Today I realised that I am uttering this excitement more than ever in a perfectionism when it comes to my appearance that day. After I made sure that my daughter’s outfit was tip-top and that my husband’s appearance will be top-notch, I started ticking off the details of my silhouet. I found it somewhat harder that on other occasions, since I’m four months pregnant at this point. I’m not going to dwell on the complete picture yet, just for a little tension :-). I’d rather give you a peek into my preparations during this last week, I think they will be recognisable to many girls and ladies living up to such an important event.

Monday: Pj’s and high heels

I was working from home today. Which usually means: “homewear time, baby!”. This was also the case today, with one difference: I wore these very high heeled Karen Millen sweethearts all day long underneath my not so very flattering pj’s. I will do so for the rest of this week, to avoid the well known “new shoes agony” on the big day.

I also invested in a pair of very strange items, as shown below…

These invisible pads by Bama cushion the front of my feet, thus making walking in high heels noticeably more comfortable. This should help me pretending that I’m very much allright wearing this high heels in my in my pregnant condition. Thanks to air cushion technology with fine air passages, these pads should provide me with softness and a perfect fit. I wonder if they will do the job.

Tuesday: Nail Couture

A girl has to be neat from head to toe, or, from hand to toe, as I worked on today. I went to my favourite nail parlour, Nail Couture 43, and picked a coral red from their wide range of Gelamour colours, #004 Seductive Sun. My outfit will be salmon pink with golden accents. I found it necessary to create a lively contrast when it came to my nails, hence the coral red.

It goes without saying, that my toes will have to be adorned with the same colour. I went on a quest at Di and Parfuma and found myself a holy trinity: Essie nail laquer “Color Binge”, Chanel‘s famous “Le Top Coat” and Elegant Touch “Rapid dry for Nails”. This last one needs to be applied after the top coat and is a great help for impatient ladies such as myself, since it dries your polish in 60 seconds and adds some vitamin E at the same time.

Wednesday: Balayage

Today I gave in to temptation of two things I promised myself  I would never ever do (again). One: cutting my hair in layers, two: colouring it. Partly, Pinterest made me do it. These thousands of picture perfect balayages, ombres, dipdyes and highlights cannot leave a girl unmoved. Also, these shades of blonde always work out better on layers.

But the biggest incentive was the fact that I would like to create an over the shoulder messy fishtail braid on the day of Eriq and Sven’s wedding. Adding a subtle balayage to my already blonde hair will give some extra dimension and playfulness to the fishtail.

So, here we are:

The cut and balayage was performed at Salon Jules. The colouring products are by Vitality’s, which are very hair-friendly and guarantee radiant shades.

Thursday: Extensions

My customers and colleagues in beauty know, that I love to work my magic on my models hair using handmade clip-in extensions.  I have a wide array of hair colours in stock in by now, it becomes quite an addiction, I have to admit. I use clip in extensions to create more volume and/or length in updos, and to secure the curls in loose hairstyles. Sometimes my extensions addiction results in somewhat over the top creative projects, such as for example the “hair throne” photoshoot on my website.

As I mentioned above, I want to wear my hair Saturday in an over the shoulder fishtail braid. I will need some extra volume and length to create a fishtail worthy of its name. For this purpose, I “fitted” different colours of extensions today and, I must say, I found a nice colour blend with my own locks.

If you would like me to create a custom-made set of clip-in extensions especially for you, please let me know

Friday: Baby Belt Glamour

Pregnancy and glamour are not always an obvious match to make. I try very hard not to give into the pregnancy look, and keep glamour on my side as long as possible. This sometimes asks for some secret interventions, which are not secret anymore, since they are published on this blog

For starters, I have to wear compression stockings, type 2, all through my pregancy. This is to avoid having to much varicosity after these nine months. I wear Mediven Elegance in black, skin tone and white, even throughout summer. Mmmm, sexy…

Secondly, I have an “outie” belly button, which means that it pops out because of the pressure of the uterus on the inside against it. Ow yeah, nice…  What a lucky coincidence, that my compression stockings also support my belly, so that it covers up the outie when I wear them.

