ANT fashion magazine

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the netherlands/ belgium â‚Ź 10

magazine of the amsterdam fashion institute

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8th edition: 2011/ 2012

featuring the

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celebrating absurd creative passion

the good side of bad taste

grandma’s take on modern menswear

www.chanel.com

La Ligne de CHANEL - Nederland Tel 0900 519 2005 (0,15â‚Ź/min.,incl.BTW).

Olympus PEN Één camera, duizenden mogelijkheden, de Olympus PEN. Olympus PEN heeft de kwaliteit en veelzijdigheid van een digitale spiegelreflex gecombineerd met het gebruiksgemak van een compactcamera. De PEN-serie biedt talloze mogelijkheden, zoals het verwisselen van lenzen, extra filters en diverse objectieven. Olympus gaf professioneel fotografe en blogster Marieke Gras een nieuwe PEN-camera om mee te fotograferen. Dit jonge talent was echter niet geheel onbekend met het merk: ze schoot al vaak analoog met een oude Olympuscamera. De haarscherpe foto’s en het compacte formaat van de nieuwe PEN E-PL1 camera maakte Marieke onmiddellijk verliefd: dit is de ideale camera voor het bijhouden van haar blog en het ontwikkelen van haar portfolio.

Als je op de hoogte wil blijven van alle foto’s die Marieke Gras met haar nieuwe E-PL1 maakt, check dan de Facebookpagina van Olympus NL en word fan!

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editors in chief

ANT fashion magazine and ANT yearbook are published by: AMFI - Amsterdam Fashion Institute

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Hogeschool van Amsterdam Mauritskade 11, 1091 GC Amsterdam, the Netherlands +31 20 595 4555 www.amfi.nl www.facebook.com/amsterdamfashioninstitute

Katrina Cervoni Shannon Jager

Petra Boers, Janne Coolen, Florianne Eshuis, Stephen Fetherston, Monique Francis, Jos Geurts, Andrew Kerven, Bregje Lampe, Sophie Peeters, Michael Pronk, Anneke Reijnders, Peter van Rhon, Suzanne van Rooij, Narda van’t Veer, René van de Velde, Suki Verwiel, Belinda Visser and Joanna Watson, Marjolein van Wijck.

Stocklist Acne www.acnestudios.com American Apparel www.americanapparel.net ANT ANT fashion magazine www.antfashionmagazine.com fashion magazine www.antfashionmagazine.com Bas Kosters www.baskosters.com Bibi van der Velden www.bibivandervelden.com Blackstone www.blackstone.nl Cheap Monday www.cheapmonday.com Christian Dior www.dior.com Church Footwear www.church-footwear.com Collectie Arnhem www.collectiearnhem.nl ColourFool Agency www.colourfoolagency.com COS www.cosstores.com Davne Van Den Heuvel www.daphnevandenheuvel.nl

Episode www.episode.eu

pr & events

Anne-Floor ten Brinke Jessica Hellinga Robin Straatman Tiffanni Trench Eric de Boer (coach)

Idea Books www.ideabooks.nl

Filippa K www.filippa-k.com Frozen Fountain www.frozenfountain.nl Frrry www.frrry.com

marketing

marketing manager Yma van den Born

printer www.robstolk.nl

Export Press www.exportpress.com

Good Times Jewelry www.goodtimes.nl

Hyun Yeu www.adolesscents.com

Therése Östelius Zornitsa Angelova Claudia Jansen Olivier Termijtelen Vita van Casteren Lindsey Watson

Masha Erjavec Elyse Moland Lisette Ros Chaay Tilakdharie Juliette van Oorschot Casimir Morreau (coach)

distribution

Ellis Biemans www.ellisbiemans.com

Henrik Vibskov www.henrikvibskov.com

ant yearbook

Bregje Crone Malou Petrie Romy Jong Daphne Träger Anouk van der Laan Dieuwke van der Veen Ines Veselcic Linnemore Nefdt (coach)

