Fashion Week feature: AIFW, New York’s cool cousin
AIFW is rapidly becoming the Netherlands’ premiere fashion event. But what does fashion week actually mean for Dutch fashion and is it actually significant in the international scheme of things? In a feature on the January 2011 edition of the AIFW, Bregje Lampe, fashion journalist for Het Parool newspaper, explains.
AIFW: bigger and better
What hesitantly stuttered into life six years ago with a handful of presentations at the Zuiveringshal on the Westergasfabrieksterrein has bloomed into an event featuring tens of fashion shows. Thanks to the Amsterdam International Fashion Week (AIFW), several Dutch designers have shot from being relatively unknown to household names in the business.
Take Daryl van Wouw, Claes Iversen and Jan Taminiau for example. Five years or so ago, hardly anyone had heard of them and now everyone’s talking about Van Wouw’s street couture, Iverson’s elegant dresses and Taminiau’s stylish frocks. They’ve even made it onto the pages of Dutch fashion and beauty magazine Libelle. Fashion is in fashion, and the Amsterdam International Fashion Week has played a significant role in this. At the very least, the AIFW has given Dutch designers an impressive amount of publicity.
A state of mind
But generating publicity isn’t the sole purpose of the fashion week. In their own words, the primary function of the organisation is ‘to develop a state of mind in which fashion is taken seriously’. Or perhaps: to get the government and corporate world interested in fashion, because then the necessary sponsorship will be provided. ABN Amro is hence the main sponsor of the event and the new owners, who came on board mid-2010, have also secured the support of the NS (Dutch railway network, trans.).
The Amsterdam International Fashion Week consists of two parts, the official catwalk programme (invite only, where the fashion labels present their creations to the press and buyers) and the DOWNTOWN event which is open to the public and sees the event take to the clubs, bars and museums across the city.
Combining creativity and commerce
A driving force behind AIFW is director Merle Deterink (31). Involved in the project since the beginning, she has managed to create a successful combination of creativity and commerce. Extravagant designs by art academy students create the required hype so that the commercial labels, this year Supertrash and Tony Cohen for example, can do good business.
Fashion Week LAB
Deterink (pictured, left) was also the brains behind Fashion Week LAB, a project that allows academy graduates to put on a fashion show in the Machinegebouw that costs them next to nothing. Due to a lack of funding, some graduates are otherwise forced to present their wares in a show held on the grass outside. Deterink: ‘We also organise training sessions in which graduates learn how to present themselves professionally and bring them into contact with sponsors and money lenders.’
A prime example of Deterink’s last point is designer Iris van Herpen, who has appeared at the AIFW an impressive seven times. Her artistic creations using strips of fabric were certainly attention-grabbers but required significant investment in order to make them into saleable items. Using the fashion week as a launch pad, Van Herpen rocketed onwards to the Prêt-à-porter exhibition in Paris, an event of major commercial importance.
Up and coming talent
As the first generation of designers who participated in the AIFW begin to expand their businesses (Claes Iversen has opened a shop on the Herengracht in Amsterdam and Jan Taminiau owns an atelier in Naarden), the next generation is already chomping at the bit to get their big break. Marloes Blaas and Elsien Gringhuis are two of the new big names to keep an eye on during this AIFW.
Spijkers en Spijkers
Jan Taminiau will present two new collections on the opening night of the AIFW (January 2011). Another name to look out for is Spijkers en Spijkers – The Spijker sisters (Truus and Riet) have been presenting their designs in London for several years but participated in the AIFW for the first time last July. In London, they still need to raise awareness of their exclusive Spijkers en Spijkers fashion label, but the AIFW is like playing on home turf.
In Amsterdam, they will present there more accessible label, SiS, which is geared towards a younger target audience. Talking about the AIFW, Truus Spijkers comments that ‘It also works extremely well on a practical level, as it isn’t too close to other fashion weeks.’
Striking newcomer
The most striking newcomer on the programme for the upcoming fashion week (January 2011) is Bas Kosters, who, for a number of years has organised his own Anti-fashion event during AIFW. Kosters doesn’t have anything against the fashion week in itself – "I think it’s a fantastic platform, it’s incredibly important to Dutch fashion that the AIFW takes place" – but until recently, was primarily interested in designing for an underground audience.
"I’m extremely curious what participating in the AIFW could mean for my company. I never used to participate because fashion design was merely one of my pursuits. But now that I’ve made a conscious decision to focus on fashion and my clothes are on sale, the Amsterdam International Fashion Week is the perfect opportunity to present my work to a broader audience", says Kosters.
During the first edition of the AIFW, the then director James Veenhoff alluded to acquiring a position as the ‘cool cousin of New York’. But becoming truly international isn’t perhaps the best option for the Amsterdam Fashion Week. However, the organisers do their utmost to boost the international character of the event. This time around, around thirty journalists are being flown in for the event and Deterink states that nowadays, the organisation is being more frequently approached by international labels that see a presentation during AIFW as a stepping stone into Europe.
