If you’re committed to truth and beauty like we are, there’s no doubt you’ve heard of Eva Vlaardingerbroek. It’s been one year since Eva sent the internet into a frenzy after she made a stunning appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight. Millions of people witnessed her dedication to fighting alongside Dutch farmers and their protests against the government’s buyout scheme, garnering her many supporters.
Believe it or not, that wasn’t the first time the 26-year-old blonde bombshell made headlines. In 2019, Eva gave a bold speech on modern liberal feminism at the Forum of Democracy conference, a right-wing group in the Netherlands, stirring both admiration and controversy (well, mostly controversy) as she emphasized the harm that ideology brought to women, describing it as “a form of hardcore cognitive dissonance.” Yet even in the face of objection from the crowd, Eva remained steadfast in her beliefs. The legal philosopher is also unafraid to discuss the topics left-wing media publications often deem “conspiracy theories.” “The checklist that I have now is like, if you’re not a conspiracy theorist, I don’t wanna be your friend,” she joked.
Eva earned herself labels from the angry Dutch media – notably “shieldmaiden of the far right” and “Aryan princess” – only fueling her determination to enlighten rather than to conform.
It’s evident that Eva is all beauty and brains, and we owe thanks to her upbringing. Born in Amsterdam, Eva’s childhood was steeped in classical music, art, and spirituality. Her mother’s Catholic faith and her father’s Protestant background have had an incredible influence on her journey thus far. Beyond her intellectual feats and conversion to Catholicism, Eva recently led a march of 40,000 Dutch farmers against a government directive that threatened to take away their lands.
Eva embodies the essence of a smart, captivating woman who seeks truth and challenges social norms by bringing them to light. She’s impressive and has achieved so much for her age – but the media and you probably know about her accomplishments, so let’s get to know the down-to-earth side of Eva that they often don’t show.
Nicole Dominique: Are there any people who have played a role in empowering you and inspiring you throughout your journey?
Eva Vlaardingerbroek: I’m incredibly blessed to have a very solid family foundation. My father and mother have been extremely important in shaping my worldview, but not necessarily in a way where they told me what to think. They’ve always been very encouraging in asking questions and forming my thoughts and writing. So I have a really, really great relationship with my parents and my brother, and they’ve stuck by me throughout everything. And I honestly don’t think I would have managed to do what I do if they hadn’t been there. So my family has been beyond important to me.
I remember even as a child, for example, that my dad and I – if we were to go to a movie or if I would read a book – we would then sit down after it, and he would ask me, “So what do you think that that meant?” or “What do you think that this movie tried to convey?” And we would try to find the deeper meaning or the archetypes behind characters, etc., and I think my dad has been crucial in the development of my values and also has given me the strength to continue to fight whenever it got difficult.
ND: How important are beauty and femininity to you?
EV: Very! I feel like it’s what makes being a woman fun. It’s something exclusive to us, or at least, something that used to be exclusive to us. It’s great to live in truth and live by the truth of who you are and what you are like as a woman, and instead of trying to repress that, to celebrate it. And I feel like that’s one of the things that modern-day feminism has completely ruined for a lot of women, like trying to make us into men in a way, which we are not, and it doesn’t make us happy. It makes nobody happy to live by a lie.
So actually enjoying what you’re given by God and playing with that and seeing the fun side and the beautiful aesthetics of that, I think is something that I enjoy diving into and doing. I love spending time on – I don’t want to say silly things because they’re not silly – taking good care of myself. Like doing nice things with my hair, my outfits – it’s fun to me. There’s no shame in that!
Even from an ideological perspective, when I argue about what my politics are, I always come back to the three transcendentals: truth, goodness, and beauty. So beauty is one of the three. And that is obviously not just external beauty – but beauty is, in a way, objective, and making yourself beautiful and playing with your feminine side is an amazing way to add happiness to the world.
ND: How do you achieve work-life balance? What do you like to do in your free time?
EV: So I absolutely do live and breathe my work because it’s not just my work; it’s my passion. I am somebody who really does enjoy going on Twitter and getting into debates and reading about philosophy. But when I want to be completely out of that world, I always joke to my friends and family that in another life, I would have loved to be a beautician or an esthetician. I love messing around with makeup, hair, products, and skincare, even studying things like dermatology. Even though I might not have the skin issues myself, I like advising my friends on them, my parents even, and it’s just something that I really enjoy doing.
I also really love painting and drawing. I think that’s probably related to it, like makeup is almost like you’re painting and drawing on a person’s face. I don’t think I’ve ever said that anywhere publicly, but it’s true.
ND: That’s awesome. How long have you been painting, and what inspires your art?
EV: I come from a family of musicologists. Both of my parents work in the classical music industry, so I’ve always been very blessed to be surrounded by art, especially music. I come from a very cultured family, let’s put it that way. I’ve always been dragged by the hair into every single museum, church, concert hall, everything we possibly could go to and visit on a holiday, but also in my own country.
At first, I started out playing the violin, but it wasn’t for me. I was too impatient. The results weren’t immediate enough. I was always going to my dad’s concerts and listening to the best musicians in the world, and I just couldn’t stand the sound that came out of my violin.
So I wanted something else, and as a child, I had always liked drawing, and my mom said to me, “You were pretty good for a young kid, you know, like the way you drew and painted. Why don’t you go and try and do that again?” Then around the age of 14, I started taking drawing lessons, and I really enjoyed portrait drawing. And I still really enjoy doing that. I don’t do it nearly as often as I would like to.
