Getting Closer Fashion Festival

Photo: Lonneke van der Palen, Styling: Bernadette van Wijlen
Clothing: Isabell Schulz

De Wasserij fashion incubator in Rotterdam North opens with the Getting Closer Fashion Festival, 16 and 17 November.
During this festival you can get to know local designers and participants of De Wasserij.
The programme contains open studios, workshops, presentations and guided tours and pop-up shop. 

With participants An.Nur, AnoukxVera, Ari Van Twillert, Berend Brus, Studio Dennis Vanderbroeck, Dame Fortune, Inez Naomi, Isabelle Schulz, Kukka design, Marlou Verheijden, De Naaister, EIJK, Studio Markx, Mevan Kaluarachchi, Lisa Konno, Tegendraads, Yophi Ignacia and many more.

De Wasserij is a brand new breeding ground for innovative fashion professionals. The building offers studios, a fashion manufacturing lab and a program of events.

More information: http://dewasserij.cc 

Talent Invasion - The Museum of Bags and Purses

The Museum of Bags and Purses (Tassenmuseum Amsterdam) is in transition: from a museum of bags and purses to a dynamic House full of stories about fashion, design, craft, and society.

Talent Invasion arose from the museum’s desire for original, unexpected and surprising collaborations and interventions. By focusing on a new generation of designers, the exhibition enables us to realise this desire by bringing in an avalanche of new ideas that inspire and motivate.

Guest curator and freelance creative director Martien Mellema has selected work especially for the Museum of Bags and Purses by twenty-one promising designers from this year’s graduating class of students from Dutch art, fashion, and design academies. The most important selection criteria? Chutzpah, individuality, and an anarchistic approach. According to Mellema and her team, this is what the fashion industry needs at this time. For this exhibition Mellema collaborated with concept designer Leonoor Ottink and visual storyteller Elin Visser.

Talent Invasion revolves around talents who aren’t afraid to think out of the box; with their work they are commenting on the current zeitgeist and challenging the status quo. It’s about visionary newcomers with original and highly individual opinions, who are refusing to follow existing rules and conventions.

Talent Invasion features young designers: Juris Efneris, Bodil Ouédraogo, Dana Lipka, Esra Copur,Otilia Vieru, Britt Liberg, Dylan Westerweel, Anouk van Kampen Wieling, Joline Kwakkenbos, Iris van Wees, Laura Silberzahn, Empar Juanes Sanchis, Karis Lindelien, Chloe Severien, Mika Perlmutter, Rosalie van Pinxteren, Larissa Schepers, Linda Ludbarza, Satomi Minoshima.

During Talent Invasion the Museum of Bags and Purses will be organising an inspiring program with talks and tours. For more information about the exhibition, the program or tickets visit museumofbagsandpurses.com

Bodil Ouédraogo

Program for 11th FASHIONCLASH Festival

FASHIONCLASH presents the 11th edition of the international and interdisciplinary fashion festival in Maastricht.

During this three-day festival, more than 100 emerging designers and (performing) artists from around the world will have the opportunity to show their work to a diverse, international audience. The multidisciplinary program includes fashion shows and presentations, exhibitions, awards, fashion talks theater and dance performances and more.

For more information on the program, participants and tickets: fashionclash.nl

FASHIONCLASH Festival 2019 is all about discovering, stimulating and shaping current developments in fashion and unlocking these developments to a wide audience. FCF functions on the one hand as a stage for designers and artists and on the other as a manifestation in which the role of fashion in the context of society is questioned and used to create dialogue. The festival is an eclectic fusion of disciplines such as (fashion) design, theatre, dance, film, visual arts and welcomes avant-garde new generation who dares to look beyond their discipline. The contextual link on which the content of the festival programme is based are the core artistic values of FASHIONCLASH: namely ‘Clash’, ‘Fashion Makes Sense’ and ‘Community’. FASHIONCLASH Festival stands for crossovers and interdisciplinary collaborations, for placing fashion in societal context and for engagement with a broad audience.
FASHIONCLASH Festival is an initiative by FASHIONCLASH Foundation from The Netherlands.