Saturday, however, I won’t be able to wear my ever so loved compression stockings, since they would show in my beloved Karen Millen stiletto sandals. I had to find an other solution for this nuisance of a belly button. I went to my  favourite place at this moment, the orthopaedic shop, and they sold me a baby belt by Anita (which is a nice looking, oldschool brand from 1886, with a sound history, hence the picture above). It is made of breathing microfibre, and is in fact designed to prevent back aches during pregnancy. It feels heavenly supporting, which I like (I’m a push up type ;-)).  It works magical on the outie as well! I find it awkward to show my belly here in public, but here is a beautiful model showing it for you:

It doesn’t look very sexy, but acceptable when combined with a fine set of lingerie (which I find a bit awkward to show here as well, but bought a way too expensive Chantal Thomass set ;-)). Glamour finds its origins underneath your clothes, darlings.

Saturday: The Big Day

After enjoying the most emotional wedding I have ever attended, I did’nt feel like posting pictures about myself anymore. Suddenly, all of this felt very superficial. These guys made us all cry several times during the day, because of their spontaneity, humour, softness and inegrity. I think that this picture says it all:

Anyway, I think I owe you guys some pictures of the finished look. Here they are.

On our way to the city of  sex, drugs and rock and roll we were craving for a hamburger and stopped by at the Mc Donalds Best, near Eindhoven. To our surprise, it appeared to be a special Rock and Roll restaurant, designed after the first ever Mc Donalds in Des Plaines, Illinois, US, 1955. There is the replica 50’s typeface and, of course, the “Golden Arches”, running straight through the restaurant. On the inside there are elements like a Chevrolet Corvette hanging from the ceiling, a jukebox, a Harley Davidson and a series of beautiful black and white pictures of Golden Age moviestars. The burgers tasted the same as in an ordinary Mc Donalds restaurant, though, which was fine by us.

Last year we stayed at hotelboat Zwaan. We loved it so much, that we decided to book this little piece of heaven on earth again this year. We chose the “Lovers Nest”, which is an all red, cosy cabin in the nose of the ship. The hotelboat is located very near to the Science Center Nemo at the Oosterdok near the center of Amsterdam. The breakfast is always on point and, moreover, the capt’n surprised us this time with scrambled eggs on saturday and home made banana cake on sunday.

Because I was aware of our plans to stay at this rather camp environment, I wanted my nails to be done likewise. I think, this navy style set of acrylic nails, done by Gabriela Cambula at Nail Couture 43, works pretty well to achieve that goal. Gabriela used a mix of techniques, such as the golden fishnet stickers and stripes, loose gems and studs and some handpainted detailing as well.

On friday night we went dancing. We stopped by at the Cruise Inn, but the party seemed to be over by the time we arrived. A kind fella at the entrance advised us to go to Maloe Melo, a bluescafé in the heart of Amsterdam. There was a performance by the Barnstompers going on at the Rythm Shack in the back of the café. These guys gave us a great time by playing their traditional American Country-Boogie, Western-Swing, Honky Tonk and Rockabilly. Especially the polyphonous country songs got our whole-hearted approval. We danced the night away on the tunes of this band, under the observing eyes of the regulars. Yunus, sitting at the bar, even filmed most of our dances, since he enjoyed them very much.

The pink tulle skirt I’m wearing works pretty well on the twists and turns. I bought it together with the black turtleneck T-shirt at a new shop called Grace in Deurne, my temporary hometown. Both are labeled “Mosquito”. The bun in my hair is adorned by a pink, silk daisy from Veritas. My black patent leather shoes are from Alain Manoukian. I got them from my grandfather about 10 years ago. He wanted to buy me a nice pear of danceshoes at that time. They still go along with me most of the nights I go out.

Since Sven desperately wanted to order a magnum bottle of champagne, the atmosphere went in a jiffy from rather neat to rather gay. We decided to leave the restaurant with dignity and move over to an even more sinful place called Café Beveren, also located at the Ernest Van Dijckkaai.

Café Beveren is a cosy café with a more than darkbrown interior. Visitors and regulars are taken way back in time. The eye-catcher of this bar is the Decap organ that plays nostalgic music all night long.  For those who can’t seem to get enough of it all, there is also a regular jukebox with more “up to date” music. Believe it or not, but, in the middle of all the madness, the outcast characters, a bunch of polonaise dancing fellas and a slight hint of sad athmosphere, it was me who drew the attention of one of the regular customers. He came towards me, although I was hidden behind my male accompaniment, and gave me a genuine “Café Beveren” T-shirt. He was convinced I deserved it for being such “a good girl” :-). Most surprising birthday present ever… love it. Afterwards, while fitting at home, we realised, that my husband looked way much more sexy in the T-shirt than I did. Damnit.

