Fire all confetti canons and throw glitter in the air, 'cause Fashioned by Pluche is five years old today! Yes FbP was actually established in April 2013, but it took me a whole month before I gathered the nerves to post something. Since then we haven't been unfamiliar to that eerily ghost-town feeling, every once in a while interrupted by a head arising from a mountain of blankets holding a finger against its lips. However I still like to think all the nerves summoned when publishing that first post wasn't for nothing. At the very least I can say that this blog has helped me overcome my fear of filling squeaky clean notebooks with haunting 'possible blogposts' (if only they would hunt your screen...).

Generally I don't like *coughs* HATE *coughs* birthdays, but I've been looking forward to this one ever since I thought my five year anniversary was last year (13+5 is harder than you think, okay?!). I even bought a balloon, I don't get a balloon for my own birthday. So to celebrate this time turning event in true Fashioned by Pluche style, I've compiled the perfect playlist for party poopers. You can listen to it on your own, alone, at home, perhaps lying faced-down on your bed. Or standing in the middle of a meadow with your hands in the air, gently swaying your hips from side-to-side, religiously mouthing every word and melancholically sighing your way through the instrumental bits.

Happy birthday Fashioned by Pluche! *confetti canon finally, suddenly fires after struggling with it this whole post long*

By now it must be no surprise if I suddenly disappear from here for a week, a month or more. And as always I've got enough reasons for being MIA. Again. But to shortly sum it up for you, it generally boils down to this: 1) life is life, 2) once life is life you start to fantasise and build castles in the sky and then 3) you become either overwhelmed or unbothered by the shadows of those castles gazing over you and instead of laying bricks, you knit a jumper.

The initial draft of this I'm-not-dead-yet post, or, as I named it 'New Blog, Who Dis? 3 Things I'm Changing RIGHT NOW' (hell yeah I've become fluent in blog title *high fives*), consisted out of a lot of blah blah nicely wrapped in empty promises. Empty promises, so I discovered throug reading this blogpost by Golly Miss Holly on being a half-arsed blogger. Moral of the story: you're only going to get out of blogging what you put into it. So if your blogging-attitude includes the phrases 'oh well', 'I will do that later' and 'whatever', welcome to the half-arsed club we are happy to have you! And so, after realising all this, I started knitting another jumper.

What I've been up to

And now, while knitting before-mentioned jumper, I'm seeing a pattern of half-arsedness throughout my life and am thus finally anxiously scribbling down these words in the hope a fulfilled blogpost will fall from the sky. So while Fiyero is dancing through life, I'm half-arsing through mine (name that reference). Not in the sense that I hardly put any effort into 'living the dream', but more in the sense that the dream never turns out the way it was pitched in my head. Case in point:

These past couple of weeks I've had the pleasure of tagging along with the Modemuze-gang to three special occasions: a night opening of the exhibition High Society at the Rijksmuseum, a curators meeting at the Master Tailor Institute (special because we editors normally don't get to sit-in on the curators meeting and the headmaster would give a speech and show us around) and an opening of the Jan Taminiau Reflections exhibition at the Centraal Museum with Jan Taminiau.

This all sounds lovely, Dominique, how could you possibly half-arse any of this?

1. A humble beginning

Well, the Rijksmuseum promised all kinds of wonders during this night opening of High Society, from a lecture by Bianca 'famous fashion curator' du Mortier to personal guides and a live DJ. However they only managed to fulfill the DJ-part, which turned out to be a guy with a tablet and a Spotify playlist. Now I know this is more life-being-life than half-arsing from my side, but Modemuze being Modemuze aka existing out of fashionable intelligent people, I was provided with an off the cuff personal guide through the exhibition with all kinds of specialist knowledge on pantless gentlemen and how ruffs eventually became ties. Something my have-you-ever-heard-about-Coco-Chanel knowledge wasn't up against.

Half-arsing 1, building castles 0.

2. Lost in Amsterdam

As said, I was headed to an 'exclusive' meeting at the Master Tailor Institute, which is located in Amsterdam-West. I know sort of my way around the city centre and East, but West is complete new territory to me... I can only say that now more than ever I can truly appreciate the privileges of the 21st century: I ended up taking directions from my sister through the phone as she tracked me down on Google Maps and, literally, guided me step-by-step into the right direction after I helplessly circled around for over an hour.

In fact I got so lost that I ended up in that part of Amsterdam where local residents start beating up their local junkie for always making a mess and enough is enough! #truestory Just imagine me tiptoeing around them on my kitten heels with a chihuahua clenched underneath my armpit in a mini designer bag saying "excuse me, excuse me, I'm on my way to a very important fashion meeting". It wasn't actually like that but sure felt like it.

Half-arsing 2, building castles 0.

3. It's getting hot in here

Everything went according to plan. I was having a nice time with some of my Modemuze-colleagues at the grand opening of Jan Taminiau Reflections at Centraal Museum. After some speeches and visiting the exhibition we casually strolled to the garden for some chitchats. Yes it was 30+ degrees (which is highly absurd) and yes I, a creature of the shadows, was standing in direct sunlight, but I wasn't prepared to act upon bodily dysfunctions and thus happily waved away any unusual symptoms like distorted vision and hearing. You've guessed it: I almost went flat-faced but luckily I could just in time, not so gracefully, settle my arse down on the grass while all the semi-famous museum and fashion insiders stood around me mildly entertaining each other with insignificant small talk and bubbles (shout out to Sterre who handled the situation perfectly and got me back on my feet).

Anyway I felt very embarrassed. More so than walking into a drugs-fight like the lost innocent Barbie-doll that I secretly am. Which brings the score to half-arsing 3, building castles 0.


