Merel van der Spiegel is 28, currently completing her master in Finance and Investments at RSM. Out and about on Woudestein campus she was wearing an eye-catchy bright blue leather jacket and suede ankle boots. Merel is Dutch, but has lived almost half of her life in the UK, dividing her time between London and Edinburgh.
Style
“Style, for me, is to wear what I like and what I feel comfortable in. I do look out for trends, but if a trend doesn’t make me feel at ease in my own skin I would just let it pass. Amsterdam is my city of origin consequently my style has been influenced by the city and its laid back vibe. In my wardrobe you would find rather casual and simple pieces. Contrastingly, I use jewelry to give an extra touch to my outfit. There is no particular person that I look up to for inspiration, although Kate Moss or Doutzen Kroes’s street styles are on point. They always wear a simple tee and jeans, looking very fresh and casual. Oppositely, I am not into artificial and studied look a la Kim Kardashian. It is just too much of everything for my taste, too much make up, too much hair and it seems like she puts way too much attention in what she wear. Personally, I don’t want to give that impression of myself. Something that I always go back to are my ripped jeans and my cowboy boots. Favorite items are two rings that I am personally attached to, as they were given to me by my grandmother and my parents.”
Dance
“Dancing is part of my life. I have been dancing with the Dance Academy in Amsterdam for seven years where modern dance and jazz were my preferred kinds. Unfortunately, I don’t dance at the same level anymore. Attending shows, especially the ones staged by the National Ballet that is based in Amsterdam, is a true passion of mine. Choreographers like George Balanchine and the likes are my absolute favorites. The classical feel they have conquers me. I don’t understand those people that say they don’t understand modern dance, if they just took more time to grasp the meaning behind the steps I am sure they would enjoy it
Finance
“When I started studying business I would never have thought I would have ended up studying finance. I pictured myself going into the marketing branch, because of the creativity that is involved in it. Then I had a professor who introduced us to the financial crisis, in particular to what went wrong. And I was hooked. I started reading books like The Big Short or Too Big to Fail and I got into it really fast. This is my last year. I am going to graduate in July and then I have planned to do an internship. In the future I hope to work in the finance business, but I also want to travell.”
