Rena Jansen is currently in her final year of her Bachelor's of Design at the HKU in Utrecht. She strives to make clothes that are both wearable and conceptual at the same time. Her work is often bold and colorful, she loves to play with clothing archetypes and reshape them to create something new. Her newest collection, 'Y So Serious', uses overstock fabrics as well as leftover materials from a bouncy house, to support sustainability in fashion. The collection shows a critical analysis of her generation, known as millennials. Embodying the childhood nostalgia millennia's are known for, she expresses this while acknowledging that it is not a sustainable state.Her collection will be presented at the Show program on Saturday the 16th of June at the SAM-decorfabriek. Get your tickets here.
What made you realize that you wanted to work in (fashion) design?
As a child I always knew I wanted to work in a creative field. At the age of 11 I started to experiment with my own appearance, and throughout my teenage years I changed my wardrobe a lot. I have explored multiple subcultures and identities, and through this I experienced how fashion influenced me as the wearer, how it could make me feel better and how it enabled me to express myself.
Why did you choose fashion?
Fashion turned out to be the medium in which I could best express myself. I remember when I went to the first all-fashion exhibition, I think I was 14 years old, and I saw this video-compilation of Hussein Chalayans performance-like shows. This opened my eyes to how fashion can be a form of art. It is the most intimate form of art and that always fascinated me ever since.
What would you say are your main achievements in your career?
Since I’m currently still doing my bachelor, my career has not really started yet. Being part of FASHIONCLASH 2018 is definitely my biggest achievement in fashion so far!
What are your sources of inspiration?
I get my inspiration from lots of different places. Most of my inspiration comes from youth rebellion, Japanese culture, surrealism, cult movies, consumerism and childhood nostalgia. I get most inspired when I’m strolling through a museum, when I’m watching some weird movie or when I’m deep into some fashionable person's Instagram page.
Why did you decide to participate in FASHIONCLASH 2018? What are your expectations?
To be honest, I am pretty proud of what I’ve made, and I just want to show it to the world. It would be such a waist to work on a collection for months for it to only be shown at your graduation show, and continue its life catching dust in storage. I want my collection to live and to be used for what it is meant for: To me worn.
What do you love most about (fashion) design? What are the biggest struggles faced by young designers?
I love how you can help people by dressing them in beautiful clothes that make them feel good about themselves. I love how you can enable people to express themselves. The biggest struggle to me is that images of every design that has ever been made can now be found on the internet, so during my design-process I am constantly exposed to ideas similar to mine on my Instagram-feed. To me that is very discouraging, it makes me feel like I’ll never be able to create something that hasn’t been done before. Many people tell me that it is impossible to create something that has never been done before, but I don’t believe that. I will always strive to create something new.
How would you define fashion?
Fashion is the most intimate form of art there is, because it’s the only form of art that is directly on the body; it is a form of art in which the wearer is just as important as the work itself. Fashion is a reflection of the world we live in today, it has the ability to visualize things we can’t put into words.
