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

Streetwear Trend: Touch Base

Every season sportswear is one of the big influences in fashion. And this year designers seemed inspired by baseball. The signature high school jackets not only popped up on the international runways (Alexander Wang, Dsquared, Opening Ceremony), there were as big a hit in the streets. Now of course you can go all preppy with the baseball jacket, yet the trick is to turn it into something grown up, feminine and surprising. Like pairing it with a little black dress or wearing it on top of a tight pencil skirt. Wear it oversize (steal your boyfriend’s) and show some leg to pull this sporty look off. Perhaps add one of those cool caps we’ve been seeing a lot? Looking sporty without hitting the gym. It’s so easy.

 

Streetstyle Trend: Rise of the Oversize

Designers weren´t exactly thrifty with their fabrics this season. Huge, oversize pieces were presented onto the runway and made their way into the streets. Loose sweaters, coats and pants were all true streetstyle hits.
Now don´t think the ladies sporting this trend were size XXL themselves. No, the tiniest frames were hidden from under those creations. Skinny legs popped up from under those big coats and waists were accentuated in the wide legged pants.
Looking larger than life was never this cool. Plus, you´re chances of getting noticed in the streets are.. tripled!

Streetstyle Trend: Cool Caps

 

Forget those New York Yankees ones; the most popular caps of this season were made by top designers. Kenzo not only scored a bit hit with it’s tiger jumpers; their caps brought in a big bulk of cash as well. But during fashion week you couldn’t go wrong with one of these Chanel and Burberry caps either. Want to start easy on this sportive trend? Pick a simple black leather one that matches well with just about any look. Perfect for covering up your bad hair day and perhaps even hide that short night of sleep. Add a pair of slick sunnies and you’ll look as streetwise as they get.

Festimode Casablanca Fashion Week 2012, Day 3

The third and last day of FCFW was a full evening again, with three designers showing their collections: Noureddine Amir, Ghitta Laskrouif and Hatice Gökce.

As a child Noureddine Amir dreamed about being a couturier. But he became more than that. Because he doesn’t want to obey to the laws of fashion – by presenting a collection every season plus following the trends – he starts designing theater and film-costumes and mixes his creations with installations. He’d rather be an artist without boundaries. He admires Issey Miyake, and it shows in his collections which are sculptures almost made of raffia, linen or wool.

Ghitta Laskrouif presented her first collection at FCFW in 2007 under the label Mozarabe. This edition she introduces her latest project G. She is fascinated by movement and music and therefor participates regularly with modern dancers and performers. She also likes to play and experiment with different materials, nowadays she focuses on more fabrics with an ecological origin. Her silhouettes are simple and architectural.

Hatice Gökce is originally from Turkey and she designs mens and womenswear. She is known for her experimental design and use of innovative fabrics. She is also the founder and board member of Fashion Designers Association (MTD) in addition to her active roles in all kinds of civil society and social activities. Gökçe has undersigned many achievements on her avant-garde designs and extraordinary activities both in Turkey and abroad.

 

Inside the Medina, Casablanca

Team-member Peter and Jon went inside the Medina in Casablanca and made a small reportage about it.

Festimode Casablanca Fashion Week 2012, Day 2

The second day of FCFW was sreserved for three designers: Siham Sara Chraibi, Paolo Errico and Said Mahrouf. Three different designers with their own signature. Siham Sara Chraibi studied architecture in Rabat and architecture& philosophy in Paris. But since she is also passionate about fashion and couture she deceided to start her won fashionhouse. Her style is sober and pure with contructed and graphic lines but always influenced by decorative arts and historic costumes.

Said Mahrouf lived in Amsterdam for a long time and focused his work on designing costumes for site-specific performances. But eventually his love for fashion made him design ready to wear again. His fashion-collections are an ode to femininity and elegance. The soft, sensual lines of his designs truly come to life on a female body. And his clientele in Casablanca loves it. Said Mahrouf returned  to Casablanca in 2010 definitely. In his atelier he designs and sells ready to wear de luxe.

Paolo Errico is originally from Milan, Italy. He began his career at Calvin Klein, Versace and Roberto Cavalli. Since 2004 he runs his own fashion-house.  Paolo’s inspiration and reference point are architecture and design. His technique involved using primordial geometric shapes and combining them with the human body to produce timeless fashion. The result creates a multi-dimensional effect of innovation, dynamism and sensual elegance.

Please enjoy the pictures of day 2, with a selection of the three collections and backstage.

« Previous Page — Next Page »