I still wanted a special outfit of some kind. My boyfriend asked me a couple of times if I could cosplay Esmeralda from the Hunchback of the Notre Dame (I did a cosplay of Cinderella and Prince Charming with him in April), and I thought Esmeralda's outfit to be perfect for a festival like Castlefest.

Today I went out to hunt for second hand clothing that I might be able to use for the costume and boy, did I find loads!

At the Waterlooplein-market in Amsterdam there's stands with just heaps of secondhand clothing for only €1,- each. 90% of it is utter crap. I was searching for a white gypsy crop top with big puff sleeves and a light purple maxi skirt or something to turn into a maxi skirt - I found a maxi dress in a suitable colour so I didn't really think or look at it carefully - just took it out of the heap and paid for it.
I found a crop top too. It just needs a wider neckline and buttons at the front!

However, when I took out the maxi dress when I got home and tried it on to see how the fit was like, I saw this when I looked into the mirror:

Oh my god! Look at that fit and colour! Stunning!

 

No way I'm going to cut that into pieces! Absolutely beautiful, and that only for 1 euro! I'll just have to find a way to hide the rest of the dress under the crop top and corset then.. ;)

I tried to make a quick Esmeralda-inspired and wearable outfit. I used the crop top I bought too - I still have to adapt it but it looks nice like this too doesn't it? I have a wig too but it needs styling so I'm not wearing it here.

I added the green scarf to incorporate a bit of the green of the corset she is wearing. I ordered a corset but it hasn't arrived yet so I could not wear it either. However, I still think this looks nice and I'll probably wear it out some time soon!

I'll post pictures when the costume is done!

Love,

Jopie

Happy Outfit: Birds in Paradise

Hi everyone!

Another Happy Outfit post here!
For the new people, here's a short explanation of Happy Outfits.
Happy outfits are my own invention. When I moved out with my parents (and the day I started to make progress in getting 'better', I promised myself one thing: every day, after I get dressed, I have to look in the mirror and smile. If my outfit doesn't make me smile, it's not a good outfit. It's amazing how wearing happy clothing affects my mood and I wouldn't ever want anything else! It's probably the best thing I could have done in regards to try and turn around my depression. Flowers make me happy, and animals too. I like bright colours as well so my closet slowly started to fill with bright floral dresses and all the colours of the rainbow, and I threw my old black 'punk' clothes in the bin. Nothing wrong with punk (if it makes you happy, wear it!) but to me it was associated with my past and my misery, the very thing I was trying to uplift.
Wearing Happy Outfits is a very simple thing to do. I like outrageous and colourful clothing, but of course it doesn't have to be that way. Wear whatever makes you truly happy and make it a rule for yourself! It's still the best decision I have made in the process of turning the tide.

Todays happy outfit looks like this!

I was at my moms house today and she gave me a cardigan! I like the length, it matches perfectly with my skater dresses and vintage dresses! She made the flower decorations herself. Sewing on appliques is a great way to spice up old clothing!

The skater dress underneath is by Black Milk Clothing. I own a few of their dresses (I love their bright prints!) but I think this one is my favorite. The colours are so amazingly bright and the print is really sharp! The petticoat is by a lingerie brand called Starline Lingerie. My shoes are limited edition Wizard of Oz 'ruby slippers' by Harrods!

I didn't wear much makeup today. I wanted to give my skin a bit of a rest. I only coloured my eyebrows with 2AM by Sugarpill and I'm wearing Sleek Matte Me lipstick in Party Pink. The necklace was gifted to me by my aunt years ago.

I hope this outfit makes you as happy as it does me!

Love,

Jopie

Painting process: Flight to Freedom

Sorry for the silence last week! I had some very important exams that I had to focus on.

I already made this painting some time ago but I still had the process pictures to share, so, why not do it now?

This painting was an assignment given by my therapist. Firstly she wanted me to draw my biggest fears and anxieties, which turned out to be incredibly confronting and difficult to me. I even left some at her office because I didn't want to look at them. Needless to say I was very happy with her next 'assignment'; to draw myself as the person I would like to be - free and happy, without anxieties, fears and depression.

This picture from an earlier outfit post on this blog was my reference. I edited a few things out and I made myself look thinner in the actual painting. Why? Because I'm in the process of losing weight and it couldn't hurt painting my goal at the same time, right?

I really liked the feel of this picture. I first wanted to paint myself surrounded by my loved ones, but then I realised I already am surrounded by my loved ones (and very happy with that!). So I decided to paint myself as a faery, rising from the dark into the sky, into freedom.

