Forbidden Reverie by Yisong Huang
Now in its 16th year, the annual FASHIONCLASH Festival continues to evolve. Organised by the FASHIONCLASH Foundation, the event, which takes place each November in Maastricht, The Netherlands, aims to bring together young creatives from around the world and showcase their talent. This is not restricted to the field of fashion design, but extends to fashion film, performance, visual arts and much more.
This edition featured over 100 designers and artists from more than 20 countries. There were exhibitions, performances, workshops, films, pop up shops and talks at 13 locations around the city, but the schedule kicked off in the dramatic Saint Anna Church with The Clash House. This is a project that pairs emerging fashion designers with practitioners from the performing arts to present their work in a format other than the traditional catwalk.
Jose Marie Sta. Iglesia
We were impressed by designer of plus sized clothing Julia Burak and her witty collection and upbeat performance Ate and left no crumbs, a celebration of body diversity and a challenge to the prejudices against overweight people. I SEE YOU SEE ME was a touching performance by poet and artist Manka Menga in collaboration with fashion designer Katharina Spitz. Together, they asked questions about “being a woman, the desire for rituals and the location of the physical body in space and time”. Menga and Spitz took their inspiration from women who have challenged societal norms to earn a place in history and “the hearts and minds of society”.
As well as performance, there were several exhibitions featuring fashion and product design. One of these was presented by The Body Collective, an initiative recently launched by artists/designers Chequita Nahar, Anke Huyben and Katja Prins. Together they produce exhibitions, lectures, talks and screenings as a platform for dialogue between design and the visual arts. The displays included Ana Rajcevic’s fascinating project Animal: The Other Side of Evolution. Exploring the separation and conjunction between humans and animals, it imagines how humans might evolve if they developed more in tune with their natural environment. Rajcevic’s ‘hybrid-humans’ grow appendages such as tusks and horns, which she translates into wearable accessories.
Laura Knipsael. Photography | Chiel Lubbers
Fashion film has become an increasingly important element of the festival in recent years. A shortlist of 31 entries from the open call were screened at the lovely Lumière art house cinema. An international jury was tasked with whittling these down to five finalists and choosing the winners, with this year’s grand prize awarded to French/Lebanese filmmaker and artist Hadi Moussally for Shame (عيب). We also loved Tutu Academy by finalist Hong Kong Ballet, a slick and witty promo celebrating the 45th anniversary of the institution. The other finalists were Lisa Konno for BLACK TEETH, Delia Simonetti for Dell’Altro and Sel Kofiga for Donkomi.
As part of the ongoing efforts of FASHIONCLASH to provide avenues for new talent, aspiring filmmakers were mentored by industry professionals, resulting in their first fashion films. Three of these were premiered at this year’s festival, our favourite of which was A Breathe Moment by Jodie Cranen, Leda Spiranec, Povilas Gegevicius and Hsin Min Chan, in which a group of workers is “trapped in a vicious circle of labour”. The film was inspired by the frustrations of creatives stuck in mundane day jobs to pay the rent.
This was one of several projects that the FASHIONCLASH is involved with year-round. It’s not simply an annual showcase, but the result of an ongoing effort. For example, over 100 young people, including school children, are actively involved in the Fashion Makes Sense participation programme, which focuses on social design, education and collaboration between professionals, semiprofessionals and amateurs.
Not only can anyone attend the festival, with events being open to the public, either ticketed or with free admission, but anyone can participate. The aim is not to discover the ‘next big thing’, but to provide a platform where individuals and communities, whether from within the creative arts industries or completely outside of them, can come together and give it a go.
Find out more about FASHIONCLASH here.
words. Huma Humayun
images. Courtesy of FASHIONCLASH
