Spotted @ AIFW

There's never a dull moment at Fashion Week. Different styles clash during this event and I love seeing the styles of others! It always inspires me one way or the other!

This group stood out because of the diversity. It's such a good picture. Punk, rock, maxi dresses, plaids and stripes are combined in this one picture. They all look fantastic! Don't you think?

This was my all time favorite guy at Fashion Week: Allard Honigh. He walked by me as I was blogging but his self-made Chanel bag caught my eye! "I made it in 5 minutes" he said. Well, that's a great accomplishment! It looks exactly like the one from the Jak & Jil blog. This is a great DIY (do it yourself) project!

Text by Stacey Currie - iwritefashion
Photos by Vincent Kos

Kelder sale @ studio Frans Molenaar

Fashion Week DOWNTOWN is the 'off-schedule' program of AIFW and the best thing about it is that it's open to the public! The Kelder sale of Frans Molenaar was on today's schedule.

Frans Molenaar is a Dutch couturier that has been around for about 40 years now. Until 2005 he has launched 80 different collections. Great achievement!



This year Frans collaborated with AIFW and presented a 'Kelder' (basement) sale. This sale is based on the remains of previous collections by the couturier. 'Not everyting in a collection gets sold and this is stored in the basement. Hence a basement sale', thus Frans.















Entering the studio there were multiple racks full of clothes. Mostly hung by color to present a clear and beautiful picture. Walking by the racks you could see the differences in collections. You could find trenchcoats and jackets in tweed fabrics, costumes and suits. It was a walk back in time. 'Some of these pieces are at least 25 years old and they still look great' the couturier added.















And he was absolutely right, we spotted beautiful handmade dresses with details barely noticable by the naked eye. But modern pieces were in store too such as dotted blouses.

Because of the different collections at the sale there was pretty much something for everyone! And for almost half (or even more) off of the original price!

Text by STACEY CURRIE
Photos by CHELSEA SYRETT

And Beyond

There are not many words which can describe And Beyond's phenomenal presentation at fashion week, "Waanzinnig" nevertheless is one of them. It's a Dutch word that can loosely be translated as ridiculously, crazily amazing.

Jolanda van den Broek and Brigitte Hendrix collaborate as 'And Beyond'. Their first seasonal collection is called 'smoke' after the smoke that lingers when fireworks that lit the sky have died out and illustrates the duo's search to find a more permanent position in the perishable fashion industry.

This concept also structured And Beyond's presentation, and instead of a 4-minute catwalk, Jolanda and Brigitte chose to present their designs in a series of glass columns, which were rhythmically filled with smoke and light. This created a stunning atmosphere in the pitch black hall where their presentation was held. A log burner filled your nostrils with woody smoke and cinammon-orange gluhwein continued the wintery-experience, warming visitors from the inside, out.

And Beyond's collection consisted of unique black, emerald, blue and grey prints in succulent silks and beautiful velour.

Brigitte: "This is our first seasonal collection, and although we're conforming to the rhythm of the fashion industry, we want to create our own place within this, our presentation is an example of such."

And Beyond surpass your senses, surpass expectations and surpass the current perceptions of fashion, all the way, And Beyond..

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CORNÉ RIJNEVELD

Claes Iversen

Claes Iversen is the Fashion Week golden child. Each season he presents completely stunning women's wear with a personal message. This time he portrayed his progression into 'professional maturity', in contrast to his yearning to withhold his inner-child. This was clearly visualized within his collection by prim burgundy wovens which deconstructed to reveal nude crisp organza's and sparkly flower-appliques.

Odd dashes of simple navy velvet, made my mouth water; the simplest of dresses executed immaculately are the most divine!

Claes's tasteful colour palette was peachy in nudes, apricots, plums and the mentioned navy's. In typical Claes-style his show-piece was a prodigy in itself; a blushing white bride completely constructed out of price-tags.. Is this Claes maturely acknowledging the value of his work?

