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

Sjaak Hullekes wins Dutch Fashion Award 2009

Sjaak Hullekes won this years Mercedes Benz Dutch Fashion Award, and received a price of € 25.000,- to extend his brand. Last friday the third edition of the MBDFA took place. After being held in Amsterdam twice, for this edition the Dutch fashionscene was gathered in The Hague.

For these annual award five Dutch designers were chosen by an international jury. Bas Kosters, Iris van Herpen, Mada van Gaans, Sjaak Hullekes en Jeroen van Tuyl were all nominated for their distinctive designer style.

The most important award of the evening is the Mercedes Benz Fashion Award. It goes to the designer who is most likely to succeed on an international level.

On the night of the awards Sjaak showed an enlarged version of his summer collection, called Oscar. Backstage before the show he told Team Peter Stigter: ‘The Fashion Awards are something I look forward to every year. Winning an award on this special night is really a great way to get noticed on a national and international level. It’s a great boost for your label and your career.’

Sjaak thinks he won the award because he distinguishes himself in the use of fabric. ‘I use natural materials, light fabrics like silk or linen. These are materials you usually wouldn’t expect for a menswear collection. My tailoring and the many details I use in my designs are aspects that mark me off as a designer too.’

Apart from his way of designing Sjaak also stands out because of the niche market he designs for. ‘In Holland everything always has to be favoured by the crowd. I’m glad I design for a special group of intelligent, classic, sensitive men unafraid to address their feminine side.’

The money-prize Sjaak won will be invested in his label. ‘We will continue doing what we were doing. We can use the money to maintain the status we reached. We also want to explore the new vision we have on men.’

Sjaak thinks he will be successful in Japan, America, Italy and France. In time he wants to build a strong and independent fashion label. We wish him all the best.

Tess van Daelen

Trends ss2010: new basics

You could consider a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt as everlasting basics. However, even basics change a little bit every year.

A few seasons ago some slim fit pants were indispensable. For next summer a pair of wide-legged beige pants, a straightforward skirt, a loose-fitting jacket and a long cardigan are the season’s must haves. We saw many of these items at Stella McCartney’s show.

What’s so great about these clothes? You can easily mix them with the rest of your wardrobe. Especially the beige pants can go well with almost every color. The jackets and cardigans can be worn in a masculine way but with a waistbelt they will look very ladylike. We could see this combination in many shows.

The MaxMara, Chloé and Tommy Hilfiger fashion shows all had some great basics with which you can make endless variations.

Tess van Daelen

Trends ss2010: black & white

Although you might expect bright colors for the summer-season, many designers chose black and white as their main colors. There were lots of outfits in full black or white, but also good combinations as well.

Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester and the two Japanese designers Yohji Yamamoto and Junya Watanabe didn’t use any color in their shows at all. Their designs were all in black, white and some hues of grey. Rick Owens’ designs stood out because they were very pointy. Watanabe’s clothes had black and white checks that matched with the checked shoes.

Givenchy showed some black and white in his renewing geometricaly shaped outfits. Jill Stuart made a few pairs of extraordinary black and white leggings. At the Moschino fashion show modern white blouses were mixed with black bows.

(Tess van Daelen)

Trends ss2010: step by step

For some models walking the runway was a tough job in the past fashion weeks. Of course the shoes were to blame. Not only were they high as ever, they also had the craziest shapes. They seemd somewhat inspired by clogs and that made them look rather clumsy. The most outstanding examples of this ‘clog-shoe’ were those of Alexander McQueen. He showed some great fashion forward ones, which were no less than twelve inches high. With reptile prints they looked futuristic and animalistic at the same time. Passing by to the beat of Lady Gaga’s new song they indeed looked rather Gaga to us. Yet they might become a huge hit. At least McQueen wasn’t the only designer with clog-shoes in his show. Celine, Dior, DSquared, Givenchy, Bottega Veneta and Ferré showed some clog-variations as well. And not to forget Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Their Swedish clog-like shoes will probably become the most copied of all next spring. (Tess van Daelen)

Trends ss2010: shoulders up!