Suzanne Berens Ilse Bekker Femke Goos Jessika van der Meij Anne Mestrom Anneloes van Gaalen (coach)

Denham www.denhamthejeanmaker.com

Hans Ubbink www.hansubbink.com

Frank Jurgen Wijlens Charlotte Lokin

product antfashionmagazine.com

Marian McLaughlin, Martien Mellema, Luis Mendo, Emmi Ojala,

H&M www.hm.com

Anni Truu Eve Keskinen Loes Koster

ar t direction

A special thanks to Toon Agterberg, Frans Ankoné, Koos de Boer,

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editors

Hugo Boss www.hugoboss.com Individuals www.individualsatamfi.nl Individuals www.individualsatamfi.nl

ANT fashion magazine would like to thank our

Jeffery Campbell www.jeffreycampbellshoes.com

wonderful contributors and advertisers!

Kling www.kling.es Laurie De Kok www.lauriedekok.com Mads Nørgaard www.madsnorgaard.com Marc by Marc Jacobs www.marcjacobs.com Musa Shah www.musashah.com NON by KIM www.nonbykim.com Palladium www.palladiumboots.com Samantha Wijsman www.samanthawijsman.com Spice PR www.spicepr.nl

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Swedish Hasbeens www.swedishhasbeens.com United Nude www.unitednude.com Velour www.velour.se Walter van Beirendonck www.waltervanbeirendonck.com Weekday www.weekday.com Zara www.zara.com

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On all offers, tenders and agreements made by Amsterdam Fashion Institute the conditions of Dutch law apply. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any Cover: Photography: Sophie van der Perre Styling & Concept: Katrina Cervoni & Anni Truu

means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher nor the authors accept any responsibility

Hair & Make-up: Carlos Saidel - ColourFool Agency

for damages, of any nature, resulting from the use of

Production Assistant: Loes Koster

this information. The editors of ANT fashion magazine

Image Editing: Juliette Van Oorschot Model: Shona Lee Gal - Future Faces jacket Laurie de Kok, bottoms American Apparel, shoes Hugo Boss, socks American Apparel

and AMFI - ANT yearbook 2011 have attempted to abide by all copyright. If someone believes they have copyright to any part of this publication, contact AMFI Amsterdam Fashion Institute.

Johannes Verhulststraat 143 sous 1071 NB Amsterdam The Netherlands T: +31 20 6739037 F: +31 20 4709711 info@goodtimes.nl www.goodtimes.nl Skype: goodtimesbv Chamber of Commerce Amsterdam Trade number: 33297278

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contents 84 suspended between gender

46 connecting the wrong dots in a conjured fashion world

106 an average afternoon turns into a defective tea party

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22 28

in love with... designed nightmares

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exploring bad taste

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thomas and his toaster

68 70 76 82

chasing fashion it was in the error measured mishaps sleeping with fashion

88 wizardry 92 rituals 100 sketching substitutes 102 boekie woekie 106 defective tea party 116 commodity fetish 118 strange love

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14 look twice for the double take

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30 strict tailoring in the shadows don’t fall in love with me yet 62 mirror, mirror on the wall ant obsessions

fashion hotel Overnachten in één van de 260 designkamers van het Westcord Fashion Hotel in Amsterdam. Eindelijk slapen met datgene waar je zoveel van houdt: fashion. Maar wist je dat het hotel, buiten de romantiek tussen jou en je passie, ook een platform voor jong talent creëert? Een uitzonderlijke combinatie, die ervoor zorgt dat je het Westword Fashion hotel steeds opnieuw wilt ontdekken.

Het Westcord Fashion Hotel is continue opzoek naar nieuw talent, variërend van jonge modeontwerpers tot fotografen. Zo waren o.a. de extravagante designs van Janneke Lemmers en Judith Buil al te zien in de lobby. Ook de fotogalerie wordt gebruikt om talenten als Nancy Schoenmakers een podium te geven.