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CORNÉ RIJNEVELD

LEW

Kim Leemans and Merel Wicker are design-duo LEW, who house a former gay-bar in Amsterdam city centre. This was also the stage for their collection presentation this Fashion Week.

From the outside it was slightly unsettling, a dodgy broken-down building. The stairwell wasn't much better with creaking floorboards and flaking walls. LEW's level was a few flights up and also featured the flaky walls and grunge, but in comparison to the entrance, was somehow an idyllic setting where the beautiful clothing seemed to affect its environment -almost like watching your favourite band play in a garage.

LEW's collection was a continuation of their Spring/Summer '10 designs with a comparable pattern derived from BlueBoy's (the gaybar's) mouldy walls. The colours nevertheless were more vibrant, reminiscent to a painting that Merel made herself.

Merel: "We never really perceive a collection to be finished, and instead continuously evolve our work."

In addition to their designs, the duo presented geometric accessories that contrasted perfectly with their psychedelic prints and shoe designer Lieke de Koning presented her graduation collection.

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CORNÉ RIJNEVELD

Collection Arnhem

Collectie Arnhem is a label by the Artez fashion department. Each season third-year students deliver a collection from the drawing board, to production and sales. One of the 23 students to design this year's collection is Anne Bosman. He explained that the school has partnered with specialized textiles manufacturer Vlisco for this collection.

Vlisco is a Dutch company that is located in Helmond and surprisingly produces unique wax-textiles for the Western-African market. Through special printing techniques, where wax is applied to stop dyes seeping through the fabric, Vlisco enables double-sided printing, necessary in West-African dress.

Collectie Arnhem provided an unusual combination of African prints (and music) with lady-like, almost housewife-inspired designs in 'proper' beiges, navy and emeralds.

Anne: "With our collection we aim to raise a new kind of 'correctness'. One of my colleagues told us about his grandmother, who would for example only wear a blue jacket with a blue blouse on blue pants. We wanted to take that version of 'correctness' into this era, it is correctness 2010."

Anne also explained that there are many rules and norms within West-African dressing that allowed the students' concept to further snowball. "Whereas for example West-Africans always use six yards of material for upperwear, we created comparable 'regulations' for the lengths of sleeve and skirt hems".

Whether it is in-depth in concept or creative in execution, Collectie Arnhem has triumphed again.

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CORNÉ RIJNEVELD

Non by Kim

Kim Bakker is a Dutch men's wear designer and a fashion design lecturer at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. Kim searches to break the boundaries within men's wear in her collections, and soes so by using exciting materials and playing with the traditional 'roles' that certain clothing garments / styles play.

Her autumn/winter collection '10/'11 was inspired by Norwegian south-pole explorer, Roald Amundsen who ventured through the Antarctic in 1911.

As frost-bitten models frontiered the runway with icy-eyes and sturdy (Vagabond) boots, it became clear that they could also survive the freezing polar climates.

Kim's collection combined beautiful thick knits with layers of jersey and waxed cotton. The latter of which produced almost cardboard-looking materials fitted into casual-cool men's jackets.

Kim: "I continually aim to redesign men's clothing and always search for new wearable garments, such as woollen 'house-pants', which I derived from woollen upperwear."

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT
PHOTOGRAPHY CORNÉ RIJNEVELD

Fortis Bank Fasterclass

(pictured above is Merle Deterink, the director at AIFW)

It's the fourth season that Fortis Bank Nederland is the main sponsor at Amsterdam International Fashion Week, and the third time that it's holding its Fashion Fasterclass. The Fashion Fasterclass is an educational program for young fashion talents that brings creativity and a commercial mindset together.

Astrid de Craen, the senior press officer at Fortis explained that 15 talented fashion designers participate with the program. Astrid: "Topics discussed are meant to help the designers understand the business aspects within fashion. Examples of such are financing and intellectual property."

Designers who have participated in the Fashion Fasterclass are: Malousebastiaan, Antoine Peters, Mada van Gaans, Mattijs van Bergen, Glue Jeans, Ignoor, Intoxica, Ontfront, Merel Boers, Herenvankoster, Jessica Joyce, Non by Kim, Omar Munie Clothing and Massuniq.

