I have started a new R&D project together with Bianka Stege of Studio Stege.
It will be about local wool, dutch wool, weaving, geometrical planes, traditional clothing, shape, future, regenerative clothing and about the wearers.
Already during my finals at Amsterdam Fashion Institute I made a collection of textiles based on the concept "Drager". This was very much about questioning the why, why we keep all these clothing in musea, preserve it with the utmost care and why don't we just wear these clothes, mend it, pass it on and when it is finished, no longer in fashion or the textiles start to digest or corrode can we not just bury it and move on? My textiles and clothing was merely based on the traditional clothing shapes such as kaftans, kimono's but also I was looking into the western dress culture and based some styles on a corset and a tailored jacket.
After my finals, I never looked back, went straight into working in fast fashion and now I realize that back then I actually laid the foundation for what it is all about for me. I worked with natural dyes, and only used natural materials such as wool, cotton and silk in my textile experiments, and used flower motifs. It was a research project about esthetics, the exploration of Western and non-Western clothing styles and why such a different way of dressing has emerged and how the West, over the centuries, has dealt with clothing and style differently than non-Western cultures. Sometimes you need a long way to get back to what was actually close to you all that time.
With Bianka Stege I want to dive back into the world of traditional non-western clothing and start working with local (EU or Dutch) wool.
With my take on the Delphos dress made of fine knitted Italian linen I have already taken a first step. If you want to learn more about the Delphos dress, please take a look here The Birth of a Unique Gown: The Delphos — Google Arts & Culture