I’m horrible at painting or drawing landscapes or things, but drawing people is something that I love. I try to capture and draw their portrait for them. I have this collection of portraits of people that I love, and oftentimes, I give them away. So there are a lot of people in my life who have a portrait of themselves drawn by me.
I enjoy drawing somebody that I know well because then you’re not just drawing in a technical sense, where you’re trying to mimic or copy their face, but it’s more like the mimicry is their essence. And that’s usually what makes someone look like themselves when you draw them, if you capture that. It’s not necessarily about how precise my lines are. It’s more like, “Oh yeah, that’s your smile,” or “That’s exactly the way your eyes squint a little bit when you laugh.” You see those things more when you are close to someone.
ND: I love that. I think there should be more emphasis on art, especially in the right-wing circles in the U.S. Do you think this lack of focus on asceticism, creating art, or philosophy makes people seek out the profane instead?
EV: Absolutely. It’s insanely demoralizing to be around ugly things all the time, like architecture; that is something we all realize, right? It doesn’t matter how right-wing or left-wing you are, everyone universally can recognize beauty. Of course, there are differences, people have their personal tastes, but this is something that I feel, especially now, that others have trouble understanding – beauty is objective, and you can have personal preferences, sure, but everybody, even babies, recognizes beauty. Explain that to me. If you say, “No, they’re completely relative. It’s all completely subjective,” then why would that be the case? Why would everyone from every single culture all around the world appreciate each other’s beautiful buildings, but not the horrible concrete Communist-style buildings, for example?
ND: Do you have a favorite store or a favorite brand? I think our readers would be interested in where you get your fashion essentials.
EV: This is probably not the great answer that you’re looking for, and also maybe not great from a conservative perspective either because, well, it’s China. Honestly, a lot of the summer dresses that you see on my Instagram page come from brands like Shein. Like they’re not expensive at all. I try, however, to make it a point not to buy too much from them anymore and focus more on sustainable clothes that last longer and have better materials.
I’m also trying to not wear too much polyester because there are more and more studies coming out that say those particles get into your bloodstream and mess with your hormones. And I think for women, especially for women’s health, it’s important that you make sure that around your reproductive organs, you don’t wear those types of things. I’m trying to wear natural fabrics like linen, cotton, and wool as much as I can now.
What I find important to know is what suits my body type, and then it’s easier to shop. I did the Kibbe body test. That was super fun to do! I would recommend every woman do it because if you follow just the trends of Instagram, the influencers all have very different shapes. And we all have different shapes. “Oh, you’re a pear, or you’re an apple, or you’re an hourglass.” That doesn’t work. It needs to be a little more precise about that, and that’s where the Kibbe body test really helped me.
I would say I don’t really have one brand that I buy my stuff from. I just go on the internet or shop in real life and try to find things that I know will suit me.
ND: The Covid “pandemic” showed us there were a lot of rules and mandates that kept people from following through with their intuition. For example, a lot of people stayed at their jobs that required the vaccine instead of quitting, but what advice would you give to those who are interested in standing up for themselves? What would you say to the women who are interested in speaking up and using their platform and rebelling, so to speak?
EV: Speaking out about those things has consequences; I’m not going to sit here and deny that – I’m living proof of it. But I think the consequences of not speaking out in the long run are going to be more dangerous and bigger and way more problematic than the ones that we face now. I have a lot of sympathy for people, especially when you have a family or when you were about to lose your job, who had to make a decision and chose to say, “Okay, I’ll do it anyway. I’ll get the jab.” And who now speak out about how awful it was and that they were forced to decide between their livelihoods and their medical freedom.
I think the most important thing is that people see that they tell their story, and they’re outspoken about being forced, instead of going into a Stockholm syndrome or cognitive dissonance type of state. I feel like that’s what happened to a lot of people – they know they’ve been lied to, but they don’t want to admit it to themselves because they don’t want to lose face. And that is very problematic because that will allow this to happen again. But if you speak out about it now, even if it’s just to your friends or your family, all of that has a ripple effect, and all of that is important. You don’t need to go and shout it off from rooftops on social media or do it in the media or go into politics. Your own personal circle is also important, and you can have an important influence on the people in your life.
ND: Are there any exciting projects you’re currently focused on?
EV: Right now, I’m on my way to Germany to film a documentary about the situation regarding homelessness in that country specifically. That documentary will hopefully be airing within the next couple of weeks.
I also did a documentary on Tucker Carlson right before he got kicked out of Fox. I really like doing that type of work because it touches on the activism side of things where you’re not just reacting, but you’re actually going out on the street and trying to find out what’s really going on in the lives of everyday people.
In the meantime, I’m trying to build up my social media. I hope that after the summer, I can create something of my own and professionalize what I’ve been doing in an independent way, instead of working for a different media, which I’ve really enjoyed doing. But maybe going a bit more solo and more regularly speaking to people and interacting with the people following me. I don’t know exactly how I’m going to do that yet, but I feel like I’m at a bit of a crossroads, and I’m excited about it!
Photographer: Victor Robertof | Hair: Sydroze | Makeup: Tess Anntoinette | Creative Direction: B&G | Producers: Megan Martinez and Brittany Hugoboom
Evie deserves to be heard. Support our cause and help women reclaim their femininity by subscribing today.