Doordat het Fashion Hotel een flinke doorstroom heeft van lunchgasten, conferenties, business mensen en fashionable toeristen, krijgen de jonge creatieve professionals op deze manier de unieke kans om hun werk aan de rest van de wereld te showen.

Naast de fysieke presentaties, geeft het hotel de ontwerpers en fotografen ook online aandacht via social media en binnenkort ook hun eigen blog! Als je op de hoogte wil blijven van het Westcord Fashion Hotel en zijn exposanten check dan de Facebook pagina en word lid. www.facebook.com/westcord-fashion-hotel-amsterdam

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editorial An intense passion starts with a fixation for something very particular. An intuitive drive pulls you into a unique world that offers infinite inspiration and gives rise to the most imaginative outcomes. Whether it is a nightmare inspired by fashion or a toaster made from scratch, in ANT fashion magazine these pleasant obsessions take various forms.

In a time of modest expression in fashion, we feel there is a call for a vibrant illustration of creativity fueled by the passion of real people who are not in it for the fame. These people might be ignored and regarded as plain ridiculous because of their very specific fascinations that at times lead them to extremes. In reality, they are the ones who produce the amazing collections, exquisite collages and emotional visuals.

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Being at the root of creativity and sharing the excitement of actually making something from the heart, gives us great optimism about this new direction in the fashion industry.

ANT is a magazine to be enjoyed with a good amount of absurdity. We hope you take pleasure in connecting the wrong dots.

Anni Truu Eve Keskinen Katrina Cervoni Loes Koster Shannon Jager

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blue jacket & bodysuits albert cuyp market, grey jacket h&m

simon says ...

bodysuits albert cuyp market, shoes waterlooplein market, blue trousers h&m, brown trousers episode

pink skirt episode, beige skirt zara, bodysuits albert cuyp market

double take photography: linda stulic styling & concept: claudia jansen & ilse bekker make-up: sanne pagen hair: kiefer lippens models: dominique van den burg & naomi jansen

blue dress kling, grey dress zara

michela, photograph, 2011

juxtapositions Pleasantly obsessed graphic designer Esteban Berrios Vargas came up with an intriguing way of creating art pieces. By merging two seemingly unrelated images, he produces an object that contains a new message. Although this technique may seem simple, there is an interesting concept behind his work: Esteban started working like this after becoming seriously inspired by a writing method William S. Burroughs used in the 50’s. This special method consists of juxtapositioning pieces of text, which turns the message of each sentence into something compelling and quite special.

The body of work Esteban has created is called Reflection on Arrangements.

Esteban: “What surprised me was that the texts that came out of Burroughs’ rearrangements were far more interesting than the original linear narrative. So it made me start thinking how this could be observed in images, without altering existing material by cutting and pasting, but by discovering them as they were.”

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estebanberrios.com

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teresa, photograph, 2011

pigment prints on silk, 2010

catching colors Obsessed over pigments and the dyeing process of fabric, textile designer Cora Hamilton’s work is all about accidental beauty. Depending on the slightest gust of wind, chance, or motion, Cora uses pigments to reveal the power of coincidence in her work.

Once, when she was blending loose pigments into dye, Cora had an epiphany. Cora: “I was watching the small pigments and started to think about their dry characteristics. They were beautiful, and I was wondering if it would be possible to catch the essence of the dry pigment on fabric.�

Her eager investigation resulted in a series of printed fabrics, woven textiles and silk-screen prints.

For Cora, curiosity is what keeps her going. She states that once her curiosity is dead, her project also naturally dies.

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corahamilton.com

pigment prints on paper, 2011

untitled, ink on book page, 2011

eyes and intuition Using ink, fine liner and paper from vintage books, artist Louis Reith creates dynamic works. His imposing images are built from geometrical forms, thin lines and graphic letter shapes. After playing his favorite song of the week, cleaning up his desk, organizing his tools and staring out of his window for quite some time, Louis starts working. His pieces start with a theme and usually contain a certain hidden message.

