Chinouk Filique de Miranda: a gap within a very rigid fashion system
"During the Fashion Strategy Masters programme I’ve had the opportunity to define my interests in fashion, which mainly lie within the contextual ‘experience’ rather than the specific wearable product. As a result, my personal development within the course has enabled me to analyse a gap within a very rigid fashion system, and fill this space through a personal lens and helping me set up my critical fashion practice."
"In the first year, we were asked to develop a set of core values. These really came into play during my second year, where you’re expected to independently produce a thesis around your developed interests, through which I was able to formulate the relevancy and longevity of these developed values in relation to my competencies. The trials and tribulations of this process were, by far, the most valuable for the practise I (further) developed after the masters programme, which explores the crossover between the fashion system and digital culture with a focus on introducing digital literacy in fashion."
"By being subjected to a critical approach towards fashion, the fashion strategy sphere allows you to rethink and redefine what it means to practise ‘fashion’. In my case, it allowed me to link the consumer experience to digital culture - which is a rather specific take on how one engages with fashion on a daily basis.
Within my academic year, generation 27, a wide variety of practises and interventions dedicated to different subjects within fashion (sustainability, representation, collaboration) were developed. This shows that, even though you’re very much exploring fashion through group projects, you’re also expected to define your contribution, and role within that collaborative effort. For me, defining what I do and how I do it, was an important attribution towards distinguishing my professional positioning."
Above anything, this course teaches how to strategize thoughts and values, and has given me tools and insights in how to recognize and translate these features into a relevant and unique practice.
"Along the way I’ve been given opportunities to venture outside of ArtEZ, during and after the course. By enabling me to attend masterclasses, putting me in contact with professionals and institutions which have developed into business opportunities further down the line, giving me a stage to pilot workshops with new students, and contributing (financially) to visit international fashion colloquia, the programme and its lectures, have turned out to be an important vessel within my professional network."