 I don't have a picture of the sketch alone, unfortunately. But here you can see I've started on the dress and the skin and hair. I first indicated the print on the dress with large blobs of paint, and then added a shading layer, then more detail to the print, then another shading layer, and so on.

I painted most of the painting in my garden with copious amounts of fresh mint and lemon balm tea. I wouldn't be Jopie if I didn't pick a matching tea cup!

I decided to paint myself with dragonfly inspired wings as I really like to paint the iridescence and I thought they would fit wonderfully with my dress. Here you can see the process from bottom to top. The key is to add lots of very thin layers of differently colored paint.

I started out with indicating the panels with a very thin layer of indigo paint, leaving the veins white. Then add some light blobs of a reddish pink, and then for the third layer, paint some yellow and green very lightly on random patches. When it's dry, paint a very light wash of indigo all over the wings. And for the last step - define the panels, edges and veins with more indigo and a small brush.

I already explained how I made the printed dress, but here's another picture that shows the process well!

I finished the painting at Bagels & Beans, one of my favorite lunchrooms. Here you can see some process on the background washes - the more and more different layers of colour I add, the darker it becomes. Here I used a bright foresty green on the first layer, and then added lots of layers of indigo and Vandyke Brown untill it was dark enough for my liking.

And here is the result! I hope you like it.

My website isn't up to date - working on that!

Love,

Jopie

Happy Outfit: Sunflower

Happy outfits make me happy. I've filled my closet with them. My most important rule is that everything I wear must make me happy!

This dress is one of my prized possessions. It's a beautiful vintage cotton swing dress from the 1950s with a swishy full circle skirt! I bought it at my favorite Amsterdam vintage shop: Tut & Hola. If you visit Amsterdam and like vintage clothing, I would really recommend! I've never ever left there without succeeding in finding a pretty dress. I don't really wear it that often because it used to be a little bit too small for me. However,  have lost some weight recently so now it fits quite well! I really love the print too. I wish I could find a similar fabric nowadays.

The shoes are a LE by Harrods (I wore them in my Little Red Riding Hood post as well). They are official replicas of the Ruby Slippers of the wizard of Oz. I bought them off a friend and I've worn them so many times that they started to fall apart. However, they're still wearable so that's what I'm going to do!

It was too cold to walk around in the dress alone so I added a jacket. The jacket is vintage as well, I think from the 70s. It's handmade and I found it at Vintage Per Kilo for a few euros. I think it's beautiful.

This is the first time this year that I'm going out with bare legs. This is simply because I ripped my last flesh-colored tights yesterday and didn't have any others in a matching colour. It feels awesome and you can see my ankle tattoo better. I hope summer is coming soon!

My headscarf is a leftover of the fabric that I used to make my curtains. Found a use for it after all!

On my eyes I'm wearing a combination of Lime Crime, Sugarpill and Coastal Scents eyeshadows. The lipstick is Lime Crime Centrifuchsia and My Beautiful Rocket. If you mix them they make the most gorgeous coral red.

If you feel down, look in your closet and put something on that makes you smile. It will help to brighten your day!

Love,

Jopie

Black Milk Clothing

This is an appreciation post for a clothing label that I've been following for a long time - Black Milk Clothing.
If you have seen my previous outfit posts you'll probably have figured out that I love printed dresses.
Even though Black Milk is mostly known for their leggings they make a lot of beautiful dresses too.

I personally prefer tights over leggings as they have attached feet which looks better with heels, so I like their dresses more.

I don't have a lot of money so I can't buy everything but sometimes I can allow myself to save up to buy one of their dresses.Their skater dresses are great for a pin-up styling and their brightly colored prints make me happy. Their prints are of excellent quality and their dresses are hand-made in Australia by people who actually get an honest pay. This is my major concern with buying clothing from big fashion labels and the reason why I mostly buy vintage clothing. They look more special too!

However, Black Milk Clothing is more than just a clothing label. It'a clothing label with a huge community built around them, of fans all over the world. They call themselves 'sharkies' and they usually group together into closed facebook groups to chat about the new releases but it's also okay to talk about your personal problems in a safe closed environment with unbiased opinions.

I especially love the Dutch sharkies group. If you put together thousands of girls you are bound to get some drama, but the Dutch sharkie group virtually has none. At least, no major things. It's a great place to socialize and chitchat but also to be heard if you've got an issue in life or with yourself.

Some of the sharkies buy clothing for hundreds of dollars every release. Since I'm having enough trouble to get my bills paid as it is I'm not doing that. Clothing, a much as I love it, is an extra. But it's nice to enjoy!
Luckily, no one will judge you about this :)

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