It takes balls to be a woman

I have had this card, with many sweet words on the back, from my very bestie saying: #sometimesittakesballstobeawoman !

Sadly it is (still) true to keep on top of the ‘game’: being a woman.

Simply by birth woman have the power to do anything they want, but we are way to modest and to busy to keep the peace, when we want something that isn’t exacly expectred from us. Of course that is very admirable, but it will stand between the situation you want.

In most countries men decide how things are done, not always because they are skilled, but because of their attitude and men feel threatened by women.
They should feel threatened, because it is my strong belief that women can do things way much better than men ever can, without warfare or destroying our environment.
But because men still got/take the power they make women go extra miles before men acknowledge their skills. Despite that, women still get paid less than men.
Also there are religions that put men first and that women second or lower. That alone makes it crapy religions. Everybody should be equel!

And there is the sexual power that women have over men. That is probably also why men are trying to diminish women in so many ways.

I always have had the utmost respect for women. Now I know why: I’m a woman too.

Despite all of the above I want to become all woman and so the quote is in another way so appropriate for my situation too. I mean I came out of my hiding place about 15 years ago, wearing women’s clothes in a men’s body.
Very hesitant and anxious the first years, because I had never seen anyone else like me before.

Yes, people made comments, bad and good. I felt a very strong urge to continu on that road though. I developed my own style and more and people started to like that. I even got a few compliments from women over the years, saying that women could learn from my style. That was before I acknowledged to myself that I already was a woman. Now I know I am a woman in, at least in mind, I’m thinking duhh of course I get complements about my appearance! In my world woman are the natural inventors of style!

Now I’ve come to a point that I don’t need my physical balls anymore. It could be that it will take up to about two to three years before I actually can say goodbye to them though.

Four years on the blog YEAHHHH!

Hey guys,

These past few months were quite crazy for me. Totally forgot to post the video I made because I’m four years on the blog. BTW this video wasn’t intentionally made for this occasion. I had everything with me, except my camera haha! But I had my phone with me and a selfie device that fitted on my tripot, so I started the music and ACTION …

 

Thanks for your visit and take care!

with love, Francesca.

Amsterdam Characters

Hey Guys!

I’ve got news for you! You have probably never seen me so excited as I am right now! Because ….. there is a coffee table book coming out next week about Amsterdam Characters. And among other illustrious Amsterdam characters, I’m on the cover and on the inside of the book, with a background story. HOW COOL IS THAT?!

I;m the main character in this video to promote the book. The video is Dutch spoken. The publisher is working on the subtitles. In short: I tell you something about the fact that women are privileged to be free to choose from so many item to express themselves and that I feel free to use the same items. Items such as skirts, dresses and heels. And Anna (more about her after the video) tells you about her experience that often people who are dressed as an individual, they have a story to tell. And Anna is all in for the stories, knowing she has been studying sociology at the University of Amsterdam. So that is what the book is about: the story behind the individual characters of Amsterdam.

Last November someone from my past (last contact was back in 2013)  knocked on my door. It was the talented lady photographer and (copy)writer Anne Brugts. Anne told me about her plans to make a book about the most striking characters on her blog AmsterdamCharacters.com and if she could use the photos of me on her blog. The ones who are following my blog for the past years, know we met on several occasions. And that she is the reason I started to take photos of myself in my outfits.

To promote the book she had this idea to make videos with a few of the characters in the book. If I was interested to participate in one of the videos. I must admit I was very flattered because of the way she did the introduction to the proposal, so I said yes  We shot the video in the same month.

It felt for me like quite an accomplishment for all parties to make a presentable video. I know myself. I can show you many many photos of me when I try too hard to look at my best … oh no I threw them all away because they all were terrible! Thanks to the laid back interview approach of Anna and the special skills of the cameraman (from Soda Content), I’m very happy with the video!

Now I’m invited to the launch of the book this Tuesday and I’m excited to go! I’ll tell you all about it in another post. After this Tuesday you can buy the book in bookstores and webshops in The Netherlands.

