The Style Tales

My grass is always green.

Bianca — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:45:13 +0000

That quote might sound a little weird, but if you think about it it’s actually very true. The grass may look greener on the other side, but if you take time to water your own it will be just as green. Earlier this week I found a perfect photoshoot location close to my house and needed to desperately try it out. I drag along my mom and let her take some shots. Obviously not an experienced photographer but at least we got some shots that turned out to be quite nice. That reminds me, I really need to find me some photographer friends to get creative with. If you or anyone you know is interested in a creative collab, hit me up! I’m open for anything! So, here are some grassy shots in just a casual yet rockish outfit that I would wear on an everyday basis. Very much in love with my new ZARA leather jacket, by the way.

Leather Jacket – ZARA

Floral Top – H&M

Bodycon Skirt – H&M

Marlies Dekkers Press Day

Bianca — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:20:12 +0000

A while ago I found an invitation in my mailbox to come to the Marlies Dekkers Press Day at Maison Rika in Amsterdam. Not knowing what to expect, as these invitations always seem to be very mysterious, I headed out to the 9 Straatjes with one of my friends. Marlies Dekkers ánd the Swedish brand L’Ecole National held their press viewings there yesterday. By the way, the 9 Straatjes are one of the most amazing shopping places in Amsterdam, and consist of a lot of worth-seeing spots. Maison Rika is a Swedish hotel out there where they hold a lot of events for the fashion industry.

At the entrance we were handed some fancy drinks and then walked up the terrifying typical Dutch upright stairs to enter a bedroom where their collections were on display. Marlies Dekkers’ collection was based on the ‘dazzling beauty of white winters and blissfull floral summers of Scandinavia’. There were some amazing lingerie sets, and I fell in love with a black set that had these amazing fringes on the edges.

Lingerie isn’t the most easy thing to buy when it comes to clothing, ’cause it’s so important to have a good set that actually fits you the way it should be and still make your figure look good. I think these sets by Marlies Dekkers all feel very high-quality. Once this black fringe one will come out in stores I’ll definitely go buy it! Sometimes we focus too much on what we’re wearing above our skin, but this first part of dressing up is just as important to make you feel good in your skin.

After a bit of talk with the PR ladies of both brands, we headed out again and got handed some lovely heavy goodiebags. In between all the goodies there were these two books of the collections by Marlies Dekkers and a fancy naipolish. Thanks Marlies!

For more information: www.marliesdekkers.com

Meet me in second-hand heaven.

Bianca — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:35:26 +0000

Second-hand clothing has to be one of the greatest things in fashion, it brings back trends from the past and wearing something a classy woman has worn in the 50′s is a unique feeling. I think it takes a lot sense of style to make it your own and rock it just as fashionable nowadays in the 00′s. My favourite places to shop vintage have to be the markets in London – you can just find so much hidden gems out there!

This weekend I received a lovely little package from VintageStore, a Dutch online shop which has the cutest vintage clothing, accessories and jewellery. The owner Marjolein offered me to pick a few of my favourite items in the store for free! Ofcourse I started digging through the store right away and found some things that totally fitted my style. A pair of bright blue clip-on (so oldschool!) earrings, a pair of golden triangle earrings and a lovely golden cross necklace. Take a look at the website yourself if you live in The Netherlands, you might just find some cute adds to your own vintage collection too!

This blogpost is sponsored by VintageStore.

H&M’s Fashion Against Aids 2012

Bianca — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:07:02 +0000

This year, I think H&M’s collection for Fashion Against Aids has turned out to be more awesome than ever! Aztec prints, lots of colours and festival proof clothing are part of the collection which can now be bought in stores and online – very worth doing so as 25% of the purchase will be going to charity. H&M also accompanied the collection with a campaign about kisses. For every ‘kiss photo’ you upload H&M will donate $1 to prevention projects for Aids and HIV. How lovely is that?! Being fashionable, romantic ánd healing the world all at once. This collection should be on everyone’s wishlist for summer! Here are some of my favourite items that I can’t wait to see hanging in my closet.