Sometimes Louis’ pieces consist of a word, while at other times they translate certain environments like mountain landscapes. In order to keep the mind fresh and inspired, Louis is usually up for an experiment. He makes personal pieces in which he draws names of friends or does swaps with other artists. Although a bike ride through the city of Amsterdam serves as fuel to the brain, most indispensable to Louis are his eyes and intuition.

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louisreith.com

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untitled, collage and ink on book page, 2011

designed nightmare text by eve keskinen illustration by shannon jager

Everybody knows that all too familiar feeling of waking up from a vivid nightmare. A feeling fading from terror to vague discomfort and a restless awareness that our subconscious has been playing an uninvited film in our mind. Henrik Vibskov’s A/W 2011 collection titled ‘The Eat’ followed us into our dreams...

An extract from a dream journal: ‘It was probably never sunny judging by her white skin. The alarmingly red sweater does nothing to diminish the effect. She quickly grabs the round sun-glasses placing them on the bridge of her nose with one mechanical movement.

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Her almost geometrically proportioned jaw and expressionless look conflicts with the few soft baby hairs falling out of her bun so tightly fastened it reveals the shape of her skull. The intrusive flashes of artificial light blind her, the chrome frames reflect a dazzling beam of light revealing, for a split-second, a deer caught in the headlights.

There is nothing about her manner of being.

She rehearsed precise Therespontaneous is nothing spontaneous about her manner ofisbeing.

She isand rehearsed in her movements and even hermovements heels are clicking withher theheels apt precision of awith stopwatch. and precise in her and even are clicking the apt This controlled appearance is an effort to controlled mask her terror of something pursuing her. precision of a stopwatch.

This awahtever pursuesask Abruptly, a piercing sound invades the stillness and becomes absolute, filling her head. It occurs to her there is no one behind her – she is only an anonymous part of an enormous mass of identical figures. A flash of claustrophobia mixed with panic takes over and wakes her. The events are instantaneously erased.’

We asked the captivating dream weaver Henrik Vibskov to make sense of it all and tell us how a fashion nightmare came to life on the runway.

Your A/W 2011, ’The Eat’ collection was a nightmarish vision inspired by “Farenheit 451” and “Brazil”. Can you describe what the eerie setting or atmosphere for this collection first looked like in your head when you first started making it?

I normally start with a specific mood or color – anything that creates a certain sensation for me and spin the rest off from there. For “The Eat” it was the aspects of functionality - reflected in the materials, and a certain introversion, shadows and dark environments reflected in the patterns and prints.

Do you ever hear silence? Can you describe what silence sounds like, to you?

Never.

Your collections often feature something that covers the eyes: sunglasses, goggles, hair etc.

Describe the feeling you want to evoke by covering the windows to the soul.

I just like a full look. All senses are equally important to me so I like to ‘dress’ them all, too.

What inspires you about nightmares?

Don’t know, I have a mind that’s a little twisted I guess.

When you are creating your collections some sort of tunnel vision is probably needed to stay focused. How would you describe the feeling of being in the midst of creating?

Tunnel? Sounds like pretty narrow-minded to me. I would say the exact opposite actually, I very much take my surroundings in, I like to observe. What comes later is some sort of extract or condensate of it.

When you open your eyes in a pitch-black room, what do you see?

I hear.

Do you prefer to set yourself a goal or destination before starting to work or do you get to somewhere by just doing? What does not having a destination feel like?

No, I don’t like narrowing things down to a specific goal. Sometimes I have a vision, sometimes I just start working, then I digress, add new things, cross some out again, and so forth. What’s important I think is not sticking to a pre-set plan, just making the right decisions down the road.

Which emotion do you find most inspiring?