Publisher: Kosmos uitgevers

Note: I have no clue weather the publisher or any webshop will ship the book outside The Netherlands. If you really want the book ask me to make an arrangement for you!

Fashion Fragrance for 2016

Hey guys!
Last year I hosted a giveaway to promote the new fragances of House of Byfield. Tiffany Konecko won the Celena fragrance fair and square. She posted a post about how she feels about it.

I’ll say a very beautiful case of when you give something, you could get an even greater gift in return!

Thanks a million Tiffany!

 

Celina is more then just a perfume…It’s a way of life for the fashion forward. Celina is one of the many new fashion fragrances available from designer House of Byfield.  It’s bea…

Source: Fashion Fragrance for 2016

Which one would you choose (1)

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I just got back from vacation and I have a ton of inspiration! Not only I had a wonderful score in the sale at my destination, now I can make more combinations than before. I hope I can get my camera into place tomorrow, so I can show it all to you over the next period of time. In the meantime I’ve prepared something I haven’t done up until now, namely a request to you. Continue reading →

Amazing flowerbed in Autumn

Last Friday I was in terrible need of coffee. I was this close to enter one of my fav coffee shops The Brandmeesters in Haarlem (The Netherlands) (yes the real thing, not that drug related sweet nothing). Then my fashion dowsing rod pointed in another direction, across the street. Right into a fashion shop I never entered before, because up until now I had my eyes only on the coffee shop. Continue reading →

New winter coat

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It was quite a week last week. I could have been dead or worse (paralyzed). I was on my way to work on my bike and I was very very very close to a collision with a car. I was driving the priority road and I was almost near a junction. From the left was a car approaching slowly and instead of to yield, it slowly entered the intersection. I’m building up quite some speed in a 9 kilometer stretch. Thanks to my guardian angels, thanks angels!!!, and my breaks I barely could stop just in time to prevent a clash. And the car drove off without noticing anything! Continue reading →

Knowledge of Fashion: Why it’s Important

Hi guys!
No flashy photos this time, but a post, from Life15Juicy, that you might help you to figure out why fashion is so important to you.
Enjoy!

Still summer!

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Dear readers,

because of a party dress I recently bought (depending on several conditions, I hope I can show you this dress real soon), I visited my fav Wolford supplier Yvon’s in Haarlem, to buy a string body with subtitle straps and that also could support my detachable boobs. She convinced me I could wear this body also as a top, so see for yourself how that looks. Continue reading →

Black and White 2

Two weeks ago I went shopping in ‘De 9 Straatjes’ of the city centre of Amsterdam. It’s a cosy and picturesque area of nine blocks of shops and places to eat and drink. Even Karl Lagerfeld has a store here. I’m no fan of Karl, but there is so much other special and wonderful stuff. The last time I was here it’s almost a year ago. That was when the picture in my post ‘Amsterdam freedom’ was taken (I saw I didn’t told you much at that time). So it was time to go back again!

I’m very picky when it comes to almost anything. When it comes to clothing, shoes and jewellery I’m extra picky, because I have already so much wonderful stuff that I want to keep.

At the outskirts of this shopping area I found a new store ‘Second Female’. Up until now I never heard of this brand before. It’s a Scandinavian company. But I didn’t knew that when I walked in. When I think of Scandinavian clothing, I think of clothing that conceals your whole body, without any design to fit close to your body. I think you know me by now that this is not the type of apparel I would choose.

I was pleasantly surprised to find here a sheath dress in my size. It’s made of an amazingly soft and elastic fabric. And I fell for the black and white pattern on this dress.

If you are interested in this dress, I think it could be only available in shops. There was a cart in my bag with the address http://www.secondfemalestore.com, but that was blocked due to maintenance or otherwise. On http://www.secondfemale.com/stores/ you can find a store.

Thanks for reading and hold on tight to your dreams!

Dress: Second Female; coat: Dept (Locals United) or Dept (Zalando); tights: Falke (100 din)