AIFW: as essential part of the Dutch fashion industry
It’s perhaps not surprising that the entire international press isn’t itching to join the party when you consider that 152 fashion weeks are organised annually. Put simply, this is the deal: Paris is the platform for the most creative, absolute top-drawer designers in the world, Milan is all about doing business and quality products, London is platform for creatives just starting out and New York is fairly commercial. It could be argued that Amsterdam tags along after cities such as São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen and Sydney, but that is not necessarily to its detriment: AIFW is an important networking opportunity for pretty much everyone who matters in the Dutch fashion industry.
AIFW DOWNTOWN
Amsterdam International Fashion Week also has stacks to offer for the non-professionals amongst us – the DOWNTOWN event takes place from 22 to 30 January 2011, with exhibitions and events throughout the city that are open to all, in comparison to the invite-only shows at the Westergasfabrieksterrein. For example, on 23 January, the College Hotel organises an evening dedicated to jazz and fashion and from Thursday, 26 January, the Maison de Bonneterie window display be home to the ‘Dress of the Day’, selected in collaboration with Amsterdam daily newspaper Het Parool. From Saturday, 22 January there’s also a Designer Market, where clothes by designers participating in the AIFW are for sale. Straight from the catwalk onto the rack.
Some stars to watch out for
Iris van Herpen
Iris van Herpen (1975) – A delicate figure of a woman dressed in black, Van Herpen hit the scene at the summer edition of AIFW in 2007 and was one of the major surprises of the week. Her designs have a fairy tale character while being extravagant and futuristic. She has been pulling in the crowds over the last few seasons during AIFW and recently went home with three of the four honours at the Dutch Fashion Awards, the most significant Dutch fashion prize. Success in the Netherlands gave her an international boost and she can soon be seen at the main event in Paris.
Van Herpen was a keen classical ballerina before joining the Art Academy. She completed internships at Alexander McQueen and Claudy Jongstra and opened her own atelier on a trading estate in Arnhem in 2006. Van Herpen is doing very well for herself – she already has a press agency in London, her designs are for sale in three foreign shops, she designs shoes for United Nude and has designed clothes for stars including Lady Gaga, Björk and Skunk Anansie.
Bas Kosters
Bas Kosters (1977, pictured left) – A headstrong personality with a flamboyant appearance, Kosters is a familiar name in the Dutch fashion world. When he presented his graduation collection for the Master’s course at the Arnhem Fashion Institute in 2003, he was awarded the Robijn Fashion Award – at the time, the most important fashion prize in the country. Kosters has stayed true to the style in which he graduated, designing colourful, happy-go-lucky clothes, but didn’t rush to launch his own label.
He avoided the fashion system for a long time, choosing to spend his time creating illustrations, music and performances instead of designing the required two collections a year. He only put on a fashion show if he felt like it and you had to submit a request if you wanted to get your hands on his designs. But since he participated in the Dutch Fashion Awards last year, you can find clothes by Kosters in the Bijenkorf and he has established three sales outlets in Japan. ‘The focus is now on fashion’, explains Kosters. ‘I chose to study fashion, now I want to make it big in fashion.’
Jan Taminiau
Jan Taminiau (1975) – A smart chap, usually wearing jeans and a shirt, launched his own label immediately after graduating from the Master’s course at the Fashion Institute in Arnhem. Coming from a family of antique dealers, he has a penchant for nostalgia and a weakness for hand-made clothes.
Taminiau often produces tailor-made designs - feminine and romantic with hoards of shiny beads, metres of taffeta and organza, ingenious fits and exemplary workmanship. He has established an impressive client base over recent years, including Princess Máxima. In August 2009, Taminiau relocated his atelier from the Oudezijds Achterburgwal in Amsterdam to Naarden. He will present a new couture and demi-couture line during the AIFW launch party (January 2011).
Hans Ubbink
Hans Ubbink (1961) – Following an evening course at the Arnhem Academy, this metrosexual designer held positions at Dutch labels including Soap Studio and Van Gils before founding male fashion labels JC Rags and Books. In 2000, he gave his name to a fashion label which he founded together with his girlfriend, Ans. Ubbink creates three collections per year, for both men and women. He has already established 200 sales outlets in the Netherlands and is now focusing his attention outside of the country.
Ubbink rose to fame primarily thanks to his clientele: his flamboyant shirts are favoured by male celebrities including Matthijs van Nieuwkerk, Beau van Erven Dorens, Waldemar Torenstra, Jan Mulder and Daniël Boissevain. Hans Ubbink will not participate in AIFW this year although he did organise a fashion show in the Royal Theatre Carré on 3 January 2011.
Text by Bregje Lampe
Translation by Dave Nice
First published in the Uitkrant, January 2010
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