Fashion Talent Design Competition at Serbia Fashion Week

winner FTDC Iva Kujundžić

One of the highlights at the 9th of Serbia Fashion Week is the young designers contest. Finalists of the Fashion Talent Design Competitions, the FTDC and EFTDC, presented their collections.  Iva Kujundžić, the winner of the FTDC, the national talent category wins participation at FASHIONCLASH Festival 2018, Igor Lukić winner of EFTDC wins presentation at Serbia Fashion Week.

Taking place in Novi Sad, Serbia Fashion Week is one of the biggest fashion events in Eastern Europe. each edition designers from all over the world are showing alongside national designers. The event takes place from 20 - 27 November in the city of Novi Sad, Serbia's second largest city in the Vojvodina region. Novi Sad is elected to be European Capital of Culture in 2021. Since few years FASHIONCLASH collaborates with Serbia Fashion Week by means of exchanging designers.

http://serbiafashionweek.com

Reflections on the FASHIONCLASH Fashion Film Festival

The first edition of FASHIONCLASH FASHION FILM FESTIVAL took place from 3 – 5 November in Maastricht.

FFFF was the first international film festival in the Netherlands dedicated to fashion film.
The 3-day program contained screenings with a selection of more than 60 short fashion films from all over the world. The program kicked off with several avant premieres at de Bijenkorf, followed by the screening of the ‘We Margiela’ documentary. On Saturday, there were inspiring workshops by Canon and Pascal Baillien, various screenings and award ceremony at Lumière Cinema. In addition, an exhibition was presented in cooperation with AKATAK Studio.

FFFF showcased both emerging and established international filmmakers and designers who experiment with the genre. The program contained several premiere screenings such as ‘Kill Your Darlings’ by Maarten van Mulken and Pascal Baillien, Dance a Measure by Studio Selvedge & Project Sally Maastricht and MARTAN by Daan Groot and Martan. Being the first fashion film festival in the Netherlands, there was a special focus on Dutch fashion films.

By organizing this festival, FASHIONCLASH concluded that this genre is rather unknown in the Netherlands, not only to the broad audience but also to the professionals. There is so much to be gained. Projects like the Act! Cut! Play, workshops and meetings around the genre are very important to share knowledge and especially to stimulate new collaborations. The film as a medium lends itself very well to interdisciplinary collaborations, and considering the fact that there are many high-profile academies in the Netherlands the potential is there for grabs.

During the festival Amsterdam Fashion Tv live streamed interviews with speakers, participants and jury. A selection of short interviews and reflections can be seen here: youtube.com/user/Amsterdamfashiontv/videos

The level of the selection is high, a very varied selection from documentary style movies to much more visual feasts; sometimes narrative based, sometimes purely visual. What makes this festival special is the blend between conceptual relevance and the fact that it is very international. The openness of the festival is something that FC started in the first place. It is inclusive to people from different backgrounds and a platform for young talents. The film festival is an extension of what FC stands for.' - Philippe Pourhashemi.

The intimate structure of the festival seemed an ideal format for interaction between the public, professionals and participants. In addition to the screenings there was room to talk about the films, but it was noticeable that the 'genre' was mainly discussed. The members of the audience (professionals and general audience) where engaging in the conversations such as What is a fashion film? What are the possibilities of the fashion film? The composition of the film showed how unthinkable many possibilities the genre encompasses. Between the conversations with the audience we concluded huge interest in the medium, in particular young designers and theatre makers seem willing and ready to take on. The challenge is, how do you start a fashion film project? In that matter, making a fashion film is not very much different from making a film in general. As a platform, we felt the importance to provide the stage for 'fashion film' in the Netherlands. Already the questions was asked when the next edition will take place?

Specifically, the program consisted of two Fashion Talks, both moderated by Niccolo Montanari, an international expert in the field of fashion film. Niccolo travels around the world and visits fashion film festival, advises filmmakers and brands. Both talks were accessible to a wide audience.

