BRANKOPOPOVICBLOG: FASHIONCLASH Festival 2017

L'EGSQERE
photo Photography Anouk Nitsche

WHAT TO EXPECT!

Fashion Makes Sense, 9th edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival 2017
29 June - 2 July 2017 | Maastricht

The unique four-day fashion festival FASHIONCLASH promises to exceed all expectations with unique work from more than 150 young designers and artists from all over the world including countries such as Italy, Spain, China, Switzerland, The Netherlands, France, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Uruguay, Australia, United Kingdom and Belgium. Expect extraordinary fashion shows, crossover theatre and dance performance, the wilfully 9th edition of Clash Project and the Fashion Makes Sense LAB especially composed for this edition. This LAB will include expositions, a designer market, workshops and fashion talks. Moreover, the long expected opening of the new incubator, the Forza Fashion House Maastricht will also be part of this year’s edition. FASHIONCLASH is a unique opportunity to stimulate your senses, to be inspired by the world of fashion, to meet new upcoming international fashion talents and obviously to enjoy the fashion city of Maastricht.

Sepideh Ahadi
Photo Dennis Leiding

What can you expect?
Take a look at fashionclash.nl and the complete FCF 2017 participants list.

Practical information

When: from Thursday 29 June to Sunday 2 July 2017.

Locations: - Festival Main venue (30 June – 2 July): SAMdecorfabriek, Meerssenerweg 215, Maastricht - Opening Forza Fashion House Maastricht (29 June): 2nd floor LAB Building/The Radium, Lage Frontweg 2A.

Other locations: Jan van Eyck Academy, Marres and Thiessen Wijnkoopers

Tickets: FASHIONCLASH Festival is accessible for everyone and mostly free (excl. the fashion shows). Tickets for fashion shows are available in presale online for €12,50, tickets are available at the door for €15, students get a discount and pay €5 at the door. Tickets are available at www.fashionclash.nl and during the festival at SAMdecorfabriek.

CHAIN
photo Noelia Garreffa

29 June: Opening Forza Fashion House
For invitees and press accreditation only

The opening program will take place at the Forza Fashion House Maastricht in the LAB Building/Het Radium, the breeding ground for creative, cultural and entrepreneurial Maastricht. At this time the doors will open for the new Business Development Lab & Incubator for fashion talent. Apart from a work studio, a collective meeting spot, a multifunctional event space and a showroom, the lab will end up being the official FASHIONCLASH office. Under supervision of theatre maker Joost Howard and Nina Willems, a theatrical night will be presented with crossover performances established and executed by young talents in Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts & Design (MAFAD) and The Maastricht Academy of Performing Arts. The entire evening is dedicated to the clash between disciplines in relation to ‘Senses’. In short, the start of FASHIONCLASH Festival 2017!

Bijschrift toevoegen

30 June up until 2 July - Fashion Makes Sense LAB
Friday 18:00 – 23:00 | Saturday 16:00 – 23:00 | Sunday 13:00 – 17:30 | Free entrance

The Fashion Makes Sense LAB is especially designed for this edition’s interactive lab with an exposition, designer market, performances, films, workshops and fashion talks. In relationship to the central theme ‘Fashion Makes Sense’ a curated selection of work will be exposed. Here you can explore the extraordinary installations and presentations of Pleun van Dijk, Floriane Misslin, Olle Lundin, M.A.F. van der Vloed, Jo Cope and Marlou Breuls. Furthermore there will be a live sewing studio by slowFASHIONfast from Bosnia and Herzegovina, presentation and workshop from Waag TextileLab and interactive performance by Mami Izumi and Iris Woutera. The designer market offers a unique experience where you can meet new designers and obtain one of a kind clothing, jewellery and accessories by LUDUS, LOV-S, Nous Avons, Soolista, JEN MM DSGN and many more. Sunday 2 July will be dedicated to dialogues and encounters; the Fashion Talks. Here the audience, designers and more will be debating about (Does) Fashion Makes Sense.


MAF van der Vloed photo Ekow Oliver

30 June & 1 July: Fashion Shows & Performances
Friday & Saturday shows at 19:00, 20:30 & 22:00.

Daria D'Ambrosio
photo Monia Merlo

Fashion Shows
The opportunity to embrace the collections of international fashion talent is at the shows. FASHIONCLASH Festival offers a stage for designers from the entire world including Allesandro Tricone from Italy, WUETRICHFUERST from Switzerland, NEO Design from Serbia Chain from Argentina, Rita Afonso from Portugal, Hocheol Moon from Germany and Ysabel Cloherty from Australia, Peer Cox from the Netherlands and many more. Friday evening (June 30) will include the MAFAD Show 2017 that will present graduation collections from the fashion students of MAFAD (Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts & Design). Before the party breaks loose, the Awards Show is going to take place, and the KALTBLUT Magazine Award and Chapeau Magazine Award will be handed out.

