Charlotte Kan

Blog: http://www.conceptofinfinity.com/

Photographer: Sabine Damsma

Q&A

My name is Ilse, I am a 19 year old medical student at a university in Amsterdam.

I started blogging at a relatively young age. When I was 15 or 16, I started experimenting with my style – that resulted in quite colourful and dynamic outfits. But back in high school it wasn’t much of a success with my fellow students, I didn’t fit in with the crowd. For instance I started wearing prescription glasses with thick frames (geek glasses) approx. one year before it became trendy to do so, and I got called names at for that – a typical reaction of high school students fearing the different. When I started my blog, I could have never foretold the amount of connections and friendships I have built up now because of a shared love for fashion – it felt good to be in contact with people with the same opinion on fashion: wear what you like and become a more inspirational and creative personality. I think that blogging has influenced my style in a way that I put more care and effort in my wardrobe now, and it has become a pleasant hobby for me.

Probably the huge gap between my daily life and the blogger world. I am a medical student and my study keeps both my feet on the ground. We hear a lot of shocking stories from patients in class, about terminal diseases, children dying at young age and so on. So comparatively, it’s not the end of the world when that exclusive pair of designer heels get out of stock before you get the chance to buy it – although I would almost believe that if I read some articles on several blogs.

With the name I gave to my blog, ‘concept of infinity’, I try to show that I have a passion for an infinite amount of subjects – music, photography, and art in particular, general fashion, food, interior design, DIY, you name it, it’s all randomly mixed together on my blog. It’s a kind of diary.

Don’t really have one, my people crushes change from time to time so there’s not much of a standard. I get inspiration from the unexpected things in life, like discovering a great photographer (for example, stumbled upon the work of Alec Soth last month, check it out!), or a designer piece gem in the middle of the local cheap thrift store. Eccentric old ladies give the best style inspiration, I am on the hunt for a powder pink fur coat ever since I saw this fierce white-haired lady sporting one.

I loved the idea of how one single piece of clothing can be interpreted in so many different ways by different people. It’s like giving a blank canvas with the assignment to make it as pretty or awkwardly brilliant as one can make it. I think it’s interesting to see what comes out of an experiment like that, and I loved being part of it.

Tell us something about how you combined the Charlotte Kan garment.

While trying on the beautiful jacket I got to work with in the showroom, I happened to wear this vintage rust-coloured blouse. It was an interesting colour combination so I decided to stick with that. The moment we wanted to go out for shooting pictures, the sky was heavy with fog. Therefore I decided to shoot this series in the woods, and make the outfit, well, woodsy? I kept the outfit rather simple with black high-waisted jeans and black ZARA high-heeled combat boots to emphasize the diversity of this jacket – love how you can button / unbutton it in several ways! I topped it off with some vintage gold coloured jewellery.

I think that the world of fashion blogging won’t seize to exist in the coming years. Fashion has become more touchable, human and interactive for fashion lovers all over the world, along with the rise of fashion blogs. And that’s quite a refreshment, the fashion business has always been ruled by often older men and women – now it’s possible to make your way in the business at 13 years old.

I also think that fashion blogs will be sucked more and more into commerce. I can tell by my own inbox being crammed with offers for sponsoring - it’s hard not to be a dependent blogger. And why wouldn’t you take a great offer from a brand you like? It’s great to get something in return for doing something that you love. But I often see bloggers advertising for the most random stuff and can’t help but wonder... Do they genuinely stand for that product? Or have they been bought off with nice offers? It’s a pity that blogging has therefore lost it’s innocence and has become a commerce. But that’s the modern world and unavoidable, I guess.

Oh yes! Although they’re not necessarily new.. I love the blogs:

All these people are stylish in their own way. Shini from P&C makes me laugh out loud with her witty writing style, Maria from Vanillascented has that perfect Scandinavian coolness to her, and I love Ivania from Love Aesthetics for her critical watch on the blogger world. Christophwho? is a combination of nice mens style and perfect pictures from his girl-crush-material female friends and more. Although I have been pretty much completely occupied with nothing but random interior design blogs.

I am pretty much clueless which way I’m going right now. I am going to finish my medical studies, I don’t know what specialism I will be studying yet. Recently got word about a guy combining his dentistry studies with an education at the art academy, maybe I will try to do something like that as well. But for now, I am trying to live my life to the fullest, live in the moment, become a good and balanced grown up without losing the crazy-ass child in me. I hope that the future has a lot of love, friends, travelling, culture and time to work on my photographing and drawing in store for me. Maybe I will hold on to my blog, maybe I will grow tired of taking pictures of myself over and over again (the only thing I hate about the entire process of blogging). Oh, and an occasional bag from Céline or 3.1 Phillip Lim would be much welcomed by me if it would come along. :)

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