Every year the Summer edition of Fashion Week ends with Lichting, a competition that wants to give the most promising graduates of the different art schools in The Netherlands the chance to present themselves to the industry. By many fashion week attendees it’s considered one of the highlights and the competition has accelerated the careers of many young designers, such as Maarten van der Horst, who now served as a member of the jury.
Panel Member Alexander Fury, fashion editor of The Independent, captured the different collections very well in only one phrase. He mentioned that -unlike at some other fashion events- he wasn’t bored by any of the participant’s works; I certainly can’t disagree with him. Where Maartje van Hooij surprised us with a model carrying another model -the latter dressed in an all-covering furry suit-, Duran Lantink showed something even more extraordinary: shoes printed with a 3D printer. The 70cm high shoes were impossible to walk on and thus the designer decided it would better to let the model be carried on an improvised throne on wheels. The collections also showed great diversity, from heels to sneakers and street couture by Anne van den Boogaard, and from a biker-inspired collection by Jazz Kuipers to the soft, silky and feminine creations by Loeki Mulder. Another playful and innovative collection was brought to us by Dewi Bekker, who crafted men’s clothes by using a lot of coloured plastics, which gave the pieces a toy-like look.
And the winner is…
Even though it’s already a huge win for the designers to be able to show their collections to everyone in the Dutch fashion industry, there can of course only be one winner. This year the honour went to Artez graduate Henriette Tilanus. Her collection was titled ‘Let the Dust settle’, inspired by unconventional poet Lady Edith Sitwell. Tilanus imagined what this creative mind would have looked like had she still been alive today. The result is an eccentric and original, yet wearable collection. This is also what distinguished her from some of the other participants, who leaned very strongly towards either the conceptual or ready-to-wear. The winning collection showed vision and a concept, but Talinus translated this into outfits that a sophisticated and confident woman, not afraid to have her own style, would love to have in her closet.
Photos by Andrea Huls
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