Blog: Saskia van Langevelde
"After considering moving to Iceland or Ibiza, we ultimately chose Groede – closer to family and the sea."
When I was sixteen, my interest in fashion awakened. I spent my youth in Terneuzen, together with my older sister Jessica. Our parents ran the restaurant Het Vijverhof in Terneuzen. My mother, also creative, devoted much time to making clothes. It didn’t come as a complete surprise, but even so, my parents had to search for the right direction, since there were no courses in fashion or design in Zeeland.
My path led me to the MTS for fashion and clothing in The Hague. After that, I continued my studies at the art academy in Rotterdam, where I mainly focused on designing clothes. During this period, I interned at the fashion editorial department of ELLEgirl, which strengthened my decision to become a stylist.
After my internship, I remained active in the world of magazines, a journey that took me from ELLEgirl to ELLE, then to Glamour, then to Vogue, and finally back to Glamour, where I took on the role of creative director. It was a fantastic time, filled with travel, meeting inspiring people, and living in Amsterdam. An experience I wouldn’t have wanted to miss.
Meanwhile, my Zeeland boyfriend and I had two children, real Amsterdammers. During the corona period, we spent a lot of time in Zeeland, especially at my mother-in-law’s farm in St Kruis. That’s where the idea to change course began. After considering moving to Iceland or Ibiza, we ultimately chose Groede – closer to family and the sea. Then the search for work in Zeeland began.
I decided to start as a freelancer. In my network, I had contacts with influencers who received a lot of clothing and wanted to sell it. I did this for them via platforms like Vinted. In addition, I became magazine manager at Badkoerier, a tourist magazine for all of Zeeland. Here I supervise writers, am responsible for the visuals, and manage the website. Later I also added advertising sales, on a project basis two days a week. Through my network, I got in touch with Betaalbarekralen, a wholesaler for jewelry and jewelry parts, where I produced photo shoots for a while. For the past seven months, I have been coordinating the photo design department, where all materials for marketing campaigns, such as social media, newsletters, and the website, are created. Here I can fully use my passion for photography and styling again.
Last summer, on behalf of the Ideeënfabriek, I got to make a magazine about and for Cadzand. In addition to this magazine, together with a number of entrepreneurs from Cadzand, we won a prize for the CBK. With this prize money, we organized an event in Cadzand dedicated to art. As curator, I was responsible for the images used in an outdoor exhibition.
I am grateful that I can do so many interesting projects, even if they sometimes fall outside my original field. In the future, I would like to help more companies with social media and who knows, maybe I’ll return to the world of fashion. Until then, I enjoy the beautiful pink skies that are often seen in Groede.
#livinginzeeuwsvlaanderen #workinginzeeuwsvlaanderen #lifeinzeeuwsvlaanderen #burgundianzeeuwsvlaanderen