A few seasons on the runway shoulderpads now definitely hit the stores. While the crowd is taking over this trend, great designers are exaggerating their focus on shoulders and having fun with it. Their pointy or extremely round shoulders are lifted, thickened, adorned and made visible through transparent fabrics. At Balmain’s show the shoulders were still the main aspect of the collection. For 2010 Christophe Decarnin added some fringes on his military jackets for Balmain. The shoulders at the Comme des Garcons show were purposely put in all the wrong places (at the models’ breasts or backs). The brand thus made fun of the whole shoulderpad-trend. The actual shoulderpads were visible through the sheer designs of Jean Paul Gaultier, Viktor & Rolf and Sonia Rykiel. What type of shoulder will they come up with next season? (Tess van Daelen)

Trends ss2010: Eyecatching sportswear

Next spring will be great fun for the sporty types. A number of brands introduced some remarkable sportswear. Eyecatching were the pieces Asish showed during London Fashion Week. Most of the sportswear he came up with was sequined from the bottom to the top. What a great way to distract your opponents at the footballfield! The sequins formed the image of a football and that of Mona Lisa. The Nike slogan ‘Just do it’ also appeared  in sequins. At the fashion show for Hermès the runway was changed into a tenniscourt. The models wore classic sportswear in blue or red with white lines. Those lines seemed to be the new element in sportswear since Marc Jacobs, Bottega Veneta and Lacoste used them too. Alexander Wang showed some great (‘timeless’, as he calls it himself) sportswear. His grey sweater with brown suede shoulders looked refreshing. Most designers completed their looks with a sporty headband or a cap. Playing sports was never this much fun! (Tess van Daelen)

Trends ss2010: denim never goes out of style

Jeans are one of the few things in fashion that never go out of style. On the contrary other denim outfits seem to come and go every few years. For the coming season several brands carefully introduced a few denim designs. We  saw denim blouses, skirts and dungarees. At Jean Paul Gaultier  streetwise models wore darkblue denim overalls. The designs were immediately recognizable as JPG’s because of the cone-bra details he added. Dolce & Gabbana used denim in both their collections. At the D&G western inspired show denim was mixed with white, beige or brown  in almost every look. Pieces of lace or leather were stitched at the  designs. For her first collection for Twenty8Twelve Sienna Miller also created some denim blouses and tough-looking sleeveless denim motorjackets with frayed ends. Hannah MacGibbon designed exactly one denim look for Chloé. It didn’t match any of the other outfits from the show, but she came up with it at the right time. (Tess van Daelen)

Trends ss2010: his is hers

The boyfriend jackets have been around for a while and looking at the SS2010 collections they’ll be staying a bit longer. Unisex clothes like loose-fitting jackets, blouses, gilets and pants were spotted in many fashion shows. Brands like Chloé, Etro and Ralph Lauren seemed to have unisex as a total theme in their show. Not to mention Lacoste, which always has a lot of his&hers items in its show. Chloé’s unisex designs looked rather stiff and sober and didn’t look like  women’s clothes at all. Although the items were all very wide and masculine, some of them had little feminine details. A few ruffles, sequins, belts, round collars, small legs and tucked up sleeves made the outfits very wearable.. At D&G the girls wore a small scarf to soften their looks. Cavalli combined some floaty floral blouses with wide pants and long jackets. Veronica Etro used light shades to make her designs appropriate for women. The designers showed that with the right approach even a man’s suit can look super-sexy. (Tess van Daelen)

Streetfashion Toronto ss2010 #4

The shows are not over yet. After New York, Milan and Paris we were curious what you would wear during Toronto Fashion Week. Our streetwear-photographer Jon Loek – based in Toronto – caught the streetvibe and spotted the fashionable and young in Canada’s most trendy city. Fashion and style are everywhere, we don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy looking at you and what you wear….

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