I'm afraid if I spend any more time with my head in the clouds instead of my feet on the ground things could end up seriously awry. So although I'm not going to fill this place with empty promises (like how I from now on will post regularly), I will hereby at least plead to build more castles instead of living in its shadow. And act, d*mn it, act and not just sit back and knit a jumper. I'm not going to live the rest of my life undereducated, lost in space and flat-faced on the ground!

All content, photos, opinions, existential dread and bad jokes are mine unless stated otherwise. Blogposts that are sponsored or features a product that was send to me by some very lovely people will be disclosed as such within the blogpost. All pictures that aren't made by me (or my mum) will be credited as such. Do you see a picture that's yours and (not correctly) credited? Please get in touch and I'll have a stern word with me (and naturally change it according to your wishes).

This blog may contain affiliated links which, if you click on them or purchase something via the link, give me moneyzzz (with no extra costs on you). So I can finally realise my dream of being a rich person. Every penny counts! All affiliated links will be disclosed as such at the bottom of a blogpost.

Fashioned by Pluche has been cruelty free since 2016 and cares about animal and human rights, the environment and continuously improving this rotating ball we call earth. #yolo

Fashioned by Pluche is a PR friendly place and open for collaborations, reviews or deep conversations about life. If you want to contact me for questions or business enquiries, you can email me at:


After my initial nerves have faded away when hearing 'you've got mail', I'll try to provide you with an answer within 24-48 hours. You can also contact me on Twitter or Instagram!

Collaborations

Are you a fellow-blogger looking for some love? I'm always happy to virtually hug, exchange thought bubbles or moan about the weather ("isn't it awful" *rolls eyes*). So if you have any ideas for guest posts or fun collaborations, hit me up!

Hire me!

Besides this lil' blogging career I'm also *ahum* trying to *ahum* pave the way as an all-round writer. As it goes, I started from a young age writing -what the kids nowadays call- fanfiction and slowly worked my way up to the school newspaper (don't you worry, all fanfiction was savely locked away by then). Currently I'm co-editor and blogger at Modemuze. Modemuze is the online platform for fashion and costume heritage in the Netherlands, collaborating with fourteen museums as a source for all fashion lovers, professionals and fashionistas. Click here to read my blogposts.

So do you want me to write a blogpost, article or diary entry? No problemo! You can send an email or message me on Twitter or Instagram. Or shout really loudly. Though the success rate of the latter is dependend on the distance between you, the shouter, and me, the receiver of the shouts.

Where to find me

Do you want to stay updated on everything Pluche? You can follow me on ALL these social media platforms! I double dare you!

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Welcome to Fashioned by Pluche! A blog created for all overthinkers, pseudo-intellectuals and daydreamers who love to look at the nitty-gritty of things! This is the place to get inspired, be entertained and look-and-point at the weirdness and wonders of life...

Who am I?

My name is Dominique, a 20-something wannabe genius trying to find brilliance through blogging. I'm currently studying Gender Studies and I'm a qualified Cultural Heritage professional (can I get a whoop whoop?!). Both studies help shaping my relentless questioning mind that's never fully grown out of the toddler 'but why?' stage.

Although I claim to love dressing up, I generally live my life in pj's and only get 'properly' dressed when it's absolutely needed. Luckily Sarah, my undeniably adorable black-and-tan Jack Russell pup, doesn't mind...

My story

After many pros and cons lists, this blog was finally founded during the spring of 2013. Initially aimed as a fashion blog but soon/immediately converted into a personal lifestyle blog dedicated to 'all the things I can potentially scrutinise for fun'. Finally finding a purpose for my continuous anxiety induced stream-of-consciousness cynicism.

So if you love to analyse everything critically, think about the simple things for so long they become complicated and do all this while twirling your imaginary Poirot-moustache, you're at the right address! From dissecting fashion trends to smashing the patriarchy, nothing gets spared. Think of it as exercising your brain, leaping from one thought to another exclaiming "well that's interesting/weird/far fetched!".

Want to know more?

Here are 10 random facts about me!

1. I've always felt too old. Even as a 9 year old I would sigh dramatically and complain about my age, worrying I wasn't living up to it
2. I've never ever moved house ever...
3. I've got a small nose, but even smaller nasal cavities. Mine are so small that when I was younger they've surgically removed some bone to make room
4. My favourite animal are dogs and basically my whole life is designed around one
5. I speak song lyrics as a second language. A particular favourite of mine is: "So I make a dress from my sorrows, and shoes from my sadness and dance all the way into love" from Beauty Remains by Paloma Faith
6. Although I know almost every song lyric by heart and am not afraid to proof it, my singing voice will make your ears bleed
7. The first social media platform I joined was Hyves, a Dutch social media platform similar to MySpace #rip
8. My favourite colour is green
9. When I was younger I wanted to be 'something in fashion', an art historian and an actor (still do)
10. The only Disney movies you'll need to see are 101 Dalmatians and The Aristocats #fightme

Some of my favourite blogposts

On Fashioned by Pluche you can expect posts on fashion, lifestyle and personal anecdotes from an intersectional feminist, philosophical and brain farts point of view; all written while safely tucked away under a duvet. Don't know where to start? Let me help you!

• My Ego and I
•  (Don't) Tell Me What To Wear!
• Dressed to Kilt: Structuralism & Poststructuralism
• Going Cruelty Free, Because I'm Worth It
• This World Is A Tragedy

Fashioned by Pluche has been featured in Local Riot Mag issue #9 Letters (page 62-63) and on Trashfashion as a Trashfashionista.