This picture was taken by Sofie Huybrechts, the talented Miss Fia, in her gorgeous fifties kitchen. We had organised an easy-going evening with some friends and the little ones. On the menu there was Nigella Lawsons Christmas Coleslaw, Nigella’s Redder than Red Cranberry Sauce (we used Grand Marnier instead of cherry brandy ;-)),  and -of course- stuffed turkey. Lili was helping a bunch by arranging the appetizers in an order that made great sense to her.

I’m wearing a seventies vintage dress that I bought at the Rockabilly Day festival a while ago. My beehive hairdo is secretly supported by Kevin Murphy’s Powder Puff. Lili is wearing her all time favourite princess dress by H&M. On her arm she’s showing us her fake tattoos from Flying Tiger. The randomly placed hairpin was a must according to the little stylist.

An then there was New Years Eve… just us two, little one to bed, furniture aside and dancing the night away. We’re in our homewear, but, still, I’m wearing my Freed of London danceshoes and Pieter put on one of them nice vintage pairs.

If you look closely, you’ll find some leftover fake tattoos on my calves, a remnant of an evening of fake tattooing at Tours et Taxis, Brussels at a De Persgroep event. The only one with the real tattoos here is, in fact Pieter.

Me, Frances and Sylvie treated the ladies like queens and gave them te appropriate fifties pinup inspired make-up looks. What else is there for a girl to do, when the sweetheart or hubby is out there on the field yearning for that perfect muscle car, hotrod or kustom. We want some pinstriping too, don’t we?

It is always a delight to be part of Frances team, since she is an über perfectionist just like me. This results in a genuine and matching overall picture of pastel vanity mirrors, a collage of inspiring photoframes, a toile cirée on the make-up table upto a perfect vintage Las Vegas style tissue box. And then I din’t even mention our matching outfits, sponsored by Pinup Girl Clothing. We were wearing pencil skirts and dresses with a floral print with matching cross over front tops. F-f-f-f-fresh!

All of this resulted in an audience of ladies and gents watching our make-up activities and enjoying the cute and at the same time appealing look of our boudoir. We did not only draw the attention of passers-by and our clientèle, but also of the lads of the next door barbershop. Let’s say, that they didn’t mind us parading next to their booth nor did they take offence to the blonde beauties changing outfits behind the rotan screen. Some form of spontaneous burlesque, I suppose?

The biggest part of the heat was created by our old lady, the sun, however. She treated us with some sky high temperatures of about 30° Celsius. Steamin’! I tried to cool my feet in an ice bucket, which helped a bunch.

Bozar invited me -and a significant troop of fellow fashionistas- to the opening night of no less than 5 exhibitions at the same time: “La mémoire de l’intime – 150 Years Primadonna”, “Bellisima – The story of Five Dresses”, “The Belgians – An unexpected Fashion Story”, “The Honey Dress – A Film by Jean-Philippe Toussaint” and ” Jean-Philippe Toussaint – The Seasons”.

When the doors opened, the crowd shuffled into the many beautiful exhibition rooms of Bozar. Most of us where so busy presenting themselves to their entourage and finding the right attitude, that they didn’t hardly notice the live performance of Gregory Frateur, although he was standing on a prominent stage in the middle of the main hall. Accompanied by Bram Weytens, Gregory brought us “Norine Blues“, a song composed in the twenties by Paul Magritte, brother of famous Belgian painter René Magritte. He composed it for Madame Norine, who was a renowned Brussels-based fashion designer at that era. I was delighted to see, that, with me, there was a handful of attentive visitors enjoying this beautiful song, with good reason. 

After the performance, me and my husband dived into the waves of the main exhibition, “The Belgians”. Considering the busy working day in my wake and the buzzing crowd in my personal space, I figured out it be better to let myself float through the space simply following my basic instinct. This drove me straight towards the pieces that filled me with good memories:

Pierre Antoine Vettorello‘s dress from his Master Collection “Light me up”, 2010.

