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Working in the fashion world full of glitter and glam
And being more of a ‘tomboy’ myself
Dove encourages women to be proud of who they are. In the campaign ‘My beauty, my say’ we let strong women speak who dare to be themselves despite opinions and judgments from outside about what beauty is. This week it's Renske van der Ploeg. From a young age, she was already told that she didn't dress femininely enough. As a stylist, she is daily involved with shoots, red carpets, and showcasing the appearance of others as beautifully as possible, but she herself mainly wears comfortable clothing, no makeup, and prefers not to be in the spotlight. And definitely not in heels.
Renske, I think you can be depicted in jeans, sneakers, little makeup, maybe even a cap. Can we say a bit tomboy-ish?
“I think so, yes. From a young age, I was already told that. I actually always wear sneakers. A few years ago when I worked at JAN Magazine, I was the only one who came to the office in sneakers. All the women wore heels. And don’t get me wrong, I love fashion and picking beautiful heels for others, but wearing heels myself feels unnatural to me. That's why I choose not to do it.”
How would you describe your own clothing style?
“Mainly practical and tough. I love a good leather jacket, a denim jacket, and a nice stretch shirt. I also have nine tattoos. All small ones, though. This is just who I am. In the past, I would sometimes hear that I could use a little lipstick. At such moments, I only thought: I am super energetic, brown, my skin looks good, what are you talking about? For me, femininity is not just about makeup or clothing.”
Has there been a moment when criticism from others held you back in your career?
“When I was younger, I found it harder to filter criticism and it made me insecure. I once heard from someone close to me: Jesus Rens, that hair, was that you? I joked back: don’t you know this is the beachy look?
Maybe I wasn't dressed up, but I did find it important to take care of my nails when I went to a shoot and that I didn't have huge roots. I liked to look well-groomed, but I didn't dress like many women were expected to. I didn't feel more feminine by adjusting my look to that, even though I know some women thought differently about it. Once I realized that I could make someone else happy with their look for the evening, I became confident about it.”
I can imagine you go to a lot of fashion parties. How do you handle it in terms of glitter and glam?
“Trust me: that can cause quite a bit of clothing stress haha. I only have two dresses in my closet because I don't really think they suit me. I only wear black dresses from The Couples to parties. Every now and then, I put the dress on in front of the mirror and think: nah, that's totally not me and then I prefer to slip back into those jeans.”
It sounds like you are more focused on creating beautiful images for others than for yourself.
“That's true, and that's what I love about my job. Recently, for example, I arranged a fantastic dress for Rens Kroes, which looked so beautiful on her that my evening couldn't be ruined. But please don't ask me what I wore that evening. Really, I don’t know, I don’t care. As long as I feel good.”