New Fashion Narratives

New Fashion Narratives: A collaboration between FASHIONCLASH and Bureau Europa

On Thursday October 17, the exhibition New Fashion Narratives will officially be opened with the Fashion Talk: New Business Models. The speakers are fashion designers who know how to combine their artistic skills with entrepreneurship and thus introduce new sustainable business models for fashion.
Please note: the Fashion Talk will take place at Lumière Cinema (next to Bureau Europa). The opening of the exhibition will take place right after the Fashion Talk, at Bureau Europa (from 18.30 onwards) 

Exhibition
The designers that shape this exhibition see fashion as a mission. They belong to a generation of designers who explore the boundaries of their discipline and question the system and the fashion industry. With their works, they operate in the transdisciplinary domains of fashion, social design, visual arts and they always work with the final user/consumer. This way, they introduce contemporary themes such as inclusiveness, gender, consumption and thus new narratives for fashion.

Participating designers
As of Nū (Karmen Samson) | Das Leben am Haverkamp (Gino Anthonisse, Dewi Bekker, Christa van der Meer & Anouk van Klaveren) | Obroni Wa Wu - Dead White Man's Clothing (Linda Valkeman & Carmen Hogg) | NOIJ (Dafne en Nikki Noij) | Gabriel Fontana | Esra Coppur | JANNA WIERINGA | Lisa Konno | The Fabricant

Opening hours: Wednesday till Sunday - 12.00 - 17.00
Entrance: € 5,00 (students € 3,00), free admission with the Dutch National Museum card.
Free entrance during FASHIONCLASH Festival (1 - 3 November) and during the opening (Thursday October 17)

More information: fashionclash.nl

Redress Design Award 2019

Redress presented the finalists from the Redress Design Award 2019 at CENTRESTAGE Hong Kong.

Maddie Williams Redress Design Award 2019 winner

The mail prize was given to designer Maddie Williams, alumna Edinburgh College of Art, whose collection makes use of up-cycling and reconstruction techniques. The Runner-Up Prize went to Carina Roca Portella, an MA student at ESDI Barcelona and the Hong Kong Best Prize was presented to Keith Chan. Moriah Ardila, a student from Shenkar, was given the People’s Choice Prize.

An international judging panel presided over the event, including Tillmann Lauterbach (Creative Director, REVERB), Ruth Farrell (Global Marketing Director, Textiles, Eastman), Leaf Greener (Fashion Journalist), Orsola de Castro (Co-Founder of Estethica and Co-Founder of Fashion Revolution), Denise Ho (Fashion Director, The R Collective),Roger Lee (CEO, TAL Group) and Clare Press (Podcaster and Sustainability Editor-at-Large, Vogue Australia).

Museum Motus Mori

Photo: Hanneke Wetzer

Museum Motus Mori - Katja Heitmann at Marres
13.09.19 - 27.10.19

German choreographer Katja Heitmann and ten dancers are creating a museum for physical movements that face the threat of extinction. Museums are meant to preserve human culture and history. It nearly goes without saying that they do so through objects, installations, and occasionally, stories. But humanity itself is missing in this solidified version of our lives. For six weeks, five hours a day, the dancers and the choreographer will take on the remarkable challenge of creating a new museum precisely for that purpose. Museum Motus Mori will sensitize visitors to the deep humanness hidden within the body.

In choreographic sculptures, Heitmann zooms in on details of human motricity to unravel it into patterns, specific sequences of structures, and seemingly eternal loops. A choreography for the collarbone, a dance of belly button, belly fat and rib cage, a phrase for the heartbeat and knee muscle arises. Body parts are isolated, mechanically brought into motion, the hips tilted, the leg lifted, driven across the space in a meticulously technical manner, every movement of which is deliberate. The fragments are constantly repositioned in time and in relation to one another, sharpening and questioning our perceptions.

Museum Motus Mori lets visitors experience what a museum of human movement can be. This does not happen only through experiencing the dancers: the exhibition also includes two interview spaces where visitors can ‘donate’ their personal movements to the museum. The score (notation) of those movements will be shown in the exhibition’s archive room. This will lead to a full cycle of donation, notation and exhibition of a museum in which each muscle is an anatomic trigger that underscores the vulnerability of human existence.
The choreographer and her team will spend two months in Maastricht for this project, on which they will be working every single day.

