DFA Nominee 2012: Anne de Grijff

She is one of the five designers nominated for a Dutch Fashion Award and Anne de Grijff (1978) might just become this year’s big winner. To freshen up everyone’s memory we’ve summarized what Anne de Grijff stands for. So you know just a bit of what to expect tonight in De Grote Kerk in The Hague.

Fashion label
Anne de Grijff, womenswear. Founded in 2008.

Signature
Lots of folding and pleating, subtle, minimalistic, mysterious. Anne: “My work is about perfection and imperfection, symmetry and a symmetry, revealing and dissembling.”

Short bio
Anne de Grijff graduated at AMFI in 2003. She interned at Alexander van Slobbe and G + N. Anne started off working for Mart Visser as an assistant designer and worked as a freelance designer for Claudia Sträter, Mexx and Turnover. She also lectured at fashion and styling academy Artemis and currently is a teacher at the fashion department of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy.

Quote
“I see clothes as a line, a line I love to redivide and suspend. I never know which direction it will go. Yet by deranging unexpected turns and shapes appear. That unforeseen and unpredictable part is the most appealing to me.”

Strengths
Though Anne is aware that as a fashion label she´s relatively new, she feels she´s right on track and therefore might just win one of the Dutch Fashion Awards. Anne: “In four years I have had a good focus and I´ve worked hard on getting where I want to be. I´ve invested in the quality of the product, network, productions and sales points, which all have been growing for the last two years. Concept/vision and communication are the main focus points of next year. I expect the collection to become stronger, with an extra menswear expansion.”

Plans
Anne: “Winning the Dutch Fashion Award would enable me to perfection my new Slow Forward collection and make some international steps with it. With Slow Forward I´m going to question the ´color´ black.”

Website
www.annedegrijff.com

DFA Nominee 2012: Mattijs van Bergen

Just a month ago Mattijs visited the beautiful city of Istanbul to present his latest collection. Tomorrow night he will show that same collection, named Proserpina, in The Hague. A new collection made out of ´old´fabrics and objects. But just before we enjoy his show in De Grote Kerk let´s fresh up our memory on Mattijs for a bit.

Fashion label
Mattijs, womenswear. Founded in 2008.

Signature
Colorful, feminine, with lots of pleats.

Short bio
After Mattijs van Bergen graduated at Artez he did an extra master at the Central Saint Martin College in London. In 2006 he won the Modern Femininity award. He was also nominated for the Harrods Award. Mattijs has showed his work during Amsterdam Fashion Week and has even presented his collections in London, Aruba and Istanbul. Mattijs designs his own accessories and has worked together with United Nude on different shoe designs, the most recent being The Harem shoe.

Collection
Friday night Mattijs will present his spring/summer 2013 collection named Proserpina. Mattijs: “The collection is about the changes we as people go through. Growth in life, the change of seasons. Proserpina, the goddess of the seasons and growth, was the starting point of this collection. It´s about girls wanting to become women and women who want to stay young. I always look for that dualism in my work.”

Clothes
When he began designing his collection Mattijs asked himself ´What is all that new actually worth?´. “I then decided to start creating clothes made out of fabrics and objects I have been collecting for a while. That patchwork of fabrics and ideas has made this collection the most personal I´ve made”, Mattijs explains.

Plans
Like all four other designers nominated for this year´s DFA´s Mattijs already has a bigger plan in case he´s lucky enough to win the big Dutch Fashion Award. Mattijs: “If I should win it would be an acknowledgment by the Dutch fashion industry for five years of hard work and building a name for myself. It would create international opportunities. I would use the money to improve my sales abroad. The price would help me participating in trade shows and together with an agent in Paris I should be able to give my sales that extra push it needs.”

Website
www.mattijsvanbergen.com

See some of Mattijs´ work below

 

 

 

 

 

 

DFA Nominee 2012: Hyun Yeu

Last year designer Hyun Yeu received the Dutch Fashion Incubator award during the DFA´s, which gave him the opportunity to sell his design in Dutch department store De Bijenkorf. This year he is nominated again and determined to win in order to expand his team and pursue an international career in fashion. Time to freshen up everyone´s memory and give a small impression of what we can expect coming Friday in The Hague.

Fashion label
Ado Les Scents, menswear. Founded in 2009.

Signature
High quality menswear with innovative shapes en fabrics.

Short bio
After graduating at the Gerrit Rietveld academy Hyun Yeu did an internship at Viktor & Rolf. He than founded his menswear label Ado Les Scents in 2009. That same year Yeu won the Frans Molenaar award (a 10.000 Euro money price) during the Amsterdam International Fashion Week. Last year Hyun Yeu also won the Dutch Fashion Incubator award durin the Dutch Fashion Awards. This summer it was announced Yeu is the new designer for Dutch fashion brand Gsus.

Quote
“My clothes may be artistic. As soon as they leave the work room it’s all about business.”

