Collectie Arnhem 2017 one of the best collections at the Amsterdam Fashion Week, according to Vogue
On 26 January, 17 third-year Fashion Design students presented Collectie Arnhem 2017 during Amsterdam Fashion Week. In addition to designing and compiling the collection, they also gained experience in all facets of the fashion industry. Vogue declared the collection to be one of the five best: “Okay, Collectie Arnhem was not part of the official programme, but each year the show by third-year fashion students from the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design is a highlight.This year, if only because of the location: The new office of the creative agency Staat, where a restaurant is also being opened next month.The unisex collection, all in bright yellow, named ‘Freedom! Inconvenience! Madness!’ excelled due to its monumental silhouettes and plastic-coated fabrics.”
Collectie Arnhem 2017: Freedom! Inconvenience! Madness! And a hard-boiled egg The collection was inspired by the designers' longing for their own world, freed of established rules. The design process became a personal exploration of what freedom means. With this as the point of departure, the designers created shapes through intuition. The collection presents an alternative vision of what clothing can be. It is about the field of tension between control and freedom.
After a long experimental phase, elastic became an important means of creating shape. It has been used to draw in all kinds of ways, producing both patterns and forms. Chance plays a major role with elastic; the results are always different. At the same time, it is a compelling manner in which to create form.
The great forward volumes literally occupy space and radiate energy. These monumental shapes, produced from felt, enshrine the body and enter into a confrontation with space. In contrast, there are clinging shapes in supple, transparent fabrics. The designers were seeking new silhouettes, transcending the masculine and feminine, with an essential desire for sensuality. This has been achieved with flowing fabrics hinting at the body they conceal and sometimes reveal. A nod to the everyday lends the collection an absurd slant; its own world and the real world enter into a confrontation. There are references to classics such as the polo, for instance. Contemporary comfortable trousers are also reinterpreted in innovative designs.
The entire collection is executed in the colour yellow, a restriction that gave the designers both control and freedom. They have mastered the entire colour spectrum and silkscreen printing has allowed them to achieve a broad colour range. The friction between the various shades makes for a surprising whole. Structure and lustre intensify the colour perception. Sketching rapidly in material, permitting chance in the design process, the designers arrived at textile finishes. Within the patterns, the field of tension has been created by capturing this naive chaos with plastic coatings and handwork.
The designers took control and shaped their own world as a collective.
Designers Iris Bambacht | Anna Bernal-van Geenhuizen | Douwe de Boer | Guusje de Bruin | Jolijn Corporaal |Emmy Hermans | Amarens Joustra | Sarah Kerbosch | Merrit Koek | Gina Malagodi | Naomi Marcela| Mehdi Mashayekhi | Alicia Minnaard | Nina Pen | Dennis Schreuder | Maria van Steenoven | Amber Willemztijn
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