I’m in love with Pierre Antoines silhouettes from the moment of his Bachelor collection “Bonnie Magnum vs Samantha Beretta”, 2009. When he asked me to take care of the make-up and hairstyling for the shoots of his Master collection “Light me up” in 2010, I gladly joined the crew. I stand in awe for the fact that he is working on his own label. His unisex garments are designed and made in Belgium, exhibiting a fusion of poetry and drama.

Walter Van Beirendoncks monster shoes from his collection “Avatar”, autumn-Winter, 1997-98

Well, in my hometown Antwerp, we call him “De Walter”. I suppose, that sums up how influential our big daddy of fashion is. Walter Van Beirendoncks spectacular collections and shows have overwhelmed the international fashion crowd already since the beginning of his career in the late eighties. For me, his nineties collections have played a significant role in determining my teenage identity. I literaly feasted on the whole package of the magical shows, over the edge photoshoots, fairytales, the link with good music and, of course, my guide in life at that moment: Puk-Puk. He told me to have safe sex and to enjoy life and love as much as possible. Every collection, I went with my mom to his store -in the St-Antoniusstraat in Antwerp at that time- and persisted as long as needed about the beauty of it all, until I she bought me at least one item of it. I’m ever so grateful for these moments and still cherish every fiber of these garments, now carefully preserved in my “Walter” box. I was a teenager at that time, and wore Walters clothing for school. You can imagine the comments I got, since I was attending an “ordinary” highschool, nothing to do with fashion or art at all. One of the dresses I wore on a weekly base is this one (Avatar, winter ’97-’98):

The monstershoes displayed in the exhibition were also on my wishlist, but even to my ever so open-minded mummy, this was a bridge too far.

Three enormous photographs of the naked Vivienne Westwood by Juergen Teller.

I still don’t understand why the English never tried harder to get a queen like Miss Westwood on their throne. For me, she’s the leading lady of combining playful naughtiness and timeless glamour. Her audacity is unparalleled, proven once more by Juergen Tellers triptych from 2009. At that time the fashion designer was 68. In two of the images she reclines on an antique sofa which sets off her ivory white skin, and in one she sits legs akimbo, holding the camera with a smile and an exultant gaze.

And then….. me.

I always feel like an inquisitive child when visiting an exhibition, absorbing the words of the guide as a spongue and scanning the rooms as if I was on a hunt for hidden treasures. Born and raised as an Antwerp fashion addict, I have to love the work of our Antwerp Six beacon Dries Van Noten. But I must admit, that I never fully understood the driving forces behind his collections. The exhibition gave me more than a simple satisfaction of my hunger for new insights. Mr Van Noten doesn’t consider the artwork in the exhibition as a simple decoration, but combined different elements to give us a grasp on his creative process. The combination of these elements and how they are composed behold an unaffectedness that seems über logic to me. The way in which the designer spins his creative web in his mind ressembles the feeling I have when creating a make-up, hairstyling or styling look. One can be inspired by a simple fragment of an image, a person, music, an utterance or even a smell, as long as you know your classical backgrounds pretty well.

Most enjoyable was the fact, that we -and of course a lot of other pursuers of beauty- share the same fascinations. Dries Van Noten is inspired by punk and Vivienne Westwood (who should be queen of Europia if you ask me), animals,  Hitchcock, Jimi Hendrickx, The Piano, olfactoric pleasures, Spanish kitsch and dance-dance-dance! I will try to highlight only my top three eye-openers of this exhibition, in an attempt to tame my well-known prolixity.

1. Etuis de trichoptères by Hubert Duprat. What a marvel. Duprat collaborates with Caddisfly Larvae to build aquatic cocoons from gold, pearls and turquoise gemstones. Unbeleavably beautiful.
2. The scented walls by Sissel Tolaas. Sissel Tolaas is a Norwegian researcher, chemist and artist who is fascinated by the science and art of fragrances. She impregnated two walls with the scent of the earth and the smell of a damp garden. I didn’t want to leave this space, it was too addictive.
3. Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1930’s evening gown and coats. I’m addicted to glamour and evening wear, so, what can I say. Elsa Schiaparelli forms one of the foundations of the idea we have now of what glamour and refinement should be.