Curiosity.

dress filippa k, jacket individuals

severe tailoring through the eyes of fritz lang

shirt acne

pants christain dior, shoes filippa k, shirt weekday

pants acne, shoes filippa k, jacket marc by marc jacobs

don’t fall in love with me yet photography: sanja marusic styling & concept: therÊse Üstelius hair & make-up: elyse moland model: simone de rijk

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martine johanna and kim bakker getting ready for a night out

exploring bad taste interview by eve keskinen photography by kim bakker & martine johanna

Looking at Kim Bakker’s sophisticated menswear designs for NON by KIM, you would never realize her affection for bad taste. Neither would you guess that artist Martine Johanna occasionally illustrates for Playboy. Their unapologetic love for bad taste has led them to undertaking outrageous dress-up experiments, such as a night out in the guise of Polish prostitutes celebrating a 90’s tango-aesthetic. “Bad taste is never bad.”

Martine walks us through her eclectic apartment full of fascinating knick knacks and the most imaginative outfits of questionable taste. White teeth casts, pink dinosaurs and plastic heads are scattered around the apartment. Kim, Martine and I sit in the living room sipping tea and coffee, engrossed in conversation, while Martine shows us photos of Kim and herself.

M: This was the Polish prostitutes’ night out. We created this fun tacky style with a lot of gold, wigs and tight outfits.

K: Going through these pictures, it seems like we have this extraordinary, outrageous life, dressing up all the time.

M: And this is just the tip of the iceberg....

Why did you start dressing up?

K: We met when we worked as fashion designers at Gsus. At some point we decided to go out together and I had never really had a friend to dress up with, but that night we started with playing music and trying out crazy outfits before heading out. The dressing up became a bit of a ritual and we always try to out-do each other with our outfits.

The funny thing is that we are often not dressed for the occasion, so we end up looking the total opposite to everyone else who is at the event.

M: That became our thing, to go somewhere and not dress for the occasion. Once we were at a gothic party, dressed like 80’s aerobics instructors.

The crowd was somewhat baffled… A whole room of black rubber with lace and us dancing franticly in the middle.

So you play with taking things out of context.

K: It’s not about ‘Hey look at us!’ – it is just for us. I feel more relaxed and confident when I look the way I want to look, even if that means that I look a little ridiculous.

That kind of confidence is quite special. Where does it come from?

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K: I had quite eclectic taste as a kid and I looked very different from the rest. When I was a kid, my Mom always let me pick a pattern and fabrics out of this Vogue pattern book, so I ended up with these sailor outfits, but made out of bright pink fabric with fake green snake leather. So my childhood was rather outrageous. On my first day of high school, I wore hippie pants and a denim jacket with huge fake sunflowers stitched all over it. I went to school in the Bijlmer, which is like the Bronx of Holland.

It was totally unacceptable to look like that. People would call me names and I was teased a lot, but you build a resistance that helps you not to care about what other people think.

M: My story is similar. I come from a small town, basically a village with six churches. I was the only one with big hair and stone-washed stretch jeans. I also had a lot of bling going on. When I was 11, I had a pink period during which I wore head to toe pink. I was also called names, but it just turned me into a rebel. I thought: ‘It’s my life, why can’t I do

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this?’ What I have in common with Kim is that I am never ashamed of what I do or wear… Ever! If I like something, I like something. Maybe other people see something as being tacky or ugly but I think there’s a lot of beauty in being open-minded.

Do you take notice of other people’s style?

K: I like looking at people. The moment I get to the train station, I start staring at people. I don’t just look at what they wear, I also look at the smaller details such as how their ears are shaped. I think character has to do with beauty as well. I cast my models not only on the basis of appearance, but they must also have character and be fun to work with. The character can show in floppy ears, a gap between the teeth, or if someone’s eye is looking the other way.

Who do you think defines good or bad taste?

M: I think a lot of contemporary artist’s, designers and musicians nowadays work in multiple professions. I’m a painter, illustrator, teacher and stylist. Kim also teaches and is a fashion designer. A multi-layered profession gives much more content.

Changing an aesthetic is a gradual development that takes time. All creative professions are there to inspire change. Inspiration opens up your imagination. That is why we don’t really believe in bad taste. If you care too much about taste, it restricts you.

K: If you think something is a bad idea, at least try it out to see if it works. I have a lot of things in my collection that started out as a joke, like the silver leggings I designed for my previous collection.

