Amsterdam Fashion Week Day 2 - Atelier Milada by Ann Boogaerts

Amsterdam Fashion Week Day 2 – Atelier Milada by Ann Boogaerts

Jan 25, 2013 |  by  |  Fashion, Photos
About the author
Sabrina (who is old as fuck) has more energy than a Duracell bunny, and uses it to dance in the newest clubs, eat too much junk food, play all the videogames, examine apps and shop - even though she has more than enough clothes. Sorry Earth.

Atelier Milada by Ann Boogaerts was one of the smaller shows of Amsterdam Fashion Week but probably the one with the most elaborate story. All the visitors received a booklet with a fairy tale, that served as the idea for the collection.

Ann Boogaerts, designer of the collection, graduated from ArtEZ in 2009. With her final collection she won ‘Lichting 2009’: a prestigious contest for the most promising graduates of various fashion academies in the Netherlands. Busy little bee, she got her postgraduate degree and now teaches Textiles at her former school. In between all this, she found time to create a collection. Impressive, if you ask me.

A very elaborate, blue, fairy tale

The collection was titled Brouillard Bleu (blue haze). It’s based on a young princess who wishes to escape from her room in her parents’ castle. Everything in her room is blue, even her hair, this is because that’s her mother’s favourite colour. They also describe every single thing in her room that’s blue, but I’ll spare you the details. On the morning of her eighteenth birthday she climbs out of her room, looking for other colours. She runs into the fields and her clothes change colour: grey hues, with colourful accents from ‘the little flower petals that are floating around’. The idea of the brand is to create ‘extraordinary clothes that open doors to other worlds’.

The story is visible in the clothes (and also the blue strands of hair of some of the models) but the part about ‘running in to the fields’ was wildly exaggerated. I have never, in all the shows I’ve been to in the last couple of years, seen models walk this slow. Because I was taking pictures from the photographers spot I had to wait almost a minute before the models came close enough to get a good shot. It was like they were holding a little piece of paper between their butt cheeks that they had to bring back after their strut on the catwalk.

Where is my toad?

But on to the clothes! This princess seemed to have lived in the late 18th century; the fabrics had a bit of a baroque feel to them, especially the first outfit. It was very girly, as a princess should be. Skirts with opaque tights, frilly blouses and just a hint of glitter. Gold, grey and accents in pink and blue. It wasn’t your everyday wear but if you were to go to a party wearing a piece from this collection, all eyes would be on you. I guess that’s what makes a princess. For me, the story around it was a bit too elaborate. I’m a very down-to-earth person who loves a good fairy tale, but I love clothes that speak for themselves even more. I do however think that this collection would work perfectly for fashion shoots; the big coat (last outfit photo) is made for a spread in Vogue. It was a wonderful collection to look at and it definitely translated to the story. But for princesses only, so I guess I have to find a prince first. Or a toad.

Photos by Sabrina Beek

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