THE JOYFUL BODY
On Wednesday the 23rd of October, FASHIONCLASH hosted a talk about the relation between the human body and fashion in collaboration with ‘The Body Collective’ during the ‘Dutch Design Days’ in Eindhoven. The talk was part of ‘The Body Project’ which focusses on highlighting the changing perspectives of the human body and what this might mean for the future (post-human) body. The talk included interviewees Dirk Vaessen (Atelier Dirk Vaessen), Anouk van Klaveren (Anouk van Klaveren & co-founder of collective Das Leben am Haverkamp) and Marlou Breuls (House Of Rubber). The talk was moderated by Aya Noël.
Aya opened the talk with the idea of the so called ‘ignored body’, which refers to body types that are, still, rejected by the fashion industry. As a result, when someone does not fit the standard, they hardly welcome in the industry. Moreover, Aya explains that she feels that models have become like clothing hangers, people wearing clothes with their bodies erased. She proceeds to ask the interviewees about how education might influence the essence of the body in fashion.
Anouk tells us about creating garments in art school: “In classical shape, less than 10% of students would fit in garments”. Not only does education adhere to classical borders, it is also able to kill the joy in creating your own work. The panel elaborate on what helped them overcome the classic fashion standards. All three agree on the fact that working with joy is the biggest attribute in doing so. Dirk shares that his joy was often diminished by pressure from his teachers in art school, they would go as far as stealing his ideas. This would diminish his ideas and ego. However, Dirk managed to turn defeat into motivation as these struggles inspired him to extremize his ideas. Marlou refers to internships as her greatest joy killer: “Internships made me feel like squeezed lemons”. She quickly realised that as much as you want to change the system you want to be part of, it costs time before there is room to do so: “Patience is key”, long working hours and losing sleep are simply part of the business.
Both Dirk and Marlou stress that the essence of fashion should be what is fun, instead of what is trendy. Both of them get joy from their work by engaging with their audience in different ways.
Marlou’s pieces are inspired by bodily movements, and are open for individual inspiration. To create interactive experiences, she aims to create spaces where audience can touch the garments and actually feel the material. Dirk gets joy from looking at what his audience feels when they view his pieces. He wants his work to initiate different emotions with different people, ranging from uncomfortability to imitation and awe. Such a wide spectrum of emotions offers an identifiable connection in his work for different individuals. An example of this is are his stilt designs (which were also used for the 2024 FASHIONCLASH Festival campaign). People with a leg disability found themselves identifying with the strangeness and uncomfortability of seeing how people walk in them. Anouk feels that her joy is mostly found when letting go of financial gain: “Projects that absorb me are never the ones that bring in the money”, she says. She elaborates by saying that her joy is killed by having to calculate time and price value. She feels that she is restricted when she has to apply this calculation onto others.
The end of the talk consists of a round of audience questions. A younger female audience member asks advice on how to juggle the financial side of being a student and a growing artist at the same time. Looking back on her own experiences, Anouk explains the importance of doing projects that do not completely absorb your creative energy. As a result, you can be left with enough energy to do jobs that ensure financial stability. To close it all off, Aya asks the audience to share a piece of art or clothing that has been giving them a joyful experience. Impacted by shyness or blackouts, a pretty long silence follows which Aya intentionally does not interfere with until a male audience member speaks up. He talks about his experience with wearing high heels, and how it makes him feel empowered as wearing them lifts him from the ground. Maybe in the end that is the reminder of what fashion is about, finding out what uplifts you and your life, literally or figuratively.
written by Jules Grooten
