Sara Tilman (25)
Senior student in Teacher Education in Biology
How would you describe your style?
“I used to have a poetry album, in which my aunt wrote a poem: ‘One day you are a princess, the next day a pirate.’ I like to try different things and see clothing as self-expression. In high school I had hot pink hair and wore neon pink makeup. But I was one of the few, I was that girl with the colored hair. I have never had any problems with it, by the way. I didn’t mind standing out.”
Have you had piercings for a long time?
“Other people sometimes think I have an alternative clothing style: I don’t. It’s probably the piercings, I have ten. I got the first one when I was thirteen. At my first internship, a comment was made about my lip piercing. The director said I had to remove it, otherwise my contract would be terminated. I would never work there after my studies. It’s hard for me to tell my students to be themselves if I’m not allowed to.”
Nice tights!
“I get two pairs of tights sent home every month through an online subscription, Gambettes Box. It costs 16.50 euros per month, and once in a while you can return your broken tights. They make new ones out of them. I have quite a few tattoos on my leg, often people think those are my tights. Nice design, they say, haha.”
Where do you like to shop?
“Always in a second-hand shop or via Vinted. Except these new shoes. I have quite large feet: size 44. It is very difficult to find nice shoes, especially heels. Usually it’s just luck. More and more brands sell unisex now, that also helps. I sometimes try to disguise my big size. With tight pants, shoes quickly seem clumsy, but then I wear leg warmers over them: it looks just a bit nicer to me.”
Text: Michelle van der Molen
Photo: Jasper van Overbeek
