BRANKOPOPOVICBLOG: FASHIONCLASH Festival

Katharina Spitz & Manka Menga

For the 16th time, Maastricht was all about the art and culture of fashion with the annual FASHIONCLASH Festival. More than 100 designers and artists from more than 20 countries were given a platform to present their work to an international audience.

More than 100 young people are actively involved in Fashion Makes Sense, FASHIONCLASH's participation program, through workshops, co-creation projects or as performers. Spread over 13 locations there were exhibitions, performances, workshops, lectures, films, designer market, etc. Even the festival Afterparty was transformed into a showcase of fashion, dance, spoken word and celebration of the diversity of identity expression.

Opening Night @ Sint-Annakerk
The festival opened on Friday with the already memorable evening with the performance program (The CLASH House) at a very special location, namely the still consecrated St. Anne's Church in Maastricht. Under the guidance of Aya Noël, it was a memorable evening where the art of fashion brought reflection and emotion. With opening speeches by FASHIONCLASH directors Branko Popović and Els Petit-Carapiet, theatre director Noah Janssen and Wim Hillenaar, the Mayor of Maastricht.

During the opening, two performances were shown that were developed from the Amarte x FASHIONCLASH project. The first image of the opening was 'eight', the installation performance by Taiwanese drag artist and designer Naza Løtus and costume design duo The Nightmare Disorder. A performance that transforms costumes into narrative media, combining fashion and drag to create a unique blend of cultural stories and artistic expression. With 'I SEE YOU SEEING ME' by designer Katharina Spitz in collaboration with poet/artist Manka Menga, questions are asked about being a woman, the desire for rituals and the location of the physical body in space and time. Manka and Katharina are inspired by women who, through their resistance to societal norms, have earned a place in both the history books and in the hearts and minds of society.

The Sint-Annakerk location was a conceptual connection with and a preview of Heiligdomsvaart Maastricht (holy procession) for which FASHIONCLASH was asked for the main program of the precession in June 2025. Inspired by the theme of Heiligdomsvaart 2025 'Be a bridge builder', a catwalk was built over the altar in the shape of a bridge, metaphorical for the various bridges or clashes that FASHIONCLASH is building between fashion, people, disciplines and society.

The CLASH House @ Sint-Annakerk
The opening show of the 16th edition was dedicated to fashion performances with The CLASH House program, a showcase and development program for designers who focus on crossovers between fashion and other art disciplines - especially the performing arts. These designers explore alternative ways of making and presenting fashion. Participants, Megan van Engelen, Julia Burak, SHIFT Studio, brzkna and Paula Dischinger, received a coaching program in which they were supported by theater maker Nadîja Roza Broekhart and dancer and choreographer Laisvie Andrea Ochoa. Theater maker Giovanni Brand was responsible for the overall direction of the evening.

Danata Shaikenova from bzrkna presented with the performance DID I? an emotional journey through the fragmented landscape of personal experiences, where the body becomes both frame and fracture. In 'Berry', Megan van Engelen explores romanticized childhood memories through various fashion items and a blackberry bush that relate to a broken family. In addition to the performance, her fashion film Berry also premiered.
Under the name SHIFT studio, Ana Krgović explores the universal journey of personal transformation through five stages: life, pain, suffering, transformation and rebirth. Inspired by the philosophy of self-transformation, the performance “Pieces of You” explores how confronting and overcoming profound obstacles can lead to significant growth, self-discovery and ultimately wholeness. With Human Herd, Paula Dischinger asks whether man is a herd animal and translates this into everyday human performativity such as following each other, walking together, running and the individual versus the group. On Sunday morning the performance was repeated again in a public space setting where the group of performers moved like a flock of birds across Plein 1992.
Polish Julia Burak concluded the show with 'Ate and left no crumbs', a celebration of body diversity and a statement against prejudices about how overweight and obese people are perceived.

During this three-day festival, a new generation of designers and performing artists from all over the world are given the opportunity to show their work to a broad (inter)national audience. The program with exhibitions, performances, talks, workshops and fashion film screenings, showcases projects that explore, contextualize and celebrate contemporary fashion culture. FASHIONCLASH Festival is accessible to everyone through ticket sales and/or free.

SAVE THE DATE for the 17th edition, scheduled for the weekend of November 14 to 16, 2025.

Photography by Laura Knipsael and Ruben Hilkens.

www.fashionclash.nl