Fashion Talks at FASHIONCLASH Festival 2017

Looking back to inspiring Fashion Talks 
at FASHIONCLASH Festival 2017

"We live in a rapidly changing world where progress is accompanied by environmental pollution and ethical issues. The fashion world is a mighty billion industry, and like no other is able to create an illusion and seduce us humans and excite our senses. Today's fashion industry is a reflection of society with a strong focus on aesthetics. Our society approaches fashion as a purely visual phenomenon and doesn’t always see the nature of the interaction with the body (of the wearer), despite the fact that fashion is the most intimate form of art, as it is literally worn “on the body”! As a second skin, clothing also enables us to express ourselves and helps us make sense of the world."
- FASHIONCLASH Team

(Does) Fashion Makes Sense? was the question posed during the 9th edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival. Although there is no answer that can satisfy this broad and complex question the panel at the  Fashion Talks provided positive food for thoughts.
Moderated by Saskia van Stein, artistic director at Bureau Europa, a stage was given to a several festival participants and professionals to engage in a discussion about the topic.
The first talk focused more on the senses and the body. Followed by talk that engaged a more broader view on the industry. Does fashion 'as an industry' make sense.

lecture performance Olle Lundin & Floriane Misslin 

Before the talks started, Olle Lundin and Floriane Misslin, provided the perfect introduction with their joint lecture performance.
By extracting postures and re-contextualizing them Olle Lundin hopes to denaturalize the body-language of high fashion. By doing this he has the intention to show the norms, ideals and invisible expectations that are inherent in the visual language discourse of high fashion advertising today! Floriane Misslin focusses on portraying non-binary identities in the mainstream media.  In the Fashion Makes Sense LAB she presented her current project ‘Uni-Sex’.

The speakers Emanuela Corti and Ivan Parati talked about their 'Sensewear' project. Their primary purpose is to stimulate and improve awareness of our senses, while training us to better use them all. Some Sensewear items are designed to mute physical sensations, some to sharpen them. The collection is inspired by therapies applied to Sensory Processing Disorders and developed with the technical support of therapists assisting people affected with autism. Anxiety, stress, panic attack are most typical autism’s symptoms but more and more people suffers them, therefore the collection is not addressed only to people with disabilities but it is aiming at enhancing everyone busy urban life.

Designer Sepideh Ahadi explained how she works and talked about her slow fashion approach. As a designer, Sepideh feels the responsibility to invite her audience to think about fashion in a different and more interactive way through her designs.

Carolyn Mair, the Chartered Psychologist and Chartered Scientist with a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, became an 'instant darling' with her point of view and knowledge.
She developed the MA Psychology for Fashion Professionals and MSc Applied Psychology in Fashion at LCF.
Another expert that shared her knowledge was Rosemarie Ruigrok. After selling her own company, Promax Corporate Fashion, she worked at Amnesty International, Fair Wear Foundation and as CSR consultance at Elsewear Foundation, known by “Green is the new black and as International cotton manager for Fairtrade. In 2007 Roosmarie founded Clean & Unique.

Another speaker was local designer Ebby Port, who expressed her challenges as being a young designer who wants to change the world but feels not as responsible, her statement was that the big companies should take the lead and take responsibility.

Jeffrey Heiligers and Eva Wagensveld talked about their project online platform SHI[R]T.
"The psychology behind fashion has become less about quality or durabilty and more about being fast, cheap and easy to replace. Does fashion make sense if the quality of the products is high, labour conditions are good and the environmental impact is minimal? In other words: Do you want to buy a shit-shirt, or rather invest in something fair?"

On Friday night they presented a participatory performance in the fashion show program, stirring the audience by literally facing a mirror to everyone.
Several members from the audience were randomly invited on the runway who were then donned with mirrored panels on their chest and back. Mirrors were then held up to seated guests, as questions such as “Do you buy because you can?” and “How come that a sandwich is cheaper than a sweater?” echoed in the background.

Photography Sem Shayne, FASHIONCLASH

Fashion Talks at FASHIONCLASH Festival 2017

sensewear
photo Eddy Adlan

Fashion Talks at FASHIONCLASH Festival 
Sunday 2nd of July, at SAM-decorfabriek 
Meerssenerweg 215, free entrance 

(Does) Fashion Makes Sense? 
Come and join the dialogue on July 2. 

Through ‘Fashion Makes Sense’ FASHIONCLASH this year focuses on senses and making sense in relation to fashion. Focused around these two topics the Fashion Talks provide an interactive dialogue with the designers, the audience and the fashion industry.

Moderated by Saskia van Stein, artistic director at Bureau Europa, a stage will be given to a several festival participants and professionals to engage in a discussion about the topic. In addition, this is an opportunity to get to know the designers and discover their vision on the future of fashion.
A space will be given to a few designers to talk about the two subjects and make personal contact with other designers, the audience and the fashion industry.

