CLASS OF 2020
Class of 2020 presents a selection of graduation projects of several Dutch fashion & design academies. The selected projects are not a "best of", but a translation of the zeitgeist of this generation. During the digital edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival you will be guided through the Class of 2020 exhibition and during a Talk, moderated by Rolien Zonneveld, the graduates will be invited into a dialogue about graduating in times of a pandemic, their future plans and vision on fashion.
Atelier Josja Louise
HKU University of the Arts, Utrecht
Wognum, The Netherlands
Josja Feld takes the time to look, trying to understand and notice the things around her to find inspiration. The themes that she brings to the surface with her work mostly explore the relationship between humans and the environment. Not necessarily in an activist manner, but in a light-hearted way, with humor and a little wink.
In ‘FOCUS and find yours’ Josja uses her fascination for people that love to collect, to find deeper layers of their consuming behaviors. “I see goal-oriented collecting as a way of consuming, a strategy, to become more conscious about the way we purchase. I believe that you can only cherish certain things when you have discovered your personal collection. When you learned which physical things truly contribute to your happiness.”
Carolin Dieler
Maastricht Institute of Arts
Cologne, Germany
Carolin Dieler is a jewelry and accessories designer, based in Cologne, Germany. Her projects revolve around the connectivity between the ocean and humanity. This relation is looked at from different perspectives and translated into body-related objects. All pieces are hand modeled by Carolin in her studio in Cologne and cast through companies in Germany.
Our oceans are facing drastic changes according to scientific prognoses. Carolin’s collection ‘Sublime Devastation’ is exploring the history, contemporary development and future potential of the connection and disconnection between humanity and the ocean. The hypothesis is, that mankind might be able to reconnect with nature through a sublime experience. A sublime experience is not something that can be created, but which one has to stand open for to perceive. However, one can help sharpen other’s minds to realize encountering these sublime moments. If humanity would reconnect with the ocean and win back an understanding on how dependent we are on marine ecosystem services, the value and respect for the sea would rise.
Charlotte Simons
Design Academy Eindhoven
Roggel, The Netherlands
Charlotte Simons is a conceptual designer with an expertise and interest in costume, styling and concept design. She always seeks to approach concepts in ways that reshape the expected, push the envelope and are stylized in a young, fresh and quirky way. Charlotte sets herself apart in her way of translating an idea with a recognizable style filled with vibrant color, preferably heavily inspired by Japanese anime and pop culture, topped with a sense of humor.
‘Polygons Are The Weft of The Weave’ is a short film in which the merging of digital and tactile clothes is explored in a setting to what could be a close future. Digitalized garments and shapes appear and move around the body, creating a new silhouette. Charlotte Simons, both the designer and the model, imagines her future digital alter ego, showcasing her newest collection of fashion plugins.
Hanakin Henriksson
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Stockholm, Sweden
Hanakin Henriksson is a clothing and jewellery designer based in Stockholm, Sweden. She works exclusively in repurposed fabrics and sources most of her materials during trips to the Swedish countryside. Her work is a protest against newness as a definition of beauty.
The collection ‘Livstecken’ an introspective collection, focusing on the wearer and their interaction with the garments. With fabrics, sourced from her home province in southern Sweden and dyed with spices and wine, she represents a luxury of the soul, aiming to increase a sense of quotidian pleasure through the beauty of their history: a fading print, incarnate memories, proof of experience, smells from the past, textures reminding of the earth.
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Photo: Jakob Sköte
Hailey Kim
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
The Hague, The Netherlands
Hailey Kim grew up in South Korea under the patriarchal system. Throughout her childhood, she experienced gender discrimination, as the older generations preferred to have sons over daughters. “I have always wondered why girls cannot be treated the same way boys are treated. My childhood experiences triggered me to research the life of the older generations in South Korea, and in particular the role of women in the patriarchal society. I want to show how independent and strong women are.”
Hailey’s collection is inspired by independent women, based on childhood memories and the story of her grandmother. An important source of inspiration, are the Haenyeo: female Korean sea divers, who represent the strong and independent women in South Korea. In contrast to the situation in the ordinary Korean family, the Haenyeo is the head of the household. She leads and controls the family, with strong authority. The bright colors in Hailey’s collection are inspired by her grandmother, a very strong and hard-working lady who raised 6 children by herself, who liked to wear a flower-patterned dress of kitsch colors. “This collection is a tribute to my grandmother and a celebration of the Haenyeo”
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Photo: Laura Luca
IdanGrady
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Idan Grady is an Israel born creative future thinker currently based in Amsterdam. In the last 6 years, he has lived as a creative gipsy on 4 continents and was constantly on the move: from a combat and commander of warfare at the K-9 unit of the IDF to a creative mind that goes across multi-disciplines.
According to Idan, it is time to decentralize the most powerful tool of the 21st century: knowledge. Starting from his own experience, Idan strived to find a link between his DNA to his PTSD. How did his DNA change after The War? During the research, Idan was exposed to a major development humanity will be facing in the near future: DNA Editing. “We are coming to a point in which humans are being looked at as a biological algorithm that will be programmed. The line between treating diseases and making a superhuman is blurred. Due to a lack of discussion, people need to be aware of this development and help to shape the future. Decisions that are being taken in the lab will have an evolutionary effect, and it is time to include more people in the discussion. Riding a scientific paper could be a frustrating journey and I am here to bridge the gap. Telling the story of my evolution, and CONSCIOUSLY editing the DNA of the body where my evolution began: Han Jones, Gaza Stript 2014.”