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CORNÉ RIJNEVELD

Supertrash

Olcay Gulsen is the Dutch-Kurdish owner of international brand Supertrash.

Originally designed in LA, Supertrash is quickly taking over the world and facilitates all possible media channels while doing so; Olcay has launched a brand magazine, personally writes daily blogs about her jetset lifestyle and was the spotlight at the end of her show this Amsterdam Fashion Week; Olcay is basically the living, breathing embodiment of Supertrash.

The brand is hardly trash though. The autumn/winter collection consisted out of clinging silk mini-dresses, sequinned leggings, pointy shoulder pads and spiky heels in an array of shades varying from autumn leaves to black and gold. There didn't seem that much would keep you warm on a winter-evening, but dressed in a Supertrash-outfit, I doubt any shoulders would be left bare, with plenty of men willing to loan you their jackets.

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CORNÉ RIJNEVELD

Camilla Norrback

Camilla Norrback is a Swedish fashion designer who has 'trademarked' the term EcoLuxury. Camilla believes that the superficiality of luxury, which was only about the 'outside' is now a more overall appellation; "A garment of the highest quality that is justly manufactured as well has an entirely new dimension - the wearer can feel both beautiful and proud".

Camilla was unfortunately unable to be at her show in Amsterdam; she's heavily pregnant, congratulations Camilla!

Her autumn/winter collection 2010 fulfilled all expectations of understated Swedish style. It was simple, smart and practical. The men were dressed in classic turn-up pants and thick chunky cardigans (with squirrel patterns) and the women were demure and desirable in pretty dresses and paisley.

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CHELSEA SYRETT

Sacha Golden Heel Award

Each year fashion brand Sacha gives students from the Fashion Institute Arnhem the opportunity to design a shoe, with no commercial restrictions, in their manner of cultivating young talent.

This year's lucky winner was Pauline van Dongen, with her skyscraper wedge 'Vertigo' as show above.

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CHELSEA SYRETT

Mada van Gaans

Dutch fashion designer Mada van Gaans has a real name for herself in Dutch fashion and her flowing and feminine designs are always adhered by the fashion-elite.

It was therefore not a real surprise that her show was packed-out, with even the occasional designer stuck on the fifth row. Mada's show started with a beautiful 'nude'-tone dress and progressed through an array of creams, beiges and peaches to a deep plum, raspberry and black.

The beautiful flow of colours was also present in her shapes and tailoring, which varied between voluminous and sheer, to composed knits and highwaist woolen skirts and pants. Although her more enigmatic designs were stunning, I found her 'simple' black dresses most desirable, you can never have enough perfect black dresses!

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CHELSEA SYRETT

Quoc Thang

Last season, Quoc Thang debuted his maritime-inspired collection at the Waag society, a historic navy building in Amsterdam. This season, Quoc continued the theme in Quoc-fashion; wearable and weather-proof men's wear.

Where his luminous constellation-prints left me starry-eyed before, it was his more blatant 'longing' and 'desire', which caught my eye this time. Girlfriend's golden tresses were physicallly entwined into their lover's storm-breaker jackets in true sailor style 'carrying their loved ones with them out at sea'.

Quoc's collection was a clear continuation with sturdy wintercoats, plaid overalls and woollen tunics in shades of beige and navy. Also striking was a large check-print, which Quoc beautifully explained to "capture the shimmer of the starry nights within his love for checks".

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CHELSEA SYRETT

Karssenberg & Greidanus

Everyone has had a bit of a punkrock / deathmetal phase in their fashion lives. Mine was the embarrassing kind, with ripped-up jeans, poorly dyed hair and sabotaged slayer shirts.

Karssenberg & Greidanus are certainly pulling off their phase with a lot more finesse; black sweeping designs with intricate and edgy body-jewellery were met with extravagant layers of leather. My absolute favourite (of the whole day) were their studded cloaks.

