BRANKOPOPOVICBLOG: Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2023

The annual fashion show of the fashion department of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy took place on Friday 23 June in Amsterdam. Students from the whole fashion department showed their work. In the reception area there were installations and films by a number of first and second year students.

In the show room there were a number of chairs placed on the catwalk with models already seated and waiting. These were from Bepa Vera Lelie's graduation project The Waiting Room. Then the show started with a dynamic presentation from the first and second year students; in both years interesting proposals as well as early experiments.

Eventually, it was the turn of the graduates, and The Waiting Room collection by Bepa came to life. This was followed by an outfit inspired by strawberry, a heart-shaped top, and a number of other creations with which Sophie Huizinga investigated the role of food in fashion and, in particular, the tension between the two.
Fleur van Heezik created a surrealistic world of her own with both costumes and sets, taking the audience into a cinematographic world linked to her childhood and the 1970s vintage children's TV shows. The well-made costumes and set pieces were literally wheeled onto the catwalk. Part of her project is also a film for which these were the set pieces. Tom Huijben was also inspired by his growing up, but in a different way, he researched what it was like to grow up on a farm in the south of the Netherlands, which in his own words was 'an alienating experience' even before he knew he was queer.
With the project 'Does the Michelin Man Eat Burek?' Emma Milicevic explored the complexities of a bi-cultural identity and how pop culture influences our memories and thus creates a sense of belonging. Ruben Janssen's project is an investigation into evolution, examined through the prisms of biology, computation and a poetic personal story; on a smaller scale, the idea of family is placed as a microscopic fractal image. Hanne Haug Johne mixed queers from past and present with trolls from Norwegian folklore in a performance in which costumes, fashion and vocal improvisation represent a space between reality and fiction.

Collection by Jakob Hodel is a tapestry that attempts to reveal and document our modern version of the medieval tournament: football. In particular, the Bayeux tapestry, which tells the story of a holy war and mixes it with ancient Greek fables, served as inspiration.

The show showcased a diverse palette of projects exploring the role of fashion in the broadest sense of the word. Mostly performative presentations were strong in pronunciation and effective in their performance. The projects are personal, questioning, materially and immaterially driven and innovative in the respectful connection between tradition and innovation.

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