Files Motwary at the Fashion Talk at FCF 2016

So, Does Fashion Make Sense?

We live in a rapidly changing world where progress is accompanied by environmental pollution and ethical issues. The fashion world is a mighty billion industry, and like no other is able to create an illusion and seduce us humans and excite our senses. Today's fashion industry is a reflection of society with a strong focus on aesthetics. Our society approaches fashion as a purely visual phenomenon and doesn’t always see the nature of the interaction with the body (of the wearer), despite the fact that fashion is the most intimate form of art, as it is literally worn “on the body”! As a second skin, clothing also enables us to express ourselves and helps us make sense of the world.

The Fashion Talks are part of the Fashion Makes Sense LAB Sunday program at the SAM-decorfabriek during FASHIONCLASH Festival.

PROGRAM
13:15 – 14:15 Fashion & Senses
- Lecture performance: Olle Lundin x Floriane Misslin
- Talk panel: Sensewear (Emanuela Corti & Ivan Parati), Sepideh Ahadi and Carolyn Mair (Course leader for MA Psychology for Fashion Professionals and MSc Applied Psychology in the Fashion Business School at LCF).

14:30 – 15:30 (Does) Fashion Make Sense? 
- Talk panel: SHI[R]T (Eva Wagensveld & Jeffrey Heiligers) Lucia Chain (CHAIN) and Roosmarie Ruigrok (Clean & Unique).

MEET THE SPEAKERS

Floriane Misslin is a native French creative researcher born in 1992. Her central focus is on portraying non-binary identities in the mainstream media. She followed an education in applied arts near Strasbourg and moved to Paris shortly after, to learn more about fashion design. Feeling too limited by the educational system she left the school in Paris, and moved to Eindhoven to attend the design academy. The wide approach to design brought her back to a more theoretical and critical perspective. She is currently developing her project ‘Uni-Sex’ and works as a freelancer on the side.

Sensewear is a collection of clothes and accessories that emphasize the use of senses. Sensewear consists of two designers, Emanuela Corti and Ivan Parati. Their primary purpose is to stimulate and improve awareness of our senses, while training us to better use them all. Some Sensewear items are designed to mute physical sensations, some to sharpen them. The collection is inspired by therapies applied to Sensory Processing Disorders and developed with the technical support of therapists assisting people affected with autism. Anxiety, stress, panic attack are most typical autism’s symptoms but more and more people suffers them, therefore the collection is not addressed only to people with disabilities but it is aiming at enhancing everyone busy urban life.

menswear, photo Eddy Adlan

All garments are produced using 3d knitted fabrics Gaetano Rossini and Alcantara. Textile sensors and actuators are produced and developed by Comftech our technical partner. Sensewear has won three health and design related award (Lexus Design Award 2015, Wearable Technology at Venice Design Week 2016, AXAPPP Health Tech & You Future Award 2017).

Sepideh Ahadi, as a multicultural brand, is bridging the gap between her pure Middle Eastern background and European life experience. In her work Sepideh embraces the simplicity of the traditional techniques used in Iran, her home place with the elegance found in Italy where she finished her M.A in fashion design and the practical aesthetic of German lifestyle, where she lives and work now. The brand is dedicated to slow fashion and sustainable practices, in that the designer creates her collections through a considered and experimental process.







The collections mostly reflect social issues in the modern lifestyle where the designer challenges herself to find an artistic way to contribute to making a difference. As a designer, Sepideh feels the responsibility to invite her audience to think about fashion in a different and more interactive way through her designs.

Carolyn Mair is a Chartered Psychologist and Chartered Scientist with a PhD in cognitive neuroscience. She developed the MA Psychology for Fashion Professionals and MSc Applied Psychology in Fashion at LCF. In the beginning of her career, Carlyn was a graphic designer and visual merchandiser, she worked for department stores, where she designed and installed store window displays, in-store installations and advertising materials. She was interested in fashion, this led to her designing clothes for herself and friends.

SHI[R]T is an online platform/webshop for designers that offer fair or sustainable products. Not the dull goatysocks kind we all know. But one supporting [young] designers with their own vision. No mass production but small and local production. As a brand being transparent is key, know what you buy. The two people behind this brand are Dutch designers Jeffrey Heiligers and Eva Wagensveld. The psychology behind fashion has become less about quality or durabilty and more about being fast, cheap and easy to replace. Does fashion make sense if the quality of the products is high, labour conditions are good and the environmental impact is minimal? In other words: Do you want to buy a shit-shirt, or rather invest in something fair?

CHAIN is an emerging fashion label based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their work has been shown several times at Buenos Aires Fashion Week, Fashion Edition Buenos Aires and International Fashion Showcase – London Fashion week. Committed to the environment, the designs are made by hand with eco, and sustainable fabrics, all natural plant based fibers and uncycled plant based dyes. Zero waste patterns, a-gender fits and sustainable production are important methods of their work and make the clothing to test time.

