Initiator and curator

2009 – 2016
Fashionclash, Maastricht

A project where people from various disciplines produce work for the catwalk. Fashion By Non-Fashion Designers

Text for the 5 Year publication of Fashionclash, 2009–2015:

50 A4 sheets of paper hang on the wall in my bureau, all nicely lined up and separated in five lines of ten. On each of them you find a name of one of the Clash participants and the title they choose for t their outfit, such as: “questioning the established’, “Foamboy” or “Don’t hide your pride”. The wall is a helpful reminder of 5 years of Clash Projects for Fashionclash. Some might think you enter a room that belongs to someone who has a liking for international names and abstract titles. But it is a representation to what the fashion world is announcing as “Monstres de Mode” or “Fetishism in Fashion.”

It has been almost 6 years since the conversations between Branko Popovic, Nawie Kuiper, Laurens Hamacher and myself. They had the courage to pull an event off that became their full-time job and their life. One that obviously has the potential to shape the career of others.

Looking back there are always issues, frustrations and unfortunately budget problems. But at the end everyone we ask to be involved had a choice. In fact there are many who wanted to get hold of an opportunity like that. In 2009 I wanted that too. I was a product design student who longed for an opportunity to initiate a project. Again, Fashionclash had the courage to give that possibility to me. The consequence was that the Clash Project was born. It is a direct reference to the Fashionclash attitude, blurring all lines between art, design, knowledge and experiment. All aspects brought together to a project that asks non-fashion designers to make a wearable piece of work, preferably made from the material they use in their profession.

In 5 years we worked with Severafrahm, Christoph Sagel, Lonneke van de Palen and Muller3000 who have photographed the outfits. The people we asked for a contribution are international non-fashion designers like Hermine van Dijck and Britt Helbig from Belgium, llot llov and Christoph Knoth from Germany, Natalia Kacpar Mleczak and Tymek Jezierski from Poland, Fabia Zindel from Switzerland, Loris & Livia from London and many Dutch professionals like La Bolleur, Agata Karolina, Dik Scheepers, Inge Devor, Niek Pulles and Tanja Ritterbex.

The results are unexpected, experimental bodysuits that are different in colour, shape and material. None of the 50 outfits look alike. They are a reference of each participants work, each telling a story and showing a very personal intake in their way of working in an unacquainted fashion context.

By Matylda Krzykowski for the 5 year publication of Fashionclash, June 2013

Image by Peter Stigter