Take Note: January's International Blogger of the Month

For January's installment of Take Note, I interviewed a wonderful blogger from Amsterdam called Laura. Her blog The World Looks Red is full of wonderful outfits and dreamy photographs. Every time I read her blog, I find something new to be inspired by, the perfect mixture of colours and patterns.

How did you first get involved with blogging?

I was posting some outfits on fashion forums and platforms like Stylemob back in 2007. Then lots of people started asking me if I had a blog so I figured I'd start one! For me blogging is a fun way to document my life. I post about my outfits, but also about my personal life. It's really nice to look back on previous posts and see how you've changed. 

Describe your personal style.

I love feminine retro clothing. I have an enormous weakness for pretty dresses; floral prints, tulle, pastel colours, ruffles, classic '50's shapes... I like combining vintage finds with stuff from high-street shops like Zara, H&M, Mango and River Island. 

Who are you style icons?

I don't really have a particular person who inspires me, but right now I really love how Alexa Chung dresses (who doesn't, right?). I also love the styling on Gossip Girl, especially Blair Waldorf's outfits are always amazing.

Where do you get inspiration from?

From everywhere. It can be an old movie, a person I see on the street, something I see in a magazine or on another fashion blog. Polyvore.com is great if you have one of those days where you don't know what to wear. It  can offer fresh perspectives on the items you already own.

Do you think where you live affects your style?

I live in Amsterdam now but I don't think the way I dress really reflects that. The Dutch generally don't care as much about fashion. On the other hand, we do have a lot of good vintage markets here, so the city does affect my style. I've been living in Sweden as well and the streetstyle there is so inspiring. I think that has affected me more.

Has your style developed since blogging?

Absolutely. I used to go shopping and just buy everything I like, as long as it was cheap, and then I'd end up with lots of things I wouldn't wear that often. Now I think a lot more about who I am and what my style is. I think blogging has made me a lot more conscious of that. Now I focus more on buying pieces that I really love and I know I'm gonna wear more than once.

What's your favourite book, movie and band?

My favorite book is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I've read a lot of books but nothing has stayed with me like this one has. The story is so touching and it's amazingly well-written.

 My favorite movie is The Dark Crystal by Jim Henson. It's an adventure movie from 1981 made entirely with puppets. This movie was made with such creativity and stunning attention to detail. The whole production cost around 15 million dollars, and to me is so much more amazing to look at than something like Avatar that cost 500 million dollars. 

My favorite band is Sigur Rós. They just blow my mind.

What's your favourite way to spend a Saturday?

When the weather is nice I love to go for walks, like go into the nature, go shopping or maybe even go to a theme park. But right now in winter I love to stay in and have movie marathons.

What's one fashion faux pas that you secretly love?

Oh I don't really know much about fashion faux pas' or fashion rules. Sometimes I hear people whining about not liking black tights, though, what's up with that? I love black tights, I wear them all the time.

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would it be?

Ooh, somewhere I don't need a wintercoat. Maybe like Disneyland California. Can I bring my boyfriend?

Any tips or advice to aspiring personal style bloggers out there?

Look at blogs you love and think about what you like about them and don't like about them. It'll help you decide what you want your blog to be like. Other than that, just keep doing what you want to do, don't worry if you don't get many visitors right away. It's more important to stay yourself than to be a crowdpleaser.

Head on over to Laura's blog here.