“

Now that we are talking about inspiration, what are you inspired by that is generally considered bad taste?

K: I like to buy lots of things from flea markets, which usually get left over because they are considered bad taste. For example, I have little tiles that look like somebody puked on them, but I like the texture. Another item is a copper plate with a hammered pattern that shows the face of Jesus when you look at it from a distance. It just pulled me in the first time I saw it, even though it is a really ugly object. When I flipped it over and looked at the back I found out that it was made by a murderer in a psychiatric hospital.

M: It is a positive thing to have a few obsessions.

Collecting and going in-depth about something really specific is inspiring. If you take a close look at something that may seem to be very common or boring at first it can open up a lot of wonderful ideas – a whole new world. There is this magazine called ‘Le Denier Cri’ featuring mostly French illustrators. It is so enormously ugly it is beautiful.

The same goes for stuff we find at flea markets. I think the main thing is that we don’t consider the general rules as being rules for us. I don’t care if something is tacky.

K: What is considered good or bad taste really comes from our habit of categorizing. As a designer, I take my ideas from different sources. I like to make things abstract. So every time I think about my inspiration it becomes more abstract. I think it is hard for people to understand, like Gareth Pugh is thought of as being geometric, dark and a bit gothic. If you think of NON by KIM and where to place it then it seems to be very hard for people to do that.

M: Usually earlier decades are considered to have uniform style, but I don’t think so. I think the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s were very expressive with lots of different styles. Although those styles were also named. For example, in the eighties you had the New Romantics, punk…

K: New Wave, Straight Edge…

M: Back then people didn’t care if they were dressing in ‘bad taste’ and were dressing more daringly on the street. Nowadays you see that far less, it is almost like people stopped daring. You also see far less obvious sexual references on television for instance. In the 80’s there were tits and ass everywhere. Now all of a sudden it is like ‘Oooh! You can’t do that’. With my work I get these weird responses and even warnings at times. On Facebook people reported my photos for just showing a nipple.

But my work is not pornographic? Okay, sometimes it is on the edge…

I illustrated for Dutch Playboy. Every time I post those pictures on Facebook I lose some fans. It’s considered by some as tacky and obviously some people have a problem with them, but I like doing those drawings now and then.

How did you get into Playboy?

M: They asked me when I was with my previous agency and then I kind of stuck with them. My work for Playboy contains all the things you don’t recognize in my personal work. My personal work is deeper in meaning and has a dark undertow, but the things I do for Playboy are just sexual and fun. I like doing it.

What is the overall message you want to communicate about bad taste?

M: The in-crowd finds safety in exchanging opinions about looking old, looking slim, being a has-been, and so called ‘bad taste’. It is a fake society. The stimulation for creativity and open-mindedness is missing. We would rather see people exploring the boundaries of their personal tastes.

K: If you like something extraordinary, then go for it. Try to make it larger than life, take it to another level or mix it with something. Do not shove it away just because it is considered bad taste.

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nonbykim.com martinejohanna.com

kim bakker in her sai

lor outfit at age 8

cape & collar collectie arnhem, pants bas kosters at spice pr

a peculiar girl in love with a peculiar world

striped dress episode, organza dress laurie de kok, ring good times jewelry

dress waterlooplein market, shoes united nude

sweater filippa k, dress waterlooplein market, collar collectie arnhem, shoes palladium

jacket laurie de kok, bottoms american apparel, shoes hugo boss at spice pr, socks american apparel

connecting the wrong dots photography: sophie van der perre styling & concept: katrina cervoni & anni truu hair & make-up: carlos saidel - colourfool agency production assistant: loes koster image editing: juliette van oorschot model: shona lee gal - future faces

sweater bas kosters at spice pr, bottoms collectie arnhem

photograph by daniel alexander

thomas and his toaster interview by eve keskinen

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Have you ever wondered how much effort it takes to make a toaster? Thomas Thwaites did. He set out on a mission taking passion to absurdity to make a simple household toaster from scratch. You have to admire his determination that cost him ÂŁ1187.54 and 30,000 km traveling around the world trying to extract metal from a mine and attempting to make plastic out of potato starch.