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Website
Photo: Lonneke van der Palen
Ilse Kremer
Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Ilse Kremer is a fashion & textile designer who doesn’t believe in fast fashion, nor mass production. Sustainability is an important aspect of Ilse’s work, as she loves to work with recycling and, being obsessed with color, natural dyeing methods.
‘FABULOUS FUNGI’ focusses on one of the major problems in the current fashion industry: water pollution. Fungi are a promising source to reduce the use of harmful textile dyes. There are different fungal species that create pigments which can be used for textile dyeing. After identifying methods on growing fungi and extracting the pigments, Ilse created fungal dye in cooperation with Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute. As fungal pigments react differently on various kinds of fabrics, Ilse utilized these effects to create prints. As an inspiration for these prints she observed the chemical structures of the fungal pigments used for the dye.
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Josephine Malcorps
Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI)
Amersfoort, The Netherlands
The signature of Josephine Malcorps is based on Norwegian culture combined with influences of today’s society and diversity of events. “I have always been influenced by the past, which makes me feel nostalgic and with a longing to escape to. I am a sensitive person, which results in being highly emotionally devoted to the story and the creations. I create pieces that are crafted to the smallest detail. Nature and Norway go hand in hand, and for me it is very important to always create a conscious collection. This combination turns into a contemporary outcome with technical tailoring aspects, folklore influences and couture finishes”.
‘In solitude she dwells’ is a story about today’s melancholia which results in to a longing for nostalgia. In this story Josephine Malcorps uses metaphors for today’s society such as the fast-changing world around us. “It’s about a girl who lives in her abandoned family home, left behind with only antique curtains and the family portraits on the walls. Each day she looks outside the window and sees the seasons change. She is longing for spring each winter, but by covering herself with the curtains she steps outside and serenity fills her by seeing beauty in the bleak setting.”
Instagram
Photo: Chavez van den Born
Katja R.
Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Imagine a time when there were no computers, no artificial intelligence, no forced labor. A time when you needed to do everything by yourself. There was only you and all the time in the world. Would you do things differently?
Life is a long journey between different stages: birth, youth, marriage, motherhood, aging, and death. ‘The dowry of Katja R. consists out of mental and physical luggage that she has prepared and will take with her. “I am ready for everything.”
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Photo: Sonia Perdeck
Lara Warson
Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam
Dilsen-Stokkem, Belgium
“My perspective on fashion has changed a lot in the past couple of years. The more I found out about the environmental impact it has, the more I started doubting if I even wanted to contribute to this industry. By exploring the opportunities within sustainable thinking, I realized it doesn’t need to be a creative restriction for designers.”
The new circumstances of the past months (due to COVID-19 red.) made Lara Warson look at her near surroundings from a new perspective. She started collecting forgotten objects around the house and attached them to a mannequin to create new silhouettes. When upcycling with objects, each one contains symbolic associations depending on societal values, time, culture, etc. Because of the significant role the fashion industry plays in the cause of climate change, Lara selected objects that relate to climate activists or eco-warriors. Representing activists against global warming, deforestation, air pollution, the rising sea level and a human barricade.
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Photo: Toon Aerts
LINN
Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam
Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands
Linn Alleman has always had a big fascination about clothing. Not seeing it as the norm to wear it, but as an extension to freely express your identity as a person.
The collection ‘The closer one looks, the more clear it becomes’ is inspired by five different similarities in both Dutch and Indonesian folkloric clothing. “Being partly Dutch and partly Indonesian made me always feel “in-between” different heritages. Finding similarities in folkloric garments felt as a relief. It showed me a physical form that immediately expressed and connected something that felt so distant from each other.” LINN found a new way to connect with both her Dutch and Indonesian heritage. By focusing one the similarities and putting them in a more modern design, they become a visual synonym to display the connection between different cultures, but also to express it at the same time.
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Photo: Iris Hoek
Studio Mus Ruijg
HKU University of the Arts, Utrecht
Utrecht, The Netherlands
Mus Ruijg describes herself as a hybrid designer who strives to move between various disciplines and show what can happen when they are combined. What are the boundaries and how do they look like? By doing so, she creates the opportunity to extend her fashion expertise, explore different techniques and discover new meanings and solutions. It’s Mus’ urge to question everything we do and not simply accept the things for what they are, symbolizing herself and her work.
Out of great love of everything we surround ourselves with, Mus tries to draw new attention to the things we already have. In a world filled with 'stuff', we easily overlook the value of the simplest things. She believes you deserve to take a moment and see how these quiet objects around you come to life. In ‘STIL EVEN’ Mus takes you with her in a world where daily objects, can be re-experienced. “By placing them in a different context and treating them with care, I hope you will look with a different view at the things you thought you knew.”
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Photo: Jelle Raap
All content produced as part of the digital edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival is created in an environment where all applicable COVID-19 measures have been strictly observed