BRANKOPOPOVICBLOG: Highlights 11th FASHIONCLASH Festival

TVDB

FASHIONCLASH presented 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 theatre and dance performances and more. There were many memorable moments such as the impressive show by Tom Van der Borght, thoughts provoking Fashion & Politcs Talk, intimate performances at Marres and imaginative exhibition New Fashion Narratives at Bureau Europa. But there was much more for everyone.

And the winners are…
The fashion show program was festively concluded with the presentation of eight prizes.
1 Fashion Makes Sense Award 2019 - Public award, prize of (€1000,-!)
Winner: Iris van Wees

2 Fashion Makes Sense Award 2019 - Jury award, ( €2.500,-)
Winner: GARCIABELLO
Honorable mention: Elke Lutgerink
Fashion Makes Sense Award jury: John de Greef, Emy Demkes, Marlo Saalmink and Sjaak Hullekes

Teun Seuren, winner Public Award NextLevel Show

3 FASHIONCLASH Festival Talent Award 2019 (€ 1.500,-)
Winner: TVDB (Tom Van der Borght)

FCF 2019 Award jury: Alberto Caselli Manzini (editor-in-chief Collezioni Sports & Street Magazine), Martien Mellema (creative director / founder Vogue Netherlands), Phillippe Pourhashemi (ASVOF, Fucking Young Magazine, Behind the Blinds), Martyn Roberts (creative director at Fashion Scout), Marcel Schultt (editor-in-chief Kaltblut Magazine)

4 Chapeau Magazine Talent Award 2019
Winner: Max Niereisel
5 NextGen - Public award (€ 500,-)
Winner: Chiron Floris
6 Clash - Public award (€ 500,-)
Winner: TVDB (Tom Van der Borght)
7 NextLevel - Public award (€ 500,-)
Winner: TEUN (Teun Seuren)
8 Body Alumni - Public award, powered by Fashion House project (€ 500,-)
Winner: Michelle Cornelissen

Tom Van der Borght, winner Public Award Clash Show and FASHIONCLASH Festival 2019 talent award

Teun

PROGRAM

FASHION SHOWS
1 + 2 November, SAM-Decorfabriek

Fabio Bigondi

On Friday, November 1, the festival was officially opened with the Dress to Protest performance. For this performance, the students of the Maastricht Theater Academy were inspired by outfits made by 180 young people from the region.

The show program that followed in the evening consisted of a five show blocks consisting of multiple designers: NextGen, Clash, NextLevel, BODY ALUMNI and Partner & Awards show.

The Fashion Show program is a great possibility to discover the latest fashion talent from around the world. This year, the festival once again offers a stage to fashion designers such as Bruna Ignatowska from Brazil, Fabio Bigondi from Italy, ANNJOY from Germany, Marie Lamberechts from Belgium and Annais Yurca Mancilla from Peru. Dutch design talent was also well represented with Maastricht based Chiron Floris, Carlijn Veurink, Berend Brus, Ode Aan Oma, Roos Boshart Prins and TEUN, who impressed with his new collection.

Bumagn

Carlijn Veurink

Marie Lamberechts

Furthermore, in the program is the Clash show block, that also contained the presentation of the CLASH Project that was specially initiated for the festival. For this project, a number of non-fashion designers have been asked to translate their vision of fashion into a fashion outfit. Participants included the designers Arvid & Marie, theatre and dance maker Igor Vrebac, conceptual designer Siba Sahabi and product designers Hanneke & Tosca who sent a washing machine on the catwalk.

Clash Project 2019

The show programme was concluded with the Partners & Awards show, where designers from the collaboration partners such as ModaLisboa and Czech Centre are shown. In this show there was a special performance where fashion and opera will clash and costumes from the Fantasio (Opera Zuid) are shown, accompanied by a live performance by the soprano Kristina Bitenc. Fantasio is a romantic comedy by Jacques Offenbach, the grandmaster of comic opera. Costumes for the fools were designed by four fashion designers Ferry Schiffelers, Teun Seuren, Dusty Thomas and Maarten Van Mulken.

Opera Zuid with live performance by Kristina Bitenc

THE ROUTE
various locations in Maastricht

A large part of the program of the FASHIONCLASH Festival 2019 took place in the city center of Maastricht under the name The Route, with the Sphinxkwartier as the beating heart of it. The Route's program consists of exhibitions, performances, fashion talks and workshops. For example, fashion designers Ebby Port and Henkjenz showed their latest collections at The Student Hotel and at Mosae Forum London based collective Peut-Porter presented an interactive installation. The program was largely free and accessible to a wide audience.

Henkjenz show at The Student Hotel

EXHIBITIONS

One of the highlights during this edition was the New Fashion Narratives exhibition at Bureau Europa. The fashion designers who are central to this exhibition take fashion as their mission. They belong to a generation of designers who explore the limits of their discipline and question the system and the fashion industry. With their works they move between the transdisciplinary domains of fashion, social design, visual arts and always work with the ultimate user/consumer. Participating designers include NOIJ, Esra Copur, Das Leben am Haverkamp, Linda Valkeman and The Fabricant.

At the Bijenkorf, the multidisciplinary exhibition Showpieces showcased the most precious and / or outspoken pieces from the collection of designers such as Jo Cope, Haesung Bong, Melissa Valdes, Sophie Wantia, Bumagn, Natascha Wanvestraut and Jimmy Junichi Sugiura.

Showpieces at the Bijenkorf, photo Mare Kuzmanovski

The Class of 2019 exhibition was shown at Lumiere Cinema. With the help of the scouts Nina Willems, Marlou Breuls and SCHUELLER DE WAAL, a selection has been made of a number of works from all academies. It was not a "best of" but a translation of the spirit of the times of the 2019 generation such as Kevin Pleiter, Shannen Bijkersma and Nina Dekker.

photo Mare Kuzmanovski

PERFORMANCES

FASHIONCLASH is known for its crossovers with theater and dance. For this edition there were again a number of performances on the program such as the show "Rage Against the Dying of the Light" by House of Confetti (Irene Heldens and Dario Tortorelli). The entire Marres building was taken over during the festival by young theater makers such as Anthony van Gog and Wieke van Rosmalen and students from the Maastricht Theater Academy.
Hendrik Kegels presented his ‘In a Galaxy Far Far Away’ performance Saturday night during the Show program. For this performance he bundled the lyrics of all 269 songs from David Bowie and turned it into his own personal bible. The audience was taken on a nocturnal space trip. A journey full of planets and stars, shaped by a whirlwind of words, synths and beats.

Wieke van Rosmalen, photo Mare Kuzmanovski

MASTERCLASSES & TALKS
During the Fashion & Politics Talk, moderated by Stephanie Afrifa, there was a talk about the relationship between fashion and politics and how both influence each other. Speakers included Dr. Dr. Bibi Straatman (Director of research Being Political in Art and Design and teacher of artistic research methods), Dr. Angela Janssen (Research Collective for Decolonization Fashion), Peter Paul Kleinlooh (Political Catwalk) and i-Arts Maastricht who have done research specifically for the talk theme. At the Class of 2019 Talk, moderated by Rachid Naas, the scouts discussed their findings about the graduation projects.

Furthermore, three Master Bed Talks took place at The Student Hotel. In this "In bed with the master" concept, the masters Gaspard Yurkievich, Sruli Recht Barbara Langendijk & Noon Passama were interviewed by another professional.

www.fashionclash.nl

Catwalk photography: Pasarella Photography, The Route: Mare Kuzmanovski