Our Favorite Instagrammers -@stephanbodeman

Our Favorite Instagrammers -@stephanbodeman

Name: Stephan Bodeman
Instagram Name: @stephanbodeman
Amount of followers: 404
Age: 42
Residence: Haarlem, the Netherlands
Occupation: Sales at IT company

My name is Stephan.  I’m 42, husband and a father of two boys. The oldest is 3 years old and the youngest one was born last April. I love my family and I love spending time with them. I try to stay in shape and be fit so I try to eat healthy and workout. I like all kinds of food. A well-made basic burger, sushi or Italian, I love it all as long as it’s done well with pure, natural ingredients. I like it simple, plain and pure. My parents are from Indonesia so food is a big deal in our family. I recently discovered Thai food. I love it, it’s great stuff!

I have a couple of close friends I like to hang out with. We celebrate life with great food, a beer or two and fine wines. We occasionally go on road trips. In 2011 me and my friends traveled from Vancouver to LA in three weeks. That was awesome. I bought some nice selvedge Levis in San Francisco and a pair of bad-ass snakeskin boots in a thrift shop. But these days we keep our trips shorter and closer to home. Can’t be away from the family for too long!

1. Why do you share your outfits? And why Instagram?

Last year December I found out about this huge denim community on instagram. I was totally blown away by all the amazing feeds I saw from all these like-minded people from all over the world.  At first I was just looking around, just following the different denim feeds. I quickly got hooked and decided it was only right to contribute and share some pictures of my own. I try my best to make good pictures people might enjoy. My close friends can only partially relate to my passion for denim so for me it’s nice to have an online channel where I can see what other denimheads are up to. But I discovered instagram is much more powerful. Last April at the denimdays festival in Amsterdam I got to meet a few of the guys behind the feeds I follow. It was awesome to see that an online platform could bring people together like that. We all talked and took pictures together. Every now and then you see pictures of guys meeting up through Instagram. Guys from different countries, different continents even, meeting up like old buddies. Because of the denim bond and because of Instagram. How cool is that? It shows that the digital online era also brings forth great things in real life. I think that’s really awesome.

2. What makes your Instagram feed so special?

I wouldn’t say it’s special really. Different maybe because I post a lot of close-ups and detailed shots. I like to focus on the beautiful details in the fabric. But I’m still trying to find my style. I don’t show myself too much because it’s not about me. But then again maybe I should, I don’t know… I might do that in the future.

3. Where does your inspiration come from?

I get inspired by a lot of guys in the denim community on instagram. I really enjoy watching the different feeds of people from all over the world. I love to see what they wear and how they wear it. Each has their own style but they all share the same passion. And I read the blogs like those on Blue Roots Official and Robin Denim of course.

4. Where does your love for denim come from? When did it start?

I grew up in a time when a pair of 501’s was more essential to life than oxygen. I’ve had my share of Levis. Pants, shirts, jackets you name it. Unfortunately I don’t have any of those items anymore. But my real interest in denim came years later when I bought my first pair of Red Wing boots. I had never heard of the brand before and I honestly had no idea that they had such a standard issue like status in the denim community nor was I aware a community like that even existed. I just liked them because they were tough and I liked the whole heritage story. Nobody was wearing them at that point but this select group of people but I was oblivious. I remember that other guys who were wearing them would walk by, look at my boots and say hi. I was like:”what’s that about?”. But then I went shopping for jeans and met this guy who was also set off immediately by the boots. He told me the whole story, filled in the blanks for me, taught me how to properly wear my jeans and boots and introduced me to the whole denim game. My jaw dropped when he told me about how many pairs of pants he had and how he didn’t wash them. I thought it was fascinating. From that point onwards I was hooked on denim.

5. Your top 3 favorite (denim)brands?

I enjoy watching all types of denim by different brands. I love to see all kinds of fades and how they’re developing on different people. But when you look at my feed it will not come as a surprise that Nudie is my absolute personal favorite. I like the brands philosophy: “It all starts with a pair of drys” and “Repairing is caring”. I like to wear my denim hard. I do all my repairs myself by hand. My grandmother taught me how to do it when I was a teenager. I don’t ever wash my drys to create high contrast fades and I don’t easily retire a pair. In my opinion they get better and more beautiful the more they endure. Sure I’ve thought about washing them because cleaning them with sprays only goes so far, but until now I haven’t done it. I guess I’m afraid I won’t like the result.

Red Wings is my other favorite brand. I love their heritage, the handmade build quality and the rugged style. I have Engineers in just about every color but I struggle to find a pair of Iron Rangers in my size because they don’t make them anymore. So if any of you out there has got a pair of 8113s or 8111s lying around in a US 6D, you know where to find me 😉

6. What is your favorite accessory?

I don’t wear a lot of accessories. I wear a TAG Heuer watch. I like the Pig & Hen bracelets but I can’t decide which one to buy yet. I do like to look at leather accessories and belts and stuff but I don’t use them myself. I love my Ray Ban Wayfarers but I need prescription glasses nowadays so I can’t wear them. I should really get them fitted one of these days because I miss them…

7. What items do you wear the most at the moment?

I wear my Grim Tim Nudies to work daily. They look smart enough for the office with a nice shirt. Unfortunately it takes ages to develop some fades when you’re sitting at a desk for most of the day. I like to wear my selvedge Nudie shirt on the weekends. It’s really hard to fade them but it’s coming slowly but surely. I can’t wait to see what it will look like a year from now.

8. What is your favorite shop? And what is your favorite webstore?

I used to shop at Bendorff but unfortunately they went out of business. It wasn’t because of me, I can tell you that! Now I get my Nudies online at their webstore. They have great customer service too should you ever need it.

9. Do you care about the production process?

I do care. Nudie is very concerned about their products being 100% organic, sustainable etc. They don’t use sweatshops or any of that stuff. So I get to wear my denim guilt free. But there’s no way you could ever get a beautiful product from a company that just can’t be bothered to care or isn’t concerned with making their jeans the honest way. The high quality denim we all love comes from the hands and minds of people who care a lot, I’m sure of that.

10. What are your dreams for the future?

Since I became a father, being a good parent is about all I could ever wish for. All clichés about having a baby are true. I hope my sons will grow up to love denim as much as I do. My old Nudies would be vintage to them. Maybe one day I’ll get the opportunity to work with denim. I’d love to go to work in double denim and boots. I wish for a healthy life full of rawdenim and  hardcore fades, to share that with all of my fellow denimheads and to have more meet ups through Instagram.

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