Collection
Friday night during the Dutch Fashion Award show Yeu will show his brand new collection for the very first time. “It´s named CLONES and it´s a story about identity,” says Yeu.

Plans
Yeu says he has been working very hard and of course hopes he will win Friday night´s big award. Yeu: “It´s time to grow internationally. If I win, I will use the money to set up a good team to grow further.”

DFA Nominee 2012: Marga Weimans

She is one of the five designers nominated for a Dutch Fashion Award and Marga Weimans (1978) might just become this year’s big winner. To freshen up everyone’s memory we’ve summarized what her fashion label stands for and asked her a few quick questions…

Fashion label
Marga Weimans (1970), womenswear.

Signature
Sculptural, experimental, fairytale-lile. With her designs Weimans pushes the boundaries of the fashion industry. She is interested in the combination of fashion and architecture. Her collections are very broad: from haute couture to pret a porter, including architectural showpieces and minimalistic dresses. She works with 3D perspectives and her designs include architectural materials like wood, iron and resin. She even creates her own fabrics by mixing fabric with fiberglass.

Short bio
Marga Weimans graduated at the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts. In 2005 her graduation collection The Power Of My Dreams won an I-D award. With this collection Marga was also nominated for the Design Prize Rotterdam. Since her successful graduation Weimans’ work is purchased by and exhibited at the Groninger Museum. Her collections were presented in two haute couture weeks in Paris and in several Dutch exhibitions.

Quote
“The best thing about designing clothes is coming up with new images and leading a team.”

Collection
Friday night Marga will present pieces from different archive collections. “I will show a selection of important pieces from several previous collections. In that way I want to show what my fashion label stands for. Together these pieces represent the Marga Weimans signature; innovative, ample couture pieces that are almost art and are formed by concepts and experiments”, says Marga.

Distinctiveness
So what has Marga Weimans to offer and why does she deserve one of those Dutch Fashion Awards? Marga: “With my work I try to contribute to the innovation and evolution of fashion. By looking for beauty in things that are usually described as ugly I hope others will see that beauty too. With a unique vision on fashion and a specific aesthetic and work method, by combining fashion with other disciplines like architecture and design, I think I can enrich fashion.”

Plans
And what are Marga’s plans if she indeed wins one of those DFA’s? Marga: “The money price would give a huge boost to our goal of reaching a bigger and more international audience. Besides couture I would love to focus more on prêt-a-porter too. It’s very interesting to investigate how the fashion industry operates and prêt-a-porter is an important part of that. Yet still I want to do this in my own very conceptual way.”

In another interview Marga said: “In ten years from now I would love to be the head of an international company. To achieve that I am now working on increasing my brand awareness en creating more wearable collections.” Let’s see if after Friday night those dreams are already coming a little bit closer for her. Good luck Marga!

Website
www.margaweimans.com

DFA Nominee 2012: Elsien Gringhuis

She is one of the five designer nominated for a Dutch Fashion Award and Elsien Gringhuis might just become this year’s big winner. To freshen up everyone’s memory we’ve summarized what Gringhuis stands for and asked her a few short questions.

Fashion label
Elsien Gringhuis, womenswear. Founded in 2009.

Signature
Clean, chic and architectural. Elsien uses unconventional shapes and makes them wearable in a minimalistic way.

Short bio
Elsien Gringhuis graduated in Fashion Design from the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem in 2008. Since then, she presented her collections during Amsterdam International Fashion Week. Elsien Gringhuis’ design principal is completely based on sustainability. Her choice of materials consists of hand dyed silks, bamboo, wool and cotton, all with a certified eco and/or fair trade label. In 2011 she won the first prize of The Green Fashion Competition for bringing the best businessplan in supporting biodiversity. Next to her high-end sales collection Elsien Gringhuis is momentarily working on a second, more affordable line called BASIC ONES.

Quote
“My challenge is to get the maximum out of the minimal.”

Collection
On Friday, during the Dutch Fashion Awards 2012, Elsien will present a mix of creations from her fall/winter 2013 and spring/summer 2013 collection. Elsien: “It’s a collection on transformation, dead as the start of new life and fall, which is sunny and optimistic yet also dark and heavy.”

Clothes
“All my models will be very covered up and many of the designs can be worn two ways or are multi functional. A long skirt, for instance, can be turned into a dress. I also developed patterns made out of a maximum of one or two pattern parts in order to waste as little as possible”, Elsien explains.

Plans
Elsien: “I have worked very hard to build the fundament of my company and I’ve invested in a good team. If I should win we´d like to start focusing on expanding Elsien Gringhuis abroad. Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Russia and Japan, we’re ready!”