Leather wraps were adorned with chains and beautiful billowing knits were skewered with metal rods.

Some of the deconstructed materials showed a slight Rodarte-resemblence, but in contrast with sturdy leather and intricate metalwork became statement Karssenberg & Greidanus!

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CHELSEA SYRETT

Fong Leng - book launch

Each decade there are only a handful of designers, whose influences are felt nationwide. In the 70's and early 80's Carla Maria Fong Leng Tsang was that designer in the Netherlands.

Her designs were sometimes unique artworks and other times, equally unique couture pieces, produced a mere three times. Although her prices could reach tens of thousands of guilders a pop, Fong Leng explains that several months work went into each piece, making them actually very reasonably priced.

Fong Leng: "Although I know that Dutch people easily find things to be too expensive"

Her feisty personality quickly became apparent during the launch of her monograph published by Jonge Honden, as she quickly corrected fashion lecturer (and Dutch fashion expert) José Teunissen and was met by ample giggles from the fashion-celebrity-filled crowd.

When questioned on her opinion of Dutch fashion today, Fong Leng encouraged young designers to work hard and follow their hearts, and said to be excited to see some of the shows.

With her opinion about the Dutch shopping streets on the other hand, she expressed a slither of dismay.

Fong Leng: "In my time, the PC Hooftstraat was much more exciting, there were small unique shops showcasing individuals' skills. The shops now make me lose my appetite, although you can get an excellent lunch on the PC."

Although she isn't visible in brick and mortar on Holland's most exclusive shopping street, her major influence on designers today is still apparent, with tributes and acknowledgement from designers with the likes of Francisco van Benthum and Viktor & Rolf.

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CHELSEA SYRETT

The Present Past

Marloes Blaas isn't a stranger to fashion week, having presented a collection during Lichting 2007 and Fashion Institute Arnhem's show in summer 2009.

The small collection she presented today was nevertheless her independent debut.

Marloes: "Whereas the practical nature of the Dutch can often be frustrating for fashion designers, I embrace it in my work (..) I design clothing for women like myself, and I have a practical mindset too."

Marloes's signature is already shining through her collections, with fluid lines and feminine designs. In contrast to the soft and flattering materials she uses in her clothing, she shows sturdy leather accessories, derived from craftsmanship and originally practical professions.

The natural palette of her collections last season consisted of forest greens, burgundy and dots of fuchsia. This season was natural browns, beiges and a shot of cobalt blue to stirr things up. The trousers in her collection were gorgeous and embodied casual-french-chique in my opinion.

Sound good? Marloes retails through Soepboer & Stooker on Overtoom 9 in Amsterdam.

WRITTEN BY HOLLY SYRETT

PHOTOGRAPHY CHELSEA SYRETT

Modefabriek: day 2

After a quick limousine drive from the WFC I arrived at the RAI for the second and last day of the ‘Modefabriek’ (Factory of Fashion). What impressed me most was the Fashion Show from the ‘Cutting Edge’ and ‘Next’ area’s. I already enjoyed watching the clothes before the show.

A studded armpiece from silk dupion and leather took my attention immediately. Also a black leather dress, that was folded on the body and had no lining, from the Poland designer Maldoror, looked very special. During the show with supporting music everything came together and even more alive. The ‘Cutting Edge’ part of the show was the most raw and extravagant while the ‘Next’ part was more wearable.

Then there was a big jeans washlab. Stirred, scrubbed, laminated, ‘gunshot’, pressed, grinded and burn out denims seemed to be the next big thing in the land of jeans for next winter.

To protect myself for buying to many bags I didn’t allow myself to look at bag and accessory labels. Fortunately there was a small exhibition from the ‘Hendrikje’ museum with very special bags; like a poodle made of beads, a velours ninetheenth century clutch, a Swarovski dietcoke evening purse, a bag of peacock feathers and not to forget: the cupcake bag which one Carrie is wearing in Sex and the City. My creditcard was very happy with the protected window-glass between us.