A Conversation With Denise Boomkens of AndBloom - On Aging, Design, and the Art of Being Bold

Some conversations linger long after you’ve had them. Not because anything dramatic was said - but because something true was felt. That’s how I felt after spending 30 minutes talking with Denise Boomkens of AndBloom recently. We last talked during the blurry Corona years, but this conversation felt different - quieter, deeper, more grounding. It left me thinking about aging, creativity, and the soft bravery required to keep choosing yourself again and again as the years move forward.

Denise is 50, and honestly, if you didn’t know her age, you wouldn’t think to ask because she radiates life and confidence. You don’t even look at her and think of an age. You see a stylish woman in control of her own narrative. Which she is. But so are each of us. And this is what is the magnetic draw her fans have to her content whether they realize it or not - she reminds us all that WE are in control of how we show up and no one has the right to interfere with that. She’s in that unmistakable season where confidence replaces performance. Her work reflects it too - bold floral styling, romantic silhouettes with an edge, an all-pink room where she films a lot of her content, and portraits that feel less like fashion shoots and more like very strong declarations: This is a woman over 45. Take it or leave it.

She lives near Amsterdam with her husband and their 10-year-old son - immersed in family life while running a creative universe that feels both intimate and global with over 1.3 million Instagram followers - no small feat since she’s rapidly grown that audience since Corona times. And lately, that universe has expanded into something tangible you can hold in your hands: her two books, with the latest being The Guide: Boldly Blooming, Unapologetically You.

One year ago vacationing in Forte dei Marmi, watching her son play in the sand, she turned to her husband and said, “I think it’s time for a new book.” And that was it.

Four years earlier, her first book The Art of Aging Unapologetically had found its way into the world through a traditional publisher and into the hearts of many women who were quietly craving representation and reassurance. This time, though, Dee wanted more than another photo book. She envisioned something warmer, more supportive - something that felt like the AndBloom community itself, compressed into paper form.

Instead of standing alone as the sole voice of the project, she invited other women to step in. Eight experts contributed insights across areas that matter deeply to women in midlife: peri-menopause, nutrition, movement, personal style, emotional wellbeing. Not to offer “fixes,” but companionship.

She said something during our video conversation above that perfectly captured the spirit of the book:

“I wanted it to feel like a best friend.”

Not preachy.
Not prescriptive.
Not telling women who they should become - but walking beside them as they are.

And that, in many ways, is Dee’s superpower.

She doesn’t position herself as someone above women - teaching or correcting - but as someone among them, reflecting their beauty back at them. Her portraits don’t feel styled to perfection; they feel seen. Each woman in the book appears fully herself - not softened, not erased, not digitally smoothed into neutrality - but vivid and real.

The book itself is a true collective creation. Her closest collaborators were woven into every step: her best friend Dayenne Bekker, styled every shoot; a makeup artist was brought in to enhance natural beauty rather than mask it; the collage artworks are by long-time favorite Saskia Kemperman; the playful coloring pages come from Instagram friend Mathilda; and the layout was shaped by Yuri, her graphic designer, who intuitively captured the book’s emotional rhythm.

No big agency teams.
No glossy production fluff.
Just a circle of women making something meaningful together.

Listening to Dee speak, I was reminded why her work resonates with women — especially over 40, over 50, and beyond. She stands in a beautifully rare space: where elegance meets honesty, where fashion meets emotional depth, and where aging isn’t something to correct, it’s something to expand into.

She doesn’t sell the fantasy of reinvention.
She celebrates the power of continuation.

We are not “done” blooming at any age - we’re simply evolving into deeper, braver, more self-possessed versions of ourselves.

Love,

Holly