One of the highlights of the festival was the State of Fashion Film Talk . An inspiring discussion on the state of the fashion film, experiences and future speculations. The speakers of the panel where Kathryn Ferguson (film maker, director), Marie Schuller (film maker, photographer), Raquel Couceiro (head of fashion film Showstudio), Ditte Marie Lund (director Copenhagen Fashion Film Festival).

It was striking that the conclusion was unanimous that the genre can not be captured in a definition and a specific format and that this fact makes the genre so interesting and attractive. The technological developments of the internet, digitalisation of fashion and the development of the film industry go hand in hand with developments in fashion. The fashion film is the perfect genre to give shape to these developments.
'It is exiting time for film directors, a selection of which we have seen at FFFF, we see especially that the young European fashion film that is pushing the genre. Lot of fashion films are copying the format, I am looking for ways to push the boundaries.' - Marie Schuller

'As the internet changes, fashion film will change. New techologies will play a large part and the genre is changing rapidly alongside the technological developments.' - Kathryn Ferguson

'In addition to the screening there were interesting panels. I especially enjoyed the panel moderated by Niccolo Montanari with Kathryn Ferguson, Ditte Mariel, Marie Schuller, Raquel Couceiro on the state of fashion film and how you define a fashion film, in the end…you don’t. - Diane Pernet


Niccolo Montanari also modertated the Act! Cut! Play! Screening and talk.
Act! Cut! Play! is an interdisciplinary talent development project with the ambition to lift the quality of fashion films to a higher level. Four teams existing of a designer, theatre maker, and filmmaker were challenged to work together to investigate the possibilities and boundaries of their disciplines and the provided ‘format’ of the fashion film.

'This was a great first edition, a great beginning. The genre has developed over the last 5 to 10 years. FASHIONCLASH has given the genre its own and unique spin.'- Niccolò Montanari

Read Niccolo's reflections on Act!Cut!Play! project: http://fashionclash-festival.blogspot.nl/2018/02/being-aware-fashion-film-retrospective.html

Award Ceremony
On Saturday evening the award ceremony concluded the festival with the announcement of nominees and winners. The winners were decided by the jury panel members; Diane Pernet (ASVOFF), Leendert Sonnevelt (editor-in-chief, Glamcult), Marcel Schlutt (editor-in-chief KALTBLUT Magazine), Michael Daks (photographer, director), Richard Dols (director DocFest).

And the winners were:
- Best Fashion Film: A Hommage to David Bowie in Sound and Vision, CANADA
- Best Dutch Fashion Film: iii, Femke Huurdeman, Suze Milius, Marie-Sophie Beinke
- Best Emerging Talent: Parallel Pyramid Platform, Daniel van Hauten, Studio Dennis Vanderbroeck, Emmanuel A. Ryngaert
- FASHIONCLASH One-to-watch: Burning Oceans into Deserts, Emma Westenberg for Hardeman '

Maarten van Mulken - Serbia Fashion Week

Dutch fashion talent, Maastricht based designer Maarten van Mulken has been invited to represent to represent FASHIONCLASH Festival at Serbia Fashion Week.
Maarten showed his collection 'Kill Your Darlings' that he presented at FASHIONCLASH Festival 2017 edition.
"They call deleting ideas ‘killing your darlings’, but often good ideas are being cancelled instead of the weakest. The general idea is getting dumbed-down to make it more commercial and gain more money. This to me refers to fashion being dead, because it’s all about just selling as much as possible these days.
Fashion to me is not dead, it just needs to change into a new form and people need to be encouraged to pursue their ideals/ideas instead of killing them."
Taking place in Novi Sad, Serbia Fashion Week is one of the biggest fashion events in Eastern Europe. each edition designers from all over the world are showing alongside national designers. The event takes place from 20 - 27 November in the city of Novi Sad, Serbia's second largest city in the Vojvodina region. Novi Sad is elected to be European Capital of Culture in 2021. Since few years FASHIONCLASH collaborates with Serbia Fashion Week by means of exchanging designers. http://serbiafashionweek.com

Being Aware - A Fashion Film Retrospective

Being Aware - A Fashion Film Retrospective 
By Niccolò Montanari - Fashion Film and Video Consultant

 “Agreeing on a vision does not mean compromising on quality in order to please everyone.”"

