Crown yourself
All my work as a feminist designer is inspired by muses. Powerful female icons from past and present. Although women have been marginalized for centuries, archetypes of female power have always been there. Through my designs, I bring them to you. To help us shape the world of modern-day feminism.
This season, we ascend the throne of our personal power by channeling the original Feminine Feminist: Cleopatra. A shrewd strategist, a skilled diplomat and a dazzling self-promoter, the Egyptian queen ruled for 22 years with more courage and charisma than most male leaders before her. Not afraid to celebrate and deploy her femininity, Cleopatra mixed passion and politics, and was slut-shamed for it for over 2000 years. Well, let them talk! From ‘femme fatale’ to ‘evil seductress’; the queen herself would have laughed off the labels, knowing that no patriarchal propaganda can obscure the glorious power of a woman who owns her femininity.
Like the worshipped cats of Ancient Egypt, Cleopatra had at least nine lives. After each devastating blow – the loss of her kingdom, the assassination of her lover – she would dust off her crown and come back with a vengeance. The magnificent embodiment of my motto ‘dare to dream, dare to grow, dare to be’, the Queen of the Nile is still daring us today to embrace challenges as a chance for self-improvement. Sitting on her golden throne, dazzling in vivid emerald green and brilliant Egyptian blue, Cleopatra is reaching out to us with an empowering message: “Transform yourself, and you will shine brighter than before, in your own spectrum of electrifying colors!”.
My new Couture Collection is an ode to Cleopatra’s resilience and multi-faceted femininity. Crown yourself Comeback Queen in this eye-catching tour de force. Smooth panels of vivid, iridescent fabric form a bold, geometric motif that frames your curves while paying homage to ancient Egypt’s sacred symbol of hope and rebirth: the scarab beetle.
Wear my ‘Rainbow Scarab’ collection and dare to dazzle in your unique rainbow of brilliant colors!
— Marlies Dekkers
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MD Friends
Building bridges
From the Erasmus Bridge and the Mercedes-Benz Museum to Qatar’s metro network; Ben van Berkel’s iconic landmarks bring people together in rapturous beauty, again and again. I talked with the Dutch architect and educator about sensuality, ‘healthy’ buildings and the remarkable parallels between our designs.
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MD Friends
More than a feeling
Don’t ignore your emotions; they are much more powerful than you can imagine. By linking the magical world of emotions with hard science, Dutch scientist Pierre Capel, professor emeritus in experimental immunology, shows us the consequences of our feelings and the power of our minds. The message: we can do much more than we think. “Meditate. It’s the single best thing you can do for your health.”
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Marlies Says
Keto curious?
The fact that I feel bikini-confident all year round is, of course, a nice bonus. But for me, the biggest payoff of following the keto diet is the way it optimizes my health and gives me tons of energy.
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Marlies Says
Super (skin) food
‘If you can’t eat it, why put it on your skin?’. I pretty much live by this beauty adage. After all, with your skin being one of your body’s largest organs, anything – and I mean anything! – you put onto your skin will end up in your bloodstream.
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