Check out the collection here: www.hm.com

The Style Tales is now a company!

Bianca — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:16:59 +0000

Hooray! As of today The Style Tales is officially registered as my very own company. That means a lot of hard work is going to be done behind this desk. I’ve been thinking about a lot of new things for the website and hopefully can introduce some of these plans to you soon. And that wasn’t all – I’m also registered as official freelance photographer, writer and designer so I can hopefully take on a lot of new clients. If you or someone you know is interested in working with me, feel free to contact me! Such an exciting moment today at the Chamber of Commerce when they congratulated me on my company-being. Quite surreal tho’, I must admit! Afterwards I figured to treat myself to some yummy Dutch cherry cheesecake and the new issue of Vogue. I’m grateful for the past, and hopeful for the future. :)

I WON! Interview with FollowFashion.nl!

Bianca — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:08:22 +0000

As posted a while earlier I’ve participated in a competition to be ‘Blogger Of The Month’ at FollowFashion.nl, and guess who eventually got the most votes and won? Yours truly! :) Today the new issue of the Follow Fashion Magazine came out and it features an interview with me. It’s in Dutch though, so my international readers will have to skip this one! Means a lot to know you all helped me win this, I couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks for voting everyone!

Jean Paul Gaultier for Coca-Cola!

Bianca — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:56:36 +0000

Coca-Cola did it again – after last years successful collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld they’ve got themselves a new clothing designer to create some fancy bottles of coke to sip on! This time Jean Paul Gaultier had the honor to design his version with fully free imagination. It turned into a ‘Night’ and ‘Day’ bottle. They are an ode to the creativity of the designer and are very recognizable and unique – much like his usual work. The ‘Day’ bottle has Gaultier’s famous stripes and has a stylish and romantic day-to-day Nautic look. The ‘Night’ bottle obviously shows the more playful side, with it’s bra design in lace and showing off the curves.

Gaultier’s bottles are exclusively available in 9 different European countries. Last Thursday I was invited for the Dutch version of the launch which took place at department store De Bijenkorf, including an opening of their Jean Paul Gaultier Café which will stay there until after the summer. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the launch as I got struck by a flu, but here are some visuals to enjoy!

Check out for more information: http://www.coca-cola.com

Quotes have to be quoted wisely.

Bianca — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:48:53 +0000

Last year when I lived in London for a while I got a quote tattooed on my side – it’s my all-time favourite and was meant as a symbol for the first time I actually did what I have been dreaming about for a long time. This quote inspired me to not just dream my life but to live my dreams. Something everyone should take as advice. The tat hasn’t really been catching a lot of sights but it looks so awesome that I decided to have a little photoshoot with my sister. Not much lucky shots as we only had half an hour time and I got struck by a flu, but these two came out pretty good! The cute bralet from Monki perfectly matched with my black bodycon skirt and bowler hat from H&M. Still gotta get used a bit to having brownish hair but I’m absolutely loving it and luckily seem to fit my wardrobe with it. :)

Bralet – Monki

Hat – H&M

Bodycon Skirt – H&M

Jeffrey Campbell x Black Milk

Bianca — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:08:12 +0000

As if we haven’t seen enough versions of Jeffrey Campbell’s fancy footwear yet, here is an awesome collaboration between the popular shoe designer and Black Milk, an Australian clothing brand that not too long ago became famous in the underground fashion scene through their leggings with galaxy, muscle and bone prints. I can sense a lot of great work already by hearing those two names together! From last Monday on a collection of shoes are now available for sale only at Solestruck.com. You can get them in several succesfull models such as Lita’s, Damsel’s and the Tie’s. I wasn’t really planning on getting a pair of Lita’s as everyone already seems to rock ‘em, but those cartoon ones…so very tempting! Have you chosen your favourite pair already?