Website
www.elsiengringhuis.com

All dressed up at the MBDFA 2009

Since it was storming outside and the red carpet was all up in the air, there were no good picture-moments during the arrival of the guests at the Mercedes Benz Dutch Fashion Awards last friday at the Grote Kerk in The Hague. So when everyone was inside and had modelled their hair and powdered their noses we took our chance and spotted some interesting guests in striking outfits.
It appeared Dutch design was well represented. While a few people wore outfits from upcoming designers, others wore clothes from well-known brands. Many women wore dresses by Klavers van Engelen, the winner of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Award 2007. The designs of Bas Kosters, one of the night’s nominees, were clearly present too.
Of course we asked everyone which nominated designer they thought should win. Although every designer was named a few times, Bas Kosters en Mada van Gaans seemed to be the favourites of the audience. Yet, unfortunately for them, the jury gets to decide who will win on this important Dutch fashion night.

And hopefully next year, we will spot men in the designs of Sjaak Hullekes, this years winner.

Tess van Daelen

Dutch Fashion Awards 2008 nominees

Dutch Fashion Awards 2008 nominees: van Benthum, Mada van Gaans, G+N, Monique van Heist, Joline Jolink and Jeroen van Tuyl.

Tribute to Percy Irausquin before the nominees’ shows

Previous years winners: Klavers & van Engelen

Mercedes Benz Dutch Fashion Awards 2012: Arrivals

Dressed their best the Dutch fashion crowd (by exception) moved from Amsterdam to The Hague last night. The occasion? For the sixth time the annual Dutch Fashion Award show took place in the Grote Kerk. Now you already know which designers were nominated and who won the big Mercedes Benz Dutch Fashion Award 2012. Yet what you haven’t seen, is who were there. And we can assure you we spotted quite a few very classy guests in front of our photo wall. Editors, buyers, actrices, writers all with two things in common: a passion for fashion and an impeccable sense of style. Click through our gallery below to see who attended the Dutch Fashion Awards and (even more exciting) how they interpreted this year’s dress code ‘simply gorgeous’.

Dutch Fashion Awards 2011 (part 2)

In half an hour the very first guests will arrive and the award show can start. We already spoke to the designers backstage, who all seem to be pretty nervous. Apparently the international judges gave them a hard time during their presentations. But let’s see that as a good sign, ‘ cause those Dutch Fashion Awards are not just handed out for fun, right?

Below you can find a preview of all the collections of the five Dutch designers.

Hyun Yeu, Ado Les Scents

Korean born and raised designer Hyun Yeu is, despite his first nomination, not nervous at all today. ,,Now it’s just waiting for the moment. I’m not really worrying, it comes when it comes.“ He might seem relaxed, but the designer is definitely aware of the other opponents. ,,It’s a presteges award and there are some strong designers nominated. But we’ll see what happens.” Tonight Yeu will show us what he has made so far for his menswear label ‘Ado les scent’, five years of Hyun Yeu, and a sneekpeak of his new collection for next season. He already showed the judges. ,,I had a tough time, they had some good points. I’m still learning.” Yet despite the critics, he’s still positive about tonight. ,,I’m just enjoying the moment.”

Joline Jolink

This year it’s different. I’m feeling more confident now”, tells nominee Joline Jolink, while she’s working backstage. For the second time the designer is nominated for a Dutch Fashion Award, and she feels great. ,,I have a good businessplan and my collection has been growing.” Showing her collection in front of the judges today was still a tough moment though. ,,At that moment I was definitely shaking (laughs). They were quite harsh for me, I must admit.” Tonight Joline will show us her new collection inspired by Jane Goodall, an English antropologist, who lived in the jungle, which we can see in her collection. ,,You will see a lot of jungle details and some poppy colours and cloudy details, which stands for the haze.” After a few weeks of hard work Jolink is a bit tired of all the tension, but no worries there for tonight. ,,When the show starts I will probably get a huge energy boost.”

Marcha Hüskes

Her designs are all about functionality and fit. She designed a few little black dresses with some funky details in gold and orange. They look simple and minimalistic, yet never boring. Marcha: “I mostly designs dresses, cause I think they’re a neverending source of inspiration.”

Conny Groenewegen

Conny not only designed clothes, she came up with a fabulous collection of shoes as well. The shoes, shown on the runway tonight, will be sold at several Sacha stores in the Netherlands from the 5th of November. Quite an accomplishment, we think. Conny’s designs are, like she says, very pure. She mixed sheer fabrics with heavy materials. But enough said, it’s showtime!

Erik Frenken, Avelon

While he’s busy getting his models ready for the rehearsal, there was still time to relax and laugh for Avelons Erik Frenken. ,,I’m feeling okay now. Showing the judges was a bit of a stressful moment, I mean, they’re not just somebody.” It was a tough moment standing there, he says. ,,At that moment you have to present your collection to so many people, it’s difficult to say everything right while you’re so stressed.” But Frenken is feeling confident and is not afraid to say he might win tonight. ,,About the award, we immediately tought: let’s do this. We’re at this point that we think we can make it internationally.” And what if he wins tonight… ,,There will be a huge party!” And what about the not so bad money prize attached to it? ,, Of course we will invest in our brand. For instance the interior of our shops. And we want to find a good PR- agency to promote our business.”