Dutch Fashion meets Dutch Design

Saturday the 30^th started with a nice mixture of fashion, cocktails and music at the flagship store of Azzurro Due in the heart of the Amsterdam shopping centre: the P.C. Hooftstraat.

Joline Jolink has been a well-known name in the Dutch fashion scene for a few years already, so I was quite surprised she wasn’t showing at AIFW this time. But after meeting her it became very clear to me that this is one smart, focussed designer. Instead of having all the stress of organizing a show, she decided to give her 100% attention to the products of this collection. She wants to create beautiful, unique items that women can actually wear and feel comfortable in. And she sure succeeded in doing that!

Her new Spring 2010 collection was inspired by Maria Sybilla Merion, an 18^th century artist intrigued by butterflies. The drawings Merion made of these elegant creatures were translated by Jolink into ladylike, chic yet comfortable designs that women can wear with great pride and confident. Joline Jolink was also fascinated by Merion herself: an independent hard-working woman ahead of her time. She imagined her wearing these comfortable clothes but still looking sophisticated and classy. The colours in this collection range from sky blue and white to beige and taupe: all with a subtle grey mist over them. The designer explains that the inside of a butterfly inspired her to use these colours: “A butterfly has all these amazing bright colours form the outside, but one the inside these colours all fade into greyish tones.” The main material she used was of course silk, but also linen and cotton can be found in this absolutely amazing collection. I can only appreciate and respect the thrive of Jolink to make the best collection possible every season. Her designs and quality are on a level that is hardly ever seen in the fashion scene in Holland.

The other label showing their collection at Azzurro Due was And Beyond, by Jolanda van den Broek and Brigitte Hendrix. After showing their new collection FW 2010/2011 yesterday at AIFW, they were now celebrating the fact that their SS 2010 collection will be sold from today at Azzurro Due. This Spring/Summer collection was inspired by flags and the zeitgeist: we see a print resembling the burning of the Danish flag and dresses with the famous American stars and stripes in a new version. Even though this may sound very in-your-face and a little bit too much for the average woman, it actually is a very pretty, sophisticated and still wearable collection. The designers did a great job translating this strong concept into beautiful innovative fashion. I especially loved the starry black and white dress: a star is born!

And stars they will be, Jolanda van den Broek and Brigitte Hendrix, I have no doubts about that. According to themselves they are now growing up: “This collections marks our way to the Dutch market. Before we were only being sold through special projects, but we are very pleased to have some more points of sale now.” When asked about their vision, the designers say they want to design feminine clothes with an edge: “To us, fashion is an expression of a certain time. We want to translate the zeitgeist into unique clothing without making too much of a political statement. To us fashion is more that a piece of cloth that can be thrown away after one season- it has to intrigue and evoke emotions.” Amen to that.

All photos by Aram Goudsmit

Written by Lisa Goudsmit