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Describe yourself as a designer in three words?

Aahhmm... Exploratory, fringy and unsure.

The Arts and Crafts Movement advocated truth to material and craftsman-like quality. Is this something that you aimed for with your Toaster Project?

Not initially. I didn’t start off my project with that aim in mind, but as I went through the project and actually had to start dealing with materials in their rawest form, I started thinking about those elements. Certainly the look of the toaster is very much determined by the process I went through. For example, carving a wooden mold by hand obviously gives a distinctly different appearance from a massproduced object. It is a case of tools determining the final look.

I think there is a real potential for these kind of crafted versions of mass produced objects. It would be much more interesting. I believe that is something we will see with 3D-printing, small manufacturing and stuff like that.

Does your fascination with ‘the raw’ represent an appreciation for honesty in materials, products or images?

Yes, that was definitely one of the points of the Toaster Project. To expose the stuff that is covered by these smooth plastic shells. You take apart any kind of electronic apparatus and there is a mass of solder. As I started off taking apart the toaster, I realized the soldering on the circuit board of this very cheap toaster had been done by hand. I used to imagine that there was a very high-tech factory with robots that would solder everything. On one hand, I don’t think we can expect an honest product — it wouldn’t necessarily be something we liked. But on the other hand, if you eat meat you have to accept that there is bloodshed involved. I suppose I prefer the unflinching take on things rather than covering it up.

Does this extend to other parts of your life as well? Do you eat organic?

I have tried to be a vegetarian before and failed. I guess I’m a flawed person, but we all are. I prefer to have something raw in the open, rather than to have something brushed under the carpet. That is how I feel at this particular moment. But if you ask me again on Monday, I will have changed my mind.

Did technology and the way things work interest you as a child?

Yes, I was very into computers and Technic Lego.

Even though you did not manage to build a functional toaster, in the end the success was actually found in the process of doing so. In this project obviously trial and error was very important.

How important do you think trial and error is in your creative process?

In that project obviously it was very important. In my other projects, I can’t say it is so essential. I try and fail in my imagination quite a few times before I actually get around to making something. You can decide that something is rubbish in your head before trying it out.

What did you last fail with?

Personally or professionally?

Both.

This is like a job interview; they always ask that sort of question… I failed to get a job recently. They needed somebody to design something with mass production but they said that they could not see evidence of that in my work (laughs), which is fair enough.

Why do we fear failure?

I suppose there is a divide in culture between Europe and America. If you are in this kind of business innovation world, it is good to fail. Americans are really good at failing. They can start some kind of online start up and it can go bankrupt. That is seen as something really cool. At least they tried. In Europe, the saying goes that we are more scared and disparaging of failure.

I guess it is caused by our fear of embarrassment.

How important do you think it is to have a plan?

In the short term, it is very important. In the long term, I don’t think you can have a plan. You can have a vague plan to be flexible.

Where do you look for inspiration?

I went to the Victoria and Albert museum two days ago. I think some of the objects in there are really inspiring. Just the amount of skill a person long dead has put into making a cup is pretty inspiring.

Were you inspired by something today?

I’m just trying to think... have I done anything today. What have I done today?

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photograph by nick ballon

bag frrry

objects worth multiplying

shoes swedish hasbeens

sunglasses walter van beirendonck from frozen fountain

obsessions photography: paul van dorsten styling & concept: loes koster & shannon jager

bracelet ant fashion magazine

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magazine.com

The concept of time in fashion is as abstract as time itself. There is no now: the past is the future, and the future might as well be the present. The cycle of fashion is either spinning at full speed or almost standing still – there is no way to know which is right or wrong.

How does one capture a snapshot of fashion when there are essentially no rules, and the rules that do exist are likely to change at the next moment?

