elisa van joolen:11” x 17” Designer Elisa van Joolen, part of the inaugural class of the MFA Fashion Design and Society program at Parsons The New School for Design, has always been interested in exploring the dynamic and fluid nature of dress in her work. Van JooIen’s practice is mainly concerned with the current condition of the fashion system and provides a new perspective on the system through her projects and research. For example, van Joolen’s thesis collection is a project with an emphasis on collaboration. Interactions, via email and face to face, with diverse fashion brands are at the center of her project. These conversations with, for example, Banana Republic, theory, Calvin Klein White Label, Shelley Fox, Pascale Gatzen, Lacoste, dELiA*s, and Nike led to the donation of garments. Van Joolen used these garments as materials for her collection. In addition she acquired garments from sources as varied as the Salvation Army and the high-end stores of
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New York City to be used in her collection. As van Joolen describes, the collection is “an assemblage of different garments,” which, when recontextualized, speak to their diverse modes of production, their differences in distribution and fabrication, and their temporal origins and connections. In the process, van Joolen acts as a stylist/editor who carefully selects and repurposes the garments in order to arrive at unexpected relationships and a new way of conceptualizing the diverse and multifaceted system of fashion. One look, for example, consists of a donated limited edition archive piece (SS 2003), a vintage garment (date unknown) bought in a second hand store and a high-end sportswear piece (SS 2012) acquired in a boutique. In September 2012 van Joolen will present her thesis collection as ‘new’ during New York Fashion Week.