Over the past ten years we have seen a rapid growth of platforms catering for the fashion film genre. This term seems to have brought together all that video content with a strong emphasis on style that goes beyond being a moving lookbook or a behind-the-scenes.
Though people may differ in defining fashion film, what makes this genre is different creative industries working together, such as fashion, film and adver- tising, to deliver emotionally compelling and engaging video content.

 
Act! Cut! Play! was a project conceived as a way to develop and explore the relationship between several creative disciplines. “Fashion, film and theatre have come together on equal terms to deliver examples of how we can raise the quality and creativity of the fashion film genre”, explained Branko Popovic, FASHIONCLASH co-director and Act! Cut! Play! partner. Three teams formed by a fashion designer, a film director and theatre maker produced three unique pieces of video content that challenge the traditional approach to fashion film. Here’s what I have learnt after speaking to them.
Each film handled the portrayal of fashion in a completely different way. Both Your Approval Is Not Essential as well as The Parallel Pyramid Platform have fashion play an almost supporting role. The former places narrative at the centre, with fashion there to impact visually on the storyline. The latter on the other hand looks at fashion not as clothing, but rather as a tool to define, divide and group people together. The third film - iii - fits more within the traditional view of fashion film. Strong aesthetics play the leading role here, with narrative helping shape the message behind the film. Although the result is three very different fashion films, there are some shared key takeaways from the teams involved.
Though the definition of fashion film is yet to be agreed on, the overall vision of what is being produced should be aligned from the very beginning. The focus should be on deciding how the different disciplines interact with one another, whether any of them take the lead or are there to support and provide visual impact to the narrative. The aim isn’t to stand out as the main discipline, but rather to determine the correct formula to bring the vision to life.

Niccolò Montanari

Agreeing on a vision does not mean compromising on quality in order to please everyone. It means understanding the fundamental creative and visual principles shared by all and building from there. Being able to trust in each other’s talent and having an awareness of how each discipline works allows for the contributors to think differently about their own way of working. As a result, this will lead to a unique and innovative production that will most likely not fit within a conventional film category. Understanding where the story lies is a vital step in the creation of valuable video content. With film generally functioning as a storytelling canvas, disciplines such as fashion and theatre become the tools to bring the story to life. Even though each discipline comes with its own narrative, the aim is to work backwards and transport the overall agreed narrative into each discipline and work with it accordingly. Fashion film is a young genre, for which rules are yet to be defined.

Act! Cut! Play! succeeded in having us explore and question our general approach to fashion film. Rather than films about fashion, adverts or a series of striking visuals, we have seen what can be achie - ved by approaching fashion film as the union of several creative disciplines. This fresh perspective should be used as a stepping stone to explore this genre through other creatives fields, such as music, dance, illustration or architecture. By agreeing on a vision, and gaining a deeper understanding of each other’s as well as our own expertise, fashion film has the potential to become an excellent tool for the creative industries looking to innovate with video content in the digital era.

Groeten uit Maastricht Exhibition

Greetings from Maastricht: a look at innovative entrepreneurship

Starting on 11 November until 7 January, you can visit the restored Eiffel building and step into the world of Maastricht’s makers. Rediscover the history of the oldest industrial city in the Netherlands. Take a look behind the scenes at Maastricht’s leading production companies and marvel at the products and services that are putting Maastricht on the global map. Join these entrepreneurs who speak passionately about their companies, about the opportunities and challenges, the renewal, and the innovation. The expo is open to entrepreneurs and professionals, job seekers, students, and, of course, all of Maastricht’s many residents and visitors!

FASHIONCLASH is featured in the exhibition module 'Ondernemende Ontwerpers' (enterprising designers). In this installation FASHIONCLASH is presented with its main creative partners, Studio Stad (spatial design) and Studio Noto (graphic design and visual identity). Together these disciplines shape the platform that is offered with FASHIONCLASH Festival. -> program

http://groetenuitmaastricht.nl