THE FASHION SHOW 2017 newspaper

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Friday, June 09, 2017

Preface

Credits

A lot has changed since I myself graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie back in 1995. The Fashion Show, that presents the fashion department and especially its graduates to the world, has become a more and more costly and professional looking production over time. And even though our shows are valuable and exciting experiences for our students and hopefully just as memorable for their audiences, throughout my tenure as head of the fashion department I’ve felt the urge to overthrow this all too serious catwalk tradition.

It is an art school graduation show, it should be all about the fun and brazenness that this new generation has to offer: it is their party!

This year the time felt right so I decided to make a bold move and take our graduation show to the streets. It is a tradition to find a surprise location for The Fashion Show each year, but this time I believe we’ve truly come out of our comfort zone, and by doing so we ask our audience to do the same. Showing our students’ highly experimental, conceptual and culturally diverse fashion proposals under a nitty gritty ring road overpass in Amsterdam West - one of the most ethnically diverse neighbourhoods in Europe - we hope to start altogether new conversations, with our loyal incrowd as much as with the Bos en Lommer locals.

With our teaser campaign in the Bijenkorf, showing a selection of our most adventurous alumni in this high-end fashion establishment environment, we hope to do the same.

For many people fashion is about escaping reality. At the Rietveld we much prefer to engage with it and to create new realities.

On behalf of the Rietveld I would like to especially thank WOW Amsterdam and Gemeente Amsterdam - Stadsdeel West for all their support and for believing in ourw ‘wildest dream’.

Graduates: Anouk Beckers (TXT), Boris Kollár, Chelsea Peterson, Jonathan Aldenberg (VAV), Karen Huang, Line Langkjer, Miro Hämäläinen, Nathaly Vlaun, Ninamounah Langestraat, YuJin Jung

Niels Klavers

2nd Year students: Anna Sørensen,Antonina Pawlowicz, Galatée Martin, Jahmuna Mcclean, Jiarong Du, Lieselot Elzinga, Nikola Čemanová, Sonia Oet, Sonia Witwitzka, Tatiana Quard, Yana Monk, Yaroslav Glazunov 1st Year students: Bodil Ouédraogo, Emma Torsteinsrud, Karis Lindelien, Krystian Sokolowski, Laetitzia Campbell, Mika Perlmutter

Head of fashion department: Niels Klavers Head of show production: Py Tswang Jin Catwalk direction, choreography & catwalk training: Kim Vos, Michelle den Hollander & Diek Pothoven (Bdifferent) Music direction: Tamara van der Laarse (Sounds Like Tamara) Hair & make-up graduates: Taco Stuiver, Mascha Meyer & teams (House of Orange) Hair & make-up 1st & 2nd year students: Ellen Romeijn, Carlos Saidel & teams (House of Orange) Styling: Marleen de Jong Banners: Karim Adduchi & children of the Kolenkit District [waiting for a confirmation on this] Light design & technical production: Stefan Prokop, Mikael Olsthoorn & team (Jurlights) Catwalk photography: Team Peter Stigter Livestream: Eventproducent Graphic design: Christophe Synak, Eduardo Leon Herrera, Nina Schouten, Steinarr Ingólfsson PR: Schoon den Boer, Public Rietveld

Friday, June 09, 2017

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Anouk Beckers NL/NLD 1990

As soon as Anouk Beckers got her bachelor in psychology she realized a life in science was just not her cup of tea.

She wanted to make things and so she applied to the Rietveld, where she embraced the opportunity to study bits in different departments and now graduates from TXT (textile) and the Fashion department simultaneously. “Studying fashion at the Rietveld means embracing the idea that this medium is about much more than pattern drawing and designing; it is about the ideas behind the making.”

Anouk is particularly fascinated by systems and tends to question and re-interpret them. Fashion is one such system that Anouk decided to reset with her modular system.

“I like the idea of garments as unfinished objects.

anouk.beckers@gmail.com

The modular system emphasizes the fact that garments are composed of different parts and it allows the individual to change it’s shape, look and functionality.” Ultimately Anouk’s fashion system offers a new perspective on clothing and allows us to express our identity with much more fluidity in a world that is constantly changing; it challenges us to become our own fashion designers.