You could try to capture the feeling of the times in a photograph. A photo is something carefully planned, aiming to capture the perfect moment that could vanish in a split second. Once captured it will always exist but will never be repeated again.

You have captured a moment, what now? Wait, the next moment is already here and the image has been replaced by another and forgotten.

chasing words by anni truu

image stills by eve keskinen & anni truu

If there is one quality that defines fashion, it would be movement. Fashion is something that never stops and constantly recreates itself. Film is seemingly the perfect medium to catch the fluidity of fashion. The problem with film is that as fashion evolves organically, it is an insincere mimic of reality and is therefore perfectly fabricated.

Each scene is rehearsed, adjusted and planted by someone and is repeated as long as it is needed to catch the ideal moment. Film moves, but you can also pause and rewind it. Setting up the perfect scene can paradoxically lead to missing that unique instant. Since moments in real life pass by as time continues to progress.

Fashion has created its own time span for a film: a short impression that leaves you with a feeling that is gone in an instant. The short fashion film that rarely lasts longer than ten minutes displays an array of patterns, atmospheres and moods. In fact, two minutes would be enough, as most fashion films are simply decorated impressions without purpose. Still, a fashion photo in a magazine carries a story – something is changing and evolving. Fashion films are just visual effects, made up of empty moments. Although the fashion that is captured in these films is up-to-date, the result often lacks meaning.

fashion 69

There just might be an ideal time dimension for fashion use a line called ‘real time’. Live streaming, for example, shows life as it happens without delays or designed realities. It is something that is seen through the eyes of the viewer and because of this, we are able to conjure our own image from it. Like fashion is constantly updated, and is full of unexpected moments with rules that cannot be followed. Filled with interviews where real people act naturally and experiment without success, live streaming leaves room for the mishaps of reality. Fashion is caught and presented with all its virtues and flaws.

We are no longer interested in perfectly constructed realities. The static worlds of photography and film sets that we know cannot possibly exist in reality. Fashion is as sudden and instinctual as a spoken word in a conversation. The only genuine way to capture fashion is to present it as it happens.

It cannot be paused, designed or rewound – it can only be replaced by what is yet to come.

isabeli / 2004

it was in the error interview & photography by katrina cervoni

Amie Dicke is an Amsterdam-based artist who creates and alters images and objects of aestheics in a way that makes us think twice. Exploring the ideas of frustration and contradiction, Amie’s work invites us to ponder the context of images that are presented to us within the fashion industry. Often errors and mistakes are despised by artists, but Amie sees them differently. ANT talks with Amie about her relationship with errors in the realm of beauty.

It is a part of being annoyed and irritated and frustrated with myself but also with images that I see.

Magazines were the first objects in which I understood my frustration. This frustration was also necessary to be able to create something.

So it is kind of creating by destruction. I always see my work as mostly personal and not as an attack to the fashion industry. I believe fashion is something that is very inherent. The feelings that we have are natural feelings of what we think is beautiful or attractive, so I don’t see why I should blame the way they use female models – I mean I don’t see that as something bad. That is something that I try to question. Why do I even buy the magazine? That’s where the ambiguity starts.

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Your work provokes some kind of quiet violence. How do you see the world of fashion or the way other people view fashion?

Even as a child I used magazines to wrap presents, to draw, to make collages. I really prefer the existing image to the blank canvas or paper.

Magazines were always around when I was younger. My Dad is an interior designer and my Mom is an artist and stylist so we had a lot of magazines in the house. I didn’t see them as something precious, they were always there, and they were there to use. I always used fashion to project my own feelings. I like to work in layers by adding or removing and sometimes a combination. I’m trying to create new space to be able to have more reflection or to be able to put more of my personality behind these images. I had a show at Galerie Diana Stigter that was called ‘The Violent Contradiction.’ And that is from a quote by George Bataille ‘truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction.’ This violent contradiction is something that is in my work.

You said you work a lot with layers, so when you are adding and removing elements, how do you decide what to leave and what to keep?

It’s constantly an accident. So my whole way of working is one big kind