Here we are, a fine selection of bloggers, at the new photowall at the entrance of the MoMu. Of course, I had to look up my favourite exhibition in this museum ever, “Birds of Paradise”, all about feathers in fashion, arts and performance. I’m wearing a backpack by MCM, got it at de Bijenkorf in Amsterdam. My cardigan is Karen Millen. I’m chatting with Ianthe De boeck, ‎Social Media Officer at BOZAR and Camille Pollie, host of “Weekend Camille” at MNM radio and fellow make-up artist, two delightful ladies who definitely share my idea of enjoying beauty, having fun and delight in nibbling on a fine Boule de New York, offered to us after the guided tour.

The class of 2015 :-). The long black dress with high split is vintage Mango, glitter shoes by Tamaris and necklaces, of course, by Pieter Nulens.

After this event, my father asked me to go get a little electric heater at the site where we are building our new home, very nearby the Momu, and bring it towards our place in Deurne, where we live temporarily during the renovations. The result of this request was a rather funny appearance of me sitting on the tram wearing my glittershoes, my backpack, extremely long false lashes, yellow acryl nails and this dust-covered heater by my side. A lot of curious glances fell to me.

I didn’t regret this day of traveling, since Francesca Tolot seemed to be an even more fantastic personality than I could even imagine her to be. She is no less than an icon in the world of make-up and became as significant for beauty, fashion and showbizz as the celebrities she has brought to perfection throughout her already three decennial career. She delighted us with telling the story of this impressive career and giving a demonstration of one of the looks of her recently published book “One Woman 100 Faces”. In this book, she shows -no kiddin’- 100 make-up and hairstyling looks on Mitzi Martin, her favourite model and muse, all this in collaboration with her husband and photographer Alberto Tolot. The foreword of the book is written by no less than Beyoncé Knowles, who is one of her regular clients. She writes for example: “Whether she (Francesca Tolot) is using neon colours, feathers, period make-up or natural make-up, she is the only artist I trust will bring out a beauty in me I didn’t even know existed.”

The masterclass was hosted by Michele Magnani, Senior Artist  MAC PRO Team Italy. His Italian demeanor and accent entertained us all and gave the meeting of make-up pro’s, journalists and bloggers the atmosphere it deserved. He was one of the many people who adressed me this day about my braided updo, much to my delight, of course. A few people at the Francesca Tolot gathering also complimented me with it, but the must unexpected comment was the one of a train conductor at Rotterdam station. He especially stepped into the train from his surveillance on the platform to utter his admirance of my hairdo, resulting in a few giggles and grins from my fellow travelers.

Michele Magnani and me. This picture is taken by Elke Willemen, senior artist Benelux and now working together with my former other half Ines Borgonjon. I’m wearing a long black jacket by Frankie Morello, that I found in an outlet store in Budapest. The leopard print scarf is by Essentiel, an Antwerp brand we can be very proud of.

The backside. I did this braid in the train without a mirror, by the way… It’s a question of knowing the dimensions of your own skull by heart

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Now, about the picture. The city of Antwerp has, of course, its own facebook site. That’s why they commissioned two photographers to take pictures from the visitors of the Cristmas fair. Of course, out the long queue, they picked us. They loved the combination Lili and Pieter, apparently. The sentence on the panel says “Come and warm yourself up on our city”. In a way, this picture doesn’t suit this blog very well, since I am completely underdressed here. I’m wearing absolutely no make-up at all, only a slight bit of YSL cream blush N°6. And my outfit…well… I wasn’t aware of the unfortunate location of the disabled parking sign above my head. Maybe thruth hides in a chance coincidence. Lili is wearing a hat and jeans from H&M. Her jacket is from Lili Gaufrette, beautiful and elegant kids wear, and I keep on enjoying the funny fact that it says “Lili” all over their garments. Her boots are Uggs, Toddlers Jorie II to be exact, she wears them barefeet, precisely as we were told. Pieter is wearing the Adidas hat he got from me this Christmas. The reddish of his beard contrasts sublimely with his blue Fred Perry jumper, combined with a Merc shirt. And then, Miss Fia herself… She wears the “Wij komen ons verwarmen aan ‘t stad” sign with elegance and gives us a radiant smile at the same time. This smile is beautified by a vivid Bourjois Velvet Rouge Edition lipstick, Grand Cru N°8. Sofie was well equipped, since she brought her own skates. These are real beauties from Roces.