Anouk sees her modular graduation collection as the result of her four-year study at the Rietveld and she hopes it will catch on so it will also be the basis for her label ‘aNOUK BECKERS’ with which she plans to continue exploring her co-creation philosophy.

www.anoukbeckers.nl

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Friday, June 09, 2017

Boris Kollár SK/SVK 1992

Coming from a home of architects, Boris Kollar grew up in Eastern Slovakia during the nineties. After the ‘Eastern-Block Big Bang’ happened, as Boris calls the end of the Communist rule in former Czechoslovakia, many of his generation took to the west. Boris found his way to the Rietveld where he would learn to put his nonstop pondering on how traditions are built to creative use. An internship at Melitta Baumeister brought him to New York where he was confronted with the reality of fashion, which he questions in his practice.

Boris’ graduation collection is dedicated “to those who stayed behind, willingly or unwillingly” and thus came to represent the culture and traditions that once existed.

boris.halusky@gmail.com

Questioning the origin of clothes and all their details Boris wants to get rid of everything he deems obsolete. “I don’t like to take the Western way of making clothes for granted and therefore I look at all the world’s cultures to study the origins of all the elements clothes consist of.”

Each of his garments is constructed out of one single pattern panel and sewed with just one continuous thread.

Boris wants to express his respect to fabric as they do in Japan with the kimono and in Peru with the poncho, “because it seems that cutting a piece of fabric into an infinite amount of pieces just means forcing it to behave the way we want it to while forgetting about its own ‘dreams’.”

www.boriskollar.com

Friday, June 09, 2017

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Chelsea Peterson AW/ABW 1994

In 2012 Chelsea Peterson exchanged her small Caribbean island Aruba for Amsterdam to study at the Rietveld.

During the basic year, which she doubled, Chelsea became hyper aware of her perspective, as a dislocated Aruban. This subsequently led her to focus on the subject of perception. Ultimately, she says, her Rietveld experience has changed her perception on life itself as she figured out that the world is an open field. “Rietveld made me understand the concept of nothing as nothing is the opportunity for the new thing to happen.”

Questioning her Aruban identity Chelsea made a video on the island asking fellow Arubans what they think being

fcktucnj@hotmail.com

‘Creole’ means. As the answers were typically varied she learned the changeable nature of such identity monikers.

“I find that it’s a lifestyle that keeps on changing, channelling different cultures and mixing traditions. It was the starting point for my collection: showing the Aruban identity like a human who is ever changing, re-inventing himor herself by creating an identity.”

Having translated her Aruban identity for her graduation project, SEAPETERSON, as she wishes to be known, is hoping to do the same for other small islands in the Caribbean. But first she’s looking to do a Master, learning more about creating her ‘world outside the body’.

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Friday, June 09, 2017

Jonathan Aldenberg NL/NLD 1993

Being ‘very dyslectic’ but all the more happy working with his hands, Jonathan Aldenberg decided for the Rietveld to develop his autonomy. After the basic year Jonathan choose to study at Beeld en Taal and soon after also joined the Fashion department, later to combine fashion with VAV-moving image. “I’ve had an interest in dressing up dolls and game characters and consider my fashion practice a continuation of that.”

The parka, Raglan sleeves, the cardigan, the trench coat, the bomber jacket, t-shirts, chinos. These are all menswear staples derived from military clothing and the list goes on and on. Although Jonathan is convinced of his pacifist stance towards all the raging conflicts in the world,

jonathanaldenberg@gmail.com

and all the hate, misogyny and toxic masculinity that comes with the armed forces, he got intrigued by this highly particular part of sartorial history and decided to hijack its ‘ruthless design language’. “The core of my idea is that since military wear trickles down to streetwear, I should cut that phenomenon short and directly translate the contemporary military aesthetic to the street”, says Jonathan, adding that his graduation collection should be seen as a ‘peaceful form of resistance’ in times of Trump, Brexit, Reddit and 4chan.

Jonathan plans to start his own practice as an artist as well as a fashion designer.

Friday, June 09, 2017

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Karen Huang TW/TWN 1984

Karen Huang went from studying Water Resources And Environment Engineering at Tamkang University in her home country Taiwan to completing her BA in fashion design at the Rietveld. “I'm interested in the connection between fashion and the body, as a means of visual manifestation of identity and culture. In my work I develop textile and construct garments as a language to communicate my investigations surrounding these ideas, while looking for a balance between being accessible to people and challenging their perspective.” Says her résumé.