Check out for more information: http://bmxjc.solestruck.com

Q&A with illustrator Rhea Isaacs

Bianca — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:10:45 +0000

Here is a new series of blogposts on The Style Tales focusing on Q&A’s with people who in their own way inspire me to do what I do. They deserve a lot more attention and hopefully these interviews will inspire you as well. Here is the first version with Rhea Isaacs, a name you should remember! This 21-year old Australian girl became a good friend through our mutual love for Michael Jackson and she has been inspiring me ever since. She draws the most amazing illustrations and is just a super awesome chick overall!

Hi Rhea! Can you tell us a bit about you and your art?

Hey dude! Well, to be entirely truthful I am horribly boring and I don’t live the lavish and exciting life of a typical artist! Then again, maybe I do….consistently poor, chained to my desk and always in need of sugar! But to be a little more serious, I’m a regular ol’ Australian girl with New Age parents and a giant thirst for bubble tea. I enjoy long walks along the beach and disco. I’m a full time illustrator, part time University student and I mostly spend my time on the computer looking at photos of other places I’m hoping to go to once I get rich and clothes I can eventually afford one day. My illustration work kinda follows the same lines; I love fashion, I love pop culture and street culture. I’m very influenced by up and coming illustrators like Annie Wu and Diglee, as well as the great Andy Warhol and Australian artist Florence Broadhurst. A lot of my artwork has a bit of nostalgia to it, ’cause I end up taking inspiration from things I remember as a kid (tv shows, music and fashion) as well as thinks I like now that are from other eras. A big obsession of mine is everything to do with the 70′s and Michael Jackson, which you’ll see pop up in my artwork pretty frequently!

When did you find out you had a talent for illustrating?

I don’t think I’m particularly talented, honestly! I’ve always been drawing from the moment I could pick up a pencil (that’s a cliché line, right?), but I didn’t really get into it until I was about 15 or 16. I was watching a lot of Disney movies at the time and wanted to try my hand at doing it myself. When I wasn’t satisfied with what was on the paper in front of me, I kept trying over and over and eventually it lead to this obsession to get things perfectly right as they were in my head. I think because of that, a lot of my “talent” is actually just a product of very hard work over the last seven years or so and drawing at every available minute! I used to draw in my classes at school instead of doing work (which may have been why I ended up failing maths…), and then when I got home I’d ink the drawings and colour them by hand. I really did draw constantly, and I think the hard work behind the scenes makes it look like I have this born-with-it-talent, but really it couldn’t be further from the truth! A lot of sweat and tears went into whre I am now, and even then I’m not satisfied with what I see. Apart from that, I will sheepishly admit that illustration runs in the family – my dad is a screen printer, my Grandfather was a sign writer, and my great-grandfather was an illustrator.

Which illustration or artwork are you most proud of?

I honestly really don’t know! It changes every couple of months or so, depending on how many artworks I churn out and what point I’m up to in things. Sometimes artworks I really hated at the time I did them, I’ll end up liking them later on and being quite proud of them! Off the top of my head though, I did this watercolour and ink piece for a class in 2010 of Michael Jackson in concert, and while I didn’t even end up finishing the piece I was pretty proud with how the face turned out. Embarrassingly my dad thought it was fantastic and got it blown up and framed to put on his office wall.

What is the biggest lifelesson you’ve learned in life?

Hard work really is the key. Perseverance. Determination. The thirst to want to be better. You’ll only go places when you want it more than anything else in the world and you really work for it. Things do sometimes drop in your lap, but most of the time it comes down to you and your mindset. If you want to be better at drawing, sit down and draw every single day. Take life drawing classes. Go to art school. Even if you don’t agree with the practices or what you’re putting yourself through, it will be beneficial to you in someway and strengthen your skills. But most of all, enjoy what you do and love it! (Cliché, I know!)

How do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

An eccentric artist living in New York with three cats and the best wardrobe ever full of awesome clothes.

Did you enjoy this interview? Then be sure to follow Rhea’s work through YoungEarlGrey! She posts on her Tumblr and also has a Facebook page through which you can keep up to date with all she does.

Check out for more: http://youngearlgrey.tumblr.com