The past nine months, my agenda has been filled with notes saying DFD this and DFD that. DFD in this case stands for Dear Fashion Diary, the book I've been working on together with my friend and colleague Laura de Jong. (Earlier, I have written about it here) Now our book is finally out, in stores and on the shelves in the Netherlands and within everybody's reach online.
To celebrate our baby, me and Laura wanted to organize a book launch. We ended up getting in touch with a sustainable fashion designer Nathalie de Koning, who next to making her own timeless fashion collection gives sewing classes and DIY workshops under the name I Am Nold, encouraging people to make something new from something old. Her fashion philosophy was a perfect fit with Dear Fashion Diary that aims to help people discover their own styles and fall in love with fashion again and more sustainably than before. We couldn't have been happier to collaborate with Nathalie by organizing our book launch in her whimsical workspace in an old, abandoned school building!
After the location for the launch was settled a few weeks ago, the time seemed to fly by. There was a lot of planning, calling, emailing, meeting, stressing out and running around, but sooner than I even realized, I found myself holding a microphone and raising a glass to our book! Despite all the exhaustion and grey hair, there we were: me and Laura, two very happy author-illustrators who had just launched their book!
The glamour continued 8:30 AM the morning after, when we started our day by doing the dishes from the night before. But let me tell you, the launch and all the dishes left from it were the best possible start for what we hope to become Dear Fashion Diary's long and prosperous life in the world of books!
So, forth we go as published author-illustrators, recovering from the birth of our first book. I'm sure that the leftovers of the heavenly gazpacho that was served at the party will also work well as a refreshening face mask.
And because speeches at launches tend to end with thank yous, I would like to end this post the same way by thanking Nicole Huisman, the talented stylist and one of the editors of the Dutch Elle, who joined the launch and gave a great speech about her personal style, my friends and fellow illustrators Suzanna and Sarah and Lilian from BIS Publishers for helping to make everything run smoothly, Laura's husband Jeroen, who was The Man and slave of the launch, driving cars and carrying all the heavy stuff, Carli from I Am Nold for sewing packages for the books and - of course - all the guests who joined the party! Thank you!
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