While rounding up her internship at Christian Wijnants, a friend came to see her in Antwerp after breaking up with her boyfriend to pour out her broken heart. While reas-

sl33karen@hotmail.com

suring her friend that everything will be fine, and already intrigued by what seemed to be permanent construction sites that surrounded her, Karen realised she’d found the concept for her graduation collection. “I believe emotion is a continuous perception; it is like a building that is always under construction,” says Karen, who translated her abstract concept into a menswear collection.

Even though Karen values the highly individual and personal approach to designing fashion that she learned at the Rietveld, she hopes to team up with likeminded designers and together contribute to a healthier fashion industry.

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Friday, June 09, 2017

Line Langkjer DK/DNK 1991

Danish born Line Lankjer has a steadfast résumé starting with a design & marketing course at the Copenhagen Business Academy before applying to study fashion in The Hague and ultimately at the Rietveld in Amsterdam. Line did internships at Pauline van Dongen and London based Astrid Andersen. “I have started on a path towards my own way of approaching fashion as a designer and I have learned to become more secure in my beliefs and ideas about how I think clothing should be shown as a visual statement.”

Her graduation project reveals her ambitious self-awareness. “My collection ‘Be my narcissus to success’ is a tribute to a generation born and raised in a narcissistic

linelangkjer@hotmail.com

society. A depiction of a generation of dreamers filled with endless ambition, striving for constant attention.” Both the self-image and how others perceive it is distorted according to Line’s proposal: narcissist fashion as selfconscious armour in a narcissistic world in which ‘attaining success to avoid the failure of mediocrity’ is constantly emphasized. “I want to make our inferiority complexes into overt grandiose delusions.”

As for future plans, Line wants to realise her own vision of what it means to be a fashion designer and create a workplace where she can freely express herself in collaboration with others.

Friday, June 09, 2017

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Miro Hämäläinen FI/FIN 1992

Fate, as he recalls it, “through multiple twists and doubtful turns” no less, brought Finnish born Miro Hämäläinen to apply to the Rietveld preparatory course. Already at the age of five Miro decided to become a fashion designer and after studying at the Rietveld for five years, which comes down to getting pretty closely acquainted with oneself, his main objective - for boys to wear skirts - has remained unchanged. Taking a critical view on masculinity, in the mirror and beyond, Miro strives to challenge our concepts of gender and sexuality.

“Personal experiences with my own identity continue to shape my sense of self as well as my work. I hope to expand the idea of what a person is and can be.” Miro says

miroaleksei@gmail.com

of his graduation project, which questions what is masculine and what is feminine, and how we distinguish the two.

“With my graduation collection I want to pay homage to the youths that have to face discrimination and violence because they dare show femininity. Misogyny is omnipresent, thus expressing femininity is a form of power; it is a political act.”

Miro’s deeply personal thesis, which has informed his graduation collection and deeply moved his fellow students for its vulnerable outcry, was selected for the 2017 Rietveld Thesis Prize. Always eager to work as an assistant and/or model for other designers, now it is Miro’s time to make his mark and open people’s minds.

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Friday, June 09, 2017

Nathaly Vlaun CO/COL-NL/NLD 1993

Born in Bogota, Colombia and raised in Aruba, Nathaly Vlaun may officially have the Dutch nationality but that doesn’t mean she feels in place in the Netherlands. Everything felt restricting, the layers of clothing required in this climate, as well as the layers of social codes and even the fashion school she initially chose. “When I switched to the fashion department at Rietveld I was confronted with the freedom to explore subjects close to myself and to experiment with fashion without restrictions. I discovered who I am as a designer.”

Nathaly’s deeply felt experience of being trapped in an ill-fitting society and the subsequent urge to escape and feel free again became her main inspiration. Her gradua-

Natha_dian@hotmail.com

tion collection titled ‘Meet me at the end’ is about play and the transition between restriction and freedom. “By deconstructing conventional attire, everyday clothes such as the suit, the camel coat, the trench, the turtle neck, and shifting them away from the body by using different extension pieces, I try to liberate the body from the restrictions of conventional dress codes.” Nathaly’s elaborately handcrafted materials represent the autonomy and freedom she longs for.

Nathaly is likely to move back to sunny Aruba with her newfound sense of direction, looking to learn many more traditional techniques and gain the necessary experience to start her own label.