More info: https://www.marres.org/en/programmas/museum-motus-mori/

SMUK. Decorative techniques in fashion: a show-off

Fashion Museum Hasselt is preparing for SMUK
On october 12 Fashion Museum Hasselt launches 'SMUK. Decorative techniques in fashion: a show-off', an interactive world full of splendour.

This new exhibition covers both historical and contemporary decorative techniques that are characteristic of luxury fashion. The exhibition will show clothing, accessories and couture adorned with embroidery, feathers, pearls, stones, sequins, shells and other curiosities. And it is not only recognised atelier studios like Hurel, Lesage and Lemarié that will play a central role, visitors will also be involved in the exhibition. In the chambers of wonder, visitors can try out high-quality decorative craftwork.

Fashion Makes Sense Award 2019 Program

FASHIONCLASH presents the 3rd edition of ‘Fashion Makes Sense Award’ (FMSA), a returning motivation prize for young designers. This project aims to develop talent and support sustainable designers on the one hand and raise awareness of sustainability related issues with a larger audience on the other.

The 10 finalists will present two outfits; one at Cube Design Museum and one during FASHIONCLASH Festival 2019 at the SAM Decorfabriek. The contestants are in the running for the Jury prize of €2.500,- and the Audience prize of €1000,-! The winner of the Jury prize will use these funds to create a sustainable collection, which she/he will present during FASHIONCLASH Festival 2020. The winning designers will be announced during FASHIONCLASH Festival 2019

Kick Off Program, 28 September
In co-operation with Cube Design Museum Kerkrade, FASHIONCLASH will host an official KICK OFF event Saturday the 28th,  a day full of interesting workshops, key note speakers and the opening of the Fashion Makes Sense Award exhibition where you can vote for your favorite outfit.

Program
10:00 - 14:30 / Workshop 1: JOIN Collective Clothes (Anouk Beckers)
11:00 - 12:30 / Workshop 2: Awearness Fashion - Duurzaam en succesvol ondernemen in de mode industrie (this workshop will be hosted in Dutch)
11:30 - 14:30 / Workshop 3: Hackaton Speculative Future Fashion, Theo Ploeg
14:45 - 16:15 / Fashion Talk, moderated by Jeroen Junte
Speakers:
- Karin Vlug (UNSEAM)
- Linda Valkeman (OBRONI WA WU)
- Amber Jea Slooten (The Fabricant)
- Esther Muñoz Grootveld, Branko Popovic (Taskforce Fashion)

16:15 - 17:30 / Official opening FMSA 2019 Exhibition & Public Voting

More information about program and tickets:
https://www.fashionclash.nl/fmsa-2019 

MEET THE FINALISTS

young n sang - Street Vendors

young n sang showed second sustainable collection 
'Street Vendors' during Helsinki Fashion Week

This season was inspired by Korean traditional market. If you go to Korean Traditional Street Market, you can feel the market’s own vibesbecause there are lots of coloful prints clothes, odds and ends that are mainly hanging on the wall or placed in the center of the shop. They seem so fancy and wild. Street vendors outfit have their own colors that you can’t find anywhere. They don’t have any certain rule in how they wear. They do not consider harmony of incompatible fancy colors and prints combinations, and harmony of silhouettes. These features took our attention. Their outfits might be ridiculous to others, but they were richous to us. We love their weird harmony.

For this collection, we mainly used colorful granny shirts and vivid flower prints, hip sacks that are necessary wearing items of street vendors in Korea. Also, traditional tweed jacket details, odds and ends are used for this collection. In fabrication, we had focused on hand weaving and patchworking skills. For example, we made handwoven denimlik jacket which made of vinyl clothes. Also, we made handwoven shirts from leftovers for aming to be zero waste collection.