Perfomances & Performing Space
FASHIONCLASH is known for exciting crossover theatres, dance and music. This year everyone will be surprised with diverse performances like live music, performances by Couzin, a theatre performance by Lotte Milder and a special presentation of artist duo Les Deux Garçons. Furthermore, FASHIONCLASH approaches the space where the shows will take place as a ‘performing space’ this year, where designers can present their work and challenge designers to show their collection to the general audience.

SHI[R]T

Clash Project 1 July
Ever since the first edition of the festival, the Clash project has been presented. During this project ten non-fashion designers are challenged to create an artwork and exhibit it to the audience at the catwalk. Participants are designers like Aina Seerden, filmmaker Daniel van Hauten, artist Amy Whittle and designers Mandy Roos and Victoria Ledig. Explore this special dynamic between fashion and art and admire their avant-garde creations on Saturday evening.

Annika Kappner 'Future Petroleum performance' at Marres
photo Alwin Poiana

Other Events &Tours
During FASHIONCLASH, SAM-Decorfabriek is not the only active space. Ebby Port presents her newest collection on Saturday 1 July at the Van Eyck Academy. Here you can also discover the work of Van Eyck Academy’s participant Rosanne van Wijk. At Marres, Centre for Contemporary Culture you have the possibility to experience ‘Future Petroleum’ performance by Annika Kappner. The authentic Thiessen Wijnkoopers will serve as a stage where young design students from MAFAD are exhibiting their work. There will be tours which offer the unique opportunity to explore the fashion city of Maastricht.

Look at fashionclash.nl for the latest up-to-date information about the program, the designers and more.

Les Deux Garçons

Theme: Fashion Makes Sense

We live in a rapidly changing world where progress is accompanied by environmental pollution and ethical issues. The fashion world is a mighty billion industry, and like no other is able to create an illusion and seduce us humans and excite our senses. Today's fashion industry is a reflection of society with a strong focus on aesthetics. Our society approaches fashion as a purely visual phenomenon and doesn’t always see the nature of the interaction with the body (of the wearer), despite the fact that fashion is the most intimate form of art, as it is literally worn “on the body”! As a second skin, clothing also enables us to express ourselves and helps us make sense of the world.

How can we use fashion to truly connect with our body instead of being just a simple aesthetic of symbolic phenomenon? How can we (re)connect with ourselves and the world through fashion? How can fashion (designer & industry) nowadays truly connect with the body and human-being?

Jo Cope
photo Nigel Essex

With 'Sense' FASHIONCLASH puts the focus on the senses and the sensory experience of fashion in a world that dominate the visual sensations. With 'Fashion Makes Sense' we want to examine the relationship between fashion and the human body. Fashion as a means to connect yourself to the world and to enrich a bodily experience. The playful double meaning of 'Fashion Makes Sense’ also aims at stimulating designers, the industry and the public to think about the state of fashion industry. What is the importance and role of fashion in our society and how can fashion contribute to a better world and well-being?

Using the question “How Does Fashion Make Sense?” FASHIONCLASH wants to engage in a dialogue with the public (consumer-designer-industry-education), because we believe that no change will be possible without interacting with the public.

Campaign
Photography: Lonneke van der Palen | Costume: Pleun van Dijk | Graphic design: Studio Noto | Hair: Kevin Murphy | Models: Mami Izumi, Florian Myjer

About FASHIONCLASH Festival
Festival FASHIONCLASH Festival (FCF) is an initiative of the FASHIONCLASH Foundation and its artistic and managing directors Branko Popovic, Laurens Hamacher and Nawie Kuiper. FCF is an inspiring, international and interdisciplinary fashion festival that takes place in Maastricht (the Netherlands), that shows the art of fashion in the broadest sense of the word. The festival aims to provide a fertile platform where a new generation of designers and artists from various disciplines get the opportunity to present their work to a broad and diverse audience, (inter)national press and industry leaders. With themes, such as ‘Age/Art of Aging’ (FCF 2014), ‘Gender’ (FCF 2015), ‘Heritage’ (FCF 2016) and now ‘Fashion Makes Sense’ (FCF 2017) FASHIONCLASH creates narratives that rise above the superficial definition of the word ‘Fashion’. Since the first edition in 2009 more than 1,000 talents from 50 different countries and 6 continents have joined FASHIONCLASH Festival and were given the opportunity to show their talent and work. Some of their careers really took off from there!