Dutch Street Style

[yeahvolution]

(I dont know how this forum works yet, so I dont know if im replying properly) I know I sound a bit vague, but I just think people are shouting so hard that they want to be original, but they all look the same.

 

[greengrassia]

that's what we call 'trying too hard'...
i check another street style website 'Hel looks' sometimes. recently, i found quite a few people post there may have that 'trying too hard to be original' tendency.
but maybe that is just common for fashion-oriented people, we probably all have that 'trying too hard' moment, which turns out to be somewhat contrived. especially if we pay close attention to trends and what media try to sell us. like anything labelled 'it', or 'must have', or 'indie', for example, skinny jeans has been associated with 'rock & roll'. then it's actually in essence not 'indie' anymore, it becomes 'mass consumed'.

 

[yeahvolution]

o I quite like hel-looks, but maybe thats because I like the brands they have there.
and about the skinny jeans (I actually hate that word, it sounds so ELLEgirlish), I absolutely hate that. Everybody dresses like a ramone but they have no idea what a ramone is. I can't stand that sort of stuff, and its typically dutch.

 

[Madame Mode]

Greengrassia you are soooo right!
You are taking words out if my mouth
It is just what I am thinking about Holland & Fashion.

But I think it is a challenge for streetstyle photographers like you to find some good 'material' on the streets in the Netherlands. I mean, when everybody looked perfect there was no fun to find some people to photograph. And when everybody looked totally fashionable in Holland it wouldn't be special anymore don't you think!

 

[ATTITUDE]

Vanilla Gice! (I'm referring to 'yeahvolution')
Apparantly Sonny has an fshnspot account so I'm posting on his';

Thanks for posting pics of me, vosje. I'm flattered.
Anyhow, regarding 'Dutch' fashion, I think it's not a question of which area you're in but more which scene you're in. Overall people tend to be really H&M orientated, but we do have some groups of people who stand out. More or less.

Some pics of people who I personally think do have a pretty good style thing going on: (yes, they're from myspace, what'd you expect?)
(both shots by dennis duijnhouwer, I hate doing the 'credits' thing but if I forget he'll kill me.)

 

[greengrassia]

hi madame mode, thank u for ur sweet words! i'm a beginner in this area (taking pic of street style), some positive feedback and encouragement def will give me strong motivation, which is understandable, right?

 

[greengrassia]

hi, ATTITUDE,
u are right about the 'scene' comment, why i haven't thought of that before? anyway, i really like the first pic u've posted, what a beautiful splash of red! i really should go back to amsterdam to take more pics! hope that will happen soon!

 

[yeahvolution]

winkie itssss you! you're quick. thats a bit scary. im reading this in the accent we're always talking.
I'm actually not quite fond of the pictures you picked, but you know our styles differ a bit.

 

[savanna84]

Hmm i am a bit disappointed bout all the negative about The Netherlands. I live here and i can tell there really are enough 'fashionable people' here that dress in there own style, whatever that may be. Just realise that not everyone who is into fashion and dresses that way, takes pictures of themselves ( or let pics be taken) to show the whole world how fashionable they are.
I think that most people that really have a true and cool style ( and they're not only in Holland of course ) don't have pictures of themselves on TFS at all. Not everyone wants to be loved and adored by their style...

 

[yeahvolution]

if you mean me with the negative sort of stuff, I live in the Netherlands as well. I do like some people, and more in Amsterdam etc, but in general just not that much. And I havent seen Dutch people posting their style at TFS so thats not where my judgement comes from.
If you werent talking to me, I'm just talking nonsense.

 

[greengrassia]

hi, i think it's still a bit confusing concerning how we actually perceive 'dutch style'. do we compare it the 'paris', 'london', or 'new york' style? or we are just talking very general about the style of the mass majority.
if the case is the second one, i think we face another problem: is the majority of some other parts of the world (such as U.S, England and France) have much better style than netherlands, or just those several capital cities are above the netherlands as the whole country?

 

[greengrassia]

personally speaking, i don't think the masses have good style no matter wherever in the world. it's always the minority or group of individuals who have genuine styles. so it will be difficult to claim the nethereland as the whole country has worse style than other parts of the world.

 

[greengrassia]

i went to both Berlin and Antwerp to shoot pics.
the truth is i def love the style of some inviduals there, but it takes me time and patience to bump into those stylish people. for the rest, the majority of the population is just as plain as here in the netherlands.

 

[yeahvolution]

If i campare it to Paris, I think maybe not the mass, but a much bigger proportion of the people is dressed well. Inother cities, just the main style is better. People just seem to care much more about how they look, in Holland the mass seems like they couldnt care or less.
But I don't really mind, people should just decide themselves, I couldn't be bothered by them, but I think for example the people in Scandinavia dress way better.

 

[yeahvolution]

my english is getting too sh*tty for words.

 

[greengrassia]

but it's true in cities like Paris, the percentage of stylish people probably is higher than what we can say, maybe Amsterdam, which i'm not quite sure yet. but anyway, my point is there's always individuals with good taste and interesting style anywhere in the world, including netherlands. so even the style of the masses were indeed horrible here (it's not my final conclusion), we can still have some fun enjoying the good style of some individuals who are actually from this country.

 

[yeahvolution]

I agree. I just wouldn't say that those are the people mentioned in this thread before

 

[greengrassia]

yeah, maybe some other places, like paris, the overal style level is higher than netherlands.
but i do see lots of potential for this country, style wise. younger generation are really catching up, they do care what they look and seem to be more open to new ideas. it takes time to inform people about the value of good design, or even in general sense, to transform the mentality to appreciate and enjoy the art of living (in general) more. Dutch are lablled as 'being frugal' and 'over-pragmatic' due to influence of the history and culture, but the 'consumer culture' is def starting to transform the new generation into a more self-indulgent, self-fulfilled one.

 

[greengrassia]

okay, but i hope u can put the blame on me for picking out the wrong subjects, cause i took the pics myself.
but maybe that's the critism i need for my future work. i sincerely appreciate ur comment, anyway.

 

[savanna84]

Mandy B, I hope you'll read this! Post some of your great pictures from your MSD. To show them they're wrong!