@youngnsang

MAFAD Graduation Expo 2019

Jolieke Kessels

MAFAD Graduation 2019 exhibition took place from July 4 to 7 at the building of academy. The exhibition featured graduates from fine arts and design department. Unlike the other academies in The Netherlands MAFAD graduation did include a fashion show. The Body design students will present their fashion show during FASHIONCLASH Festival in November.
The exhibition already provided a close look to their projects.
The graduates presented a variety of concepts based on sustainability, sportswear, slow fashion, craftsmanship and emancipation of menswear.
Julina Vanille Bezold presented a well-researched collection by presenting a sustainable design manifesto that aims to create a new awareness for the appreciation of clothing. By equating the new ancient holistic teaching of the Chinese Wu Xing concept with a holistic design approach, her collection contains five outfits that can all be worn in multiple combinations. In addition she created a film to show a glimpse behind the Wu-Xing philosophy, namely that everything in the world and in the universe is connected.
Michelle Cornelissen created an alter ego 'Michi'm' portrated as a Disney villian based on her personal characteristics, visualising the different identities behind a single person and the freedom to play with identities. Natalia Rumiantseva presented a collection of jewellery objects inspired by her childhood spent on a small farm in Russia and the relationship of all species in the world. Her project 'Can you kill the chicken?' touches on many aspects of our culture, society and emotions. 'We based our civilization on using animals and for centuries cruelty was and still is an integral part. However, what are the reasons for the cruelty and how do we preceive it nowadays in time of humanization and progress?' 
Jolieke Kessels combined traditional crafts with contemporary materials and techniques aiming to showcase slow fashion and a gettaway for the busyness of our lives.
The Body design department exhibition also featured work of Dana Lipka and Ashley Luypaers, both Lichting 2019 finalists and work of Max Niereisel and Empar Juanes Sanchis.

http://www.mafad.nl

WDKA Fashion Show 2019

Mirthe Alferink

On July 5th, the fashion design class of 2019 from the WDKA  (Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam) presened their graduation show at Ubik theatre. The show, organized by the students themselves, provided a charming insight into their mostly personal graduation projects. With themes as sustainability, LGBTQ+ community, internet culture, streetwear and sportswear the show provided a diverse approach to contemporary fashion design.
Chloë Severien presented a ready to wear knitwear collection based on re-usable yarn made from recycled PET plastic. By using fabrics as a medium to tell stories, Larissa Ishimwee gave voice to a group of illegal refugees of Amsterdam.
Robin Cuppens deconstructed the business suit, Susanne Vos presented the 'new look' based on sportwear and Axel Verwee made his collection by waisted tents from festivals. Mickey Nerrings presented the most outspoken collection based on voilence and bullying against the LGBTQ+ community. He translated this into the idea to use the scarecrow as a metaphor to scare away the bullies and fight against anti-gay voilence. Project that intruiged the most was Adobefashion by Rosalie van Pinxteren. With this project she explored the influence of internet culture on today's digital fashion and its role in our changing perception of reality. By translating photoshoped shapes into actual garments she questioned if we can still distinguish reality from manipulation and vice versa. In addition, she aims to show that fashion manifests beyond the physical world.

Instagram: wdkafashiongraduates
https://www.wdka.nl

Robin Cuppens

HKU Fashion Graduation Show 2019

Armia Yousefi

On June 26th, at in Utrecht, HKU fashion design graduates showcased their final collections.
'THE DON'T KNOW SHOW expressed perfectly the free spirt of the class of 2019. Designers who had approached their projects more experimentally showed the interesting proposals such as Esra Copur who with her project 'Programmed Society' analysed the society’s daily habits and routines in relation to consumer behaviour. She wants to portray people as programmed individuals who are constantly buying items because of the routine they got stuck in.  Or Iris Otten who showed a performance with models attached to objects, struggling with imposed restrictions. She visualised her project with a live performance and in a fashion film.  
Studio Noij (by twins Dafne and Nikki Noij) researched the role of the traditional cliches of The Netherlands such as tulips and windmills and the contradiction that these nostalgic symbols do not play a role in the contemporary Dutch culture.
Jiske Kosian addressed the mental issues such as burn-out epidemy. With her collection she aims to break the taboo surrounding negative emotions in particular in regard to men, and to address that vulnerability can exist without diminishing masculinity.
Sophie Wantia presented a playful collection 'Need to Play' as an antidote to the daily pressures, both in society as well as in design methods. While Laila El Alaoui got inspired by hyperreal tourism, Anouk van Kampen Wieling sent her models to a journey to Rockall in Atlantic Ocean, posing a question: How do you prepare for a yourney to nothing?
Armia Yousefi impressed with a personal collection inspired by his Persian heritage, mythology, politics and old photos of his parents' wedding. "The photos date from the late 1970s and were taken in Tehran during the revolution. I was inspired to design my own wedding scenario, and I made a collection that includes elements such as mythology, romance and mixed martial arts."

Featured fashion designers: Leila El Alaoui, Dewi Barend, Esra Copur, Kim Fransen, Janique Hamers, Melanie Hazeleger, Patrick Hiemstra, Eef Hietbrink, Dennis Huizinga, Anouk van Kampen Wieling, Teddy Kamper, Jiske Kosian, Studio E (Ellis van Loosbroek& Elise de Wit), Veerle Martens, Pam van der Meijs, Studio Noij (Dafne & Nikki Noij), Iris Otten, Loes Pennings, Sophie Wantia, Armia Yousefi

www.hku.nl
All images are by brankopopovicblog

Litter Cleaning - Schueller de Waal

SCHUELLER DE WAAL / SDW Studio presents

Collaborative Cleaning Initiative

‘Litter’ 

For Paris Haute Couture 2019/2020 the Dutch fashion design duo Schueller de Waal teamed up with Pik Pik Environnement to present its first Collaborative Cleaning Initiative named ‘Litter’, supported by the city of Paris.

On tuesday 2 July, on a public square, right in front of the town-hall of the 15th arrondissement, a group of 50 models, cool kids and volunteers started to clean the streets in an upbeat cleansing fashion performance. The models picked up trash from the streets, dressed head-to-toe in freshly made garments made from the studio’s leftover fabrics, deadstock and other remains from the fashion industry.

Cleaning (in) Haute Couture
 The act of cleaning served as an inspiration for both the presentation as well as a design principle. With the performance, the initiators aim to make a powerful statement on the current state of the industry and inspire for change. ‘Litter’ is the next step for SDW in unfolding their story of ‘Fashion Therapy’.
‘Litter’ elevates ‘the act of cleaning’ by combining different elements into a collective cleaning session. Rather than changing a location to meet the needs of a fashion show, SDW Studio created an intervention that has a positive effect on the location. Collaborating with local NGO’s (PikPik Environnement, Green Bird Paris) educating about garbage separation and conscious living as part of city maintenance, and fashion professionals (stylists, fashion journalists etc.) supporting the mission, SDW Studio dressed a diverse group of people in an eclectic range of cleaning uniforms.

Collection
Driven by the idea of re-using previous collections and giving them a new context, the collection translates the concept of ‘Litter’ into re-purposing. SCHUELLER DE WAAL re-purposes their body of work into a range of one-size-fits-all and multifunctional cleaning uniforms through various re-purposing design principles.
The foundation of the collection is the repetition of a singular silhouette, a workwear inspired overall. The symbolic meaning of ‘rolling up your sleeves’ to work defines the look and feel of the collection. Through belting systems the uniforms can be worn in various ways, creating different looks or silhouettes within a singular style.
The overalls are made from patchworks of leftover fabrics and past collections pieces. In order to give the eclectic mix of fabrics a uniform look SCHUELLER DE WAAL collaborated with textile artist Aliki van der Kruijs. Her research project ‘Afterseason’ investigates the potentials of waste ink from the textile printing industry. Aliki and SCHUELLER DE WAAL airbrushed a layer of purple pigment onto the uniforms into a unique range of prints. Working from the principle of avoiding to waste resources, everything touched by the airbrush technique has been used and turned into items of the collection. To fix the pigment on the fabrics, a reflective coating was applied, reminiscent of the reflective detailing of waste collector’s uniforms. When photographed with flash unexpected silhouettes within the overalls become visible.

Another tongue in cheek interpretation of ‘cleaning wear’ is seen in the ‘couture’ pieces made from non-woven cleaning cloth in the typical pink and yellow. The NGO’s logo t-shirts, that are normally worn as a uniform in their activities, have been customised with SCHUELLER DE WAAL shirting details. Pieces from previous RTW collections have been cut up and remixed into apron like shapes - featuring a clashing combination of workwear pocketing in luxurious fabrics. As the couture fabrics used were often just sample coupons or leftovers, not enough to create full garments, the fabrics have been re-created with office- and household materials. Aluminium foil re-creates a metallic brocade fabric and marker pens are used to redraw patterns of a floral jacquard. SDW deadstock has been turned inside out and bonded with silk organza leftovers, for a sculptural effect. Shift dresses turned into sleeves, and uniform pants and dungarees are patched with functional design elements.

Most of the cleaning uniforms were accompanied by safety shoes by the Dutch brand EMMA Safety footwear, known for their Corporate Social Responsibility mission. For the silhouettes mimicking couture references, SCHUELLER DE WAAL collaborated with footwear designer Marko Bakovic. A small series of functional safety boots are presented with fully rubberised uppers and soles made from dead stock pleather.

The soundscape of the presentation, a multi-lingual shout out to not litter, was designed by Bea1991.

Photography Team Peter Stigter

S(eeking) D(esign) W(ellbeing)

http://schuellerdewaal.com

Fashion Statements - Amsterdam Museum

Bas Kosters

The clothes we wear reveal something about our personality. Fashion expresses our identity, what we consider important or what we stand for. Curated by Marian Duff, the founder of MAFB and OSCAM, the exhibition features more than 75 historical costumes, each of which was used by their wearer to express themselves or to express a message. In this exhibition, six leading contemporary designers place their creations alongside and opposite our historical collection of fashion from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
For this exhibition, Ninamounah, Bas Kosters, Karim Adduchi, Marga Weimans, Patta and Art Comes First where invited to reflect on the context of the exhibition. In a short documentary they give their personal vision of the exhibited historical clothing.

Fashion Statements is on show until September 8th.
https://www.amsterdammuseum.nl/en/exhibitions/fashion-statements

KABK The Hague Fashion Show 2019

Stella Kim
photo: Nosh Ipenburg, Lumi Tuomi and Melissa Schriek

Exposed - The show of the fashion and textile department of the KABK, The Royal Academy of Fine Art The Hague took place on 14th of June. The show featured work of bachelor students and fashion and textile graduates of 2019.

The Keep an Eye Textile & Fashion Award 2019 went to textile graduate Stella Hyunju Kim who impressed with her project 'Artificial Calm', exploring the contemporary symbolic meaning of fire.

'My project consists of 2 single beds and a curtain. The bed and curtain symbolises our daily life whilst harbouring the most textiles in our rooms. I researched the patterns of how fire can destruct, deconstruct and decay the structures of daily objects and how it creates layers containing a story. I am introducing a new way of preserving burnt objects by placing it in a room context just the way it is, telling its untold story and values.'

Trumaine Huijts translated his irritation over large fashion brands that are taking over the elements from the skate culture. By experimenting with knitting techniques, he wanted to give something back to the skate community, by showing what else skate clothing can be.  The fashion graduate Lina Lau researched on the meaning of term 'luxury' and translated this in a rich and layered collection, namely the 'A Premium Mediocre Collection'. She mixed historical references from the Renaissance with contemporary sportwear. Vincent Wong impressed with the stunning and well tailored menswear collection 'Juvenile Oddity', exploring traditional tailoring and the influence of technology on our lives.
The theme of technology also occured in the work of Otilia Vieru, exploring speculative virtual reality and the potential impact and influence of technology on mankind. 'Welcome to the Braindrain'  is based on a world in which technology plays a major role, and the humanity does not know how to deal with it. Shijia Hao got was inspired by large cities that are suffering from urbanization and industrialization showing a imaginative working class in a futuristic dystopia.

Take a look at the picture report below. All images unless mentioned otherwise are by brankopopovicblog