Vivid Colours: From the Local to the Global and Back Again: Oilily, Mac&Maggie and Cora Kemperman

Abstract: This chapter looks at a possible alternative narrative in Dutch fashion. This is a story of dashing colours, daring patterns, florid folds and bold cuts. Firms like Oilily, Mac&Maggie and CoraKemperman, or designers such as The People of the Labyrinths, Viktor&Rolf, Iris van Herpen, Fong Leng, Bas Kosters, or Jan Taminiau – to name a few – show a range of audacious colours, patterns and shapes that contradict the reigning myth of Dutch soberness. In tracing the historical roots of this alternative line in Dutch fashion, we encounter cultural ‘otherness’ at the very heart of Dutch folklore. Dearly valued icons of Dutch culture, such as Delft blue earthenware, regional dress, and even the tulip fields, derive, in fact, from elsewhere. These paradoxical cultural dynamics play a central part in contemporary Dutch fashion. In this chapter we argue how a Dutch national style is always shot through with cultural hybridity.