By extracting postures and re-contextualizing them Olle Lundin hopes to denaturalize the body-language of high fashion. By doing this he has the intention to show the norms, ideals and invisible expectations that are inherent in the visual language discourse of high fashion advertising today!

photo Ayaan Haanewald

Starting as a textile buyer, Roosmarie Ruigrok discovered her passion in fair supply chains. After selling her own company, Promax Corporate Fashion, she worked at Amnesty International, Fair Wear Foundation and as CSR consultance at Elsewear Foundation, known by “Green is the new black and as International cotton manager for Fairtrade. In 2007 Roosmarie founded Clean & Unique. A foundation that help brands and starters in fashion to learn more about sustainability. Today Clean & Unique transformed into an agent for change to create more knowledge and awareness about sustainability in fashion, workwear & textiles by giving advises, training, workshops, inspiration sessions and organizing events. Roosmarie is an International speaker for 15 years and spoke during Premier Vision Paris, Mare di Moda in Cannes but also in Berlin, Rome, London and in the Netherlands. Last March Clean&Unique celebrated it’s 10th anniversary.

Meet the Maker #2 - FASHIONCLASH Festival 2015

Meet the Maker #1 

Meet the Maker #2 in collaboration with Bureau Europa 
June 13 13:00 - 17:00 in the context of FASHIONCLASH Festival 2015

Last year, Bureau Europa and Studio Noto successfully started a new concept called Meet the Maker, a platform for presenting work of young designers and performers to a select group of interested professionals.

Additional to the collaboration with Studio Noto the next edition will be organised together with FASHIONCLASH Maastricht.

For this special edition of Meet the Maker, five artists have been selected to present an object, project or performance to a (transdis- ciplinary) group of interested parties and then talk about their works and performances while having lunch together in a special setting.

The works and performances that will be pre- sented have to be related to this year's theme of the FASHIONCLASH Festival: Gender. The works do not necessarily have to be created for this event. Artists are free to choose work which is even incomplete or in the making, as long as it links with the theme. The challenge is to choose a artwork or performance and give the reason for this particular choice. The audience is considered as being participants themselves that enter into a dialogue with the makers. After the short presentations, there will be food and discussion in an informal setting.

Meet the Maker #2  Participants: Casper Wortman, Miglė Nevieraitė, Matthijs Holland, Anne Marie Borsboom and Dario Tortorelli.

Meet the Maker #1 -  Dutsy Thomas

With Meet the Maker Bureau Europa aims to provide a platform for encounters between creators, thinkers, and designers from the Euregio. The drain of young (design) talent is a known issue in the Euregio. The lack of a good (cultural) infrastructure plays an important role in this problem. It is crucial for talent to experience connectedness through creating networks and cultural careers. Such experiences begin with a meeting: therefore, every six months, Bureau Europa wants to of- fer space for a weekend of such meetings.

Because this edition is organised in collaboration with FASHIONCLASH the event will be part of the press tour of the FASHIONCLASH festival. That means that a lot of professional journalists and bloggers will join the event. Then subsequently, during the rest of the day, Bureau Europa is accessible for everybody to make sure that the works can be seen by a broad audience.

Meet the Maker is an initiative of Bureau Europa and Studio Noto.

http://www.bureau-europa.nl/en/manifestations/meet_the_maker/

More information about FASHIONCLASH Festival Side Program: http://fashionclash.nl/fashionclash-festival-2015-side-program/

Meet the Maker #1 -  Dutsy Thomas

FASHIONCLASH Festival 2015 - Preview

FASHIONCLASH Festival countdown has started. In just three weeks FASHIONCLASH will take over Maastricht with the 7th edition of the international clash of talent, cultures and disciplines.
On Saturday May 23, audience got the opportunity to already experience the 'FASHIONCLASH' festival vibe with a preview performance. Bureau Europa invited FASHIONCLASH to organize a preview in a creative hub to be. The afternoon started with a lecture at Bureau Europa by Floor Nijdeken, that followed up with a conversation with Branko Popovic.
After that the audience was guided to Vredestein, former Lab building at the industrial Bosscherveld
area in Maastricht. We invited Lotte Milder to develop a performance where where FASHIONCLASH philosophy clashes with theatre performance and urban heritage and development. Furthermore gender roles where reversed. Models were wearing pieces from collection that will premiere during FASHIONCLASH Festival 2015 (June 11-14).
Featured designers were: Yojiro Kake, Joelle Boers, Sofya Samareva, Branko Popovic, Marlou Breuls, BLANK ETIQUETTE, Carlotaoms, Hana Frisonsova, Věra Vtípilová, Jivika Biervliet, Simeon Morris, Flora Miranda, Lotte Milder and Hermione Flynn.

The performance was create by theater performer Lotte Milder, Karlijn Milder, Mats Logen and Tjeerd van Heerdt. Dominque Cordaro and Bas Aarts were responsible for the hair and make-up.