Friday, June 09, 2017

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Ninamounah Langestraat NL/NLD 1991

Having grown up in the cultural free port Ruigoord just north of Amsterdam, Ninamounah Langestraat is not one to blindly follow any convention. Even though she had followed a technical fashion course before studying at t­he Rietveld TXT (textile) department, fashion took her by surprise: “Changing to fashion was one of the scariest and best things I did in my life. I found speed and aggression at the department. Something I am totally addicted to.”

With her innate hunger Ninamounah has thrown herself at gaining work experience assisting presentations of notable Rietveld alumni and interning at A.F. Vandevorst.

Ninamounah’s inclination to cut through superficial layers of ‘nurture’ to reveal our deeper grounds - on which

ninamounah@live.nl

many of our fashion choices are based - came to a climax in her graduation project. “My graduation collection is an ode to the pure woman, the woman in her honest form.

Stripped of layers of culture I want to reveal her true nature; that of a proud romantic beast.” Ninamounah’s proposal combines the machismo of leather motorcycle suits and the pinstriped attire of contemporary alpha males with French corsetry to restrain the dark and aggressive sexuality of her females.

Ninamounah is hoping to continue her studies doing a Master in fashion and she sees herself running her own farm as well as adding the title ‘biologist’ to her résumé one day.

www.ninamounah.com

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Friday, June 09, 2017

YuJin Jung KR/KOR 1990

YuJin Jung started her fashion studies in her hometown Seoul in South Korea and worked as an assistant at Seoul Fashion Week before she applied to study at the Royal Academy in The Hague from where she switched to complete her BA in fashion design at the Rietveld in 2015. The journey taught her the necessary independence in her approach as a designer and “how to go more extreme in expressing emotions through my work.”

Fascinated by how contemporary media feed our anxieties about successful living, YuJin made a vast study into how far we are willing to go to make the make believe

Uj9018@gmail.com

seem real. Keeping up appearances in the digital age is a mind-boggling reality in which we more or less agree to believe in each other’s carefully curated and cropped edits of life. Knowingly accepting that what we see might not be real. In her graduation collection YuJin played with articulated contrasts between fakeness and reality, between (faux) luxury and a poorer casualness of homewear, between 2D and 3D. Lighthearted as her design vocabulary may seem, YuJin is determined to make a difference in the world of fashion and design by addressing the ethics that are en vogue.

Friday, June 09, 2017

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017

Special Thanks

Colophon

Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fashion Show 2017 is made possible with the generous support of WOW Amsterdam, Gemeente Amsterdam – Stadsdeel West and Meester Koetsier Foundation.

Text: Mo Veld Graphic design: Christophe Synak, Eduardo Leon Herrera, Nina Schouten, Steinarr Ingólfsson Printer: Rodi Media

Special thanks to the Executive Board of Gerrit Rietveld Academie, WOW Amsterdam, Gemeente Amsterdam – Stadsdeel West, Meester Koetsier Foundation, teachers of the Fashion Department (Amie Dicke, Kevin Power, Lise Lefebvre, Mo Veld, Nicky den Breejen, Oscar Raaijmakers, Peter van Gorp, Riëtte Wanders, Sonja Kip, Shirley Muijrers), the Graphic Design Department (Christophe Synak, Eduardo Leon Herrera, Emily Segal, Nina Schouten, Steinarr Ingólfsson), Buro Rietveld / Public Rietveld (Bieneke Bennekers, Iris Loos, Karlijn Hoftijzer, Tomas Adolfs), AF Vandevorst, Alex Mullins, Alice Sprascio, Astrid Andersen, Bas Kosters, Christian Wijnants, Das Leben am Haverkamp, De Bijenkorf, DOCK [waiting for a confirmation on this, Duran Lantink & Jan Hoek, Elise Hagedoorn, Emily Segal, Iris Woutera / de Jong, Joshua Enker, J.W. Kaldenbach, Karim Adduchi, Kate Kern, Leonard van Munster, Lisa van der Breggen, Maarten Heuver, MAISON the FAUX, Makers Unite [waiting for a confirmation on this, Marianna Ladreyt, Mark van Vorstenbos, Melitta Baumeister, Milou van Rossum, Mitchell Bergman, Omri Bigetz, Paul Roberts, ROCvA – MBO College Zuid, Rose van Engelen , Sergey Golubev, Sophie Hardeman & Emma Westenberg, Ting Gong, Vere van Hal, X+L and everyone else involved.