Take or make freedom

Take or make freedom

by marlies|dekkers

“If I need to pee, I pee in the road; if I have a letch for someone, I hop into bed with him.” It was a given for Lee Miller: of course women should have the same social and sexual freedom that men have been enjoying for centuries! And why not use your feminine capital to get what you want? (And have some sexy fun while you do so?). “The first is to take or make freedom,” the feminine feminist pur sang once wrote. And she did so, gloriously, taking lovers as she pleased.

Lee called herself romantic, but “never sentimental, never”. Sexual taboos? She laughed them away. “I’m in a state and will go practice hydraulics [masturbation],” she once wrote to a friend. Perhaps she had internalized the advice of a psychologist who told her at seven years old to ‘separate sex from love’, perhaps she was born badass. I suspect it was a mix of the two. All the same, Lee left a trail of broken hearts wherever she went: a true femme fatale. The Surrealists who saw eroticism as an important gateway to the imagination embraced sexually trailblazing Lee as their ultimate muse. In Jean Cocteau’s movie ‘Blood of a poet’ Lee plays a spellbinding statue. In the end, the hero dies with the imprints of Lee’s kisses on his body. Needless to say, he dies a happy man.

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fall|winter 20 preview

Marlies Says

fall|winter 20 preview

by marlies|dekkers

In January, I presented my newest FW20 collection during a show full of dance and entertainment in Rotterdam. All my work as a feminist designer is inspired by muses, powerful female icons from past and present. And for FW20, my muse will be crime writer Agatha Christie. A few months from now, you will get to discover the collections, and see how they tell stories like Agatha’s thrilling books do..

Running for your life

MD Friends

Running for your life

by marlies|dekkers

Dr. Bram Bakker is a psychiatrist, a writer, a runner and a provocateur. With his many bestselling books and columns – and yes, even his own theatre show – he urges us to think outside the box when it comes to our mental health. Not crazy about popping pills? Bram shared some interesting alternatives with me, from throwing out our phones to running ‘till we puke’.

Peas & peppers instead of pills

MD Friends

Peas & peppers instead of pills

by marlies|dekkers

General practitioner Tamara de Weijer believes that we would feel a lot better if we hit the produce stand before we visited the pharmacy. “On a massive scale, we have been putting the wrong kind of fuel in our bodies.”

Singles Day – You’ve Got this!

Marlies Says

Singles Day – You’ve Got this!

by marlies|dekkers

All the single ladies, listen up! With single women rapidly becoming the majority, it is high time to stop feeling singled out. This Singles Day, let’s celebrate our freedom and independence by sharing all those solo milestones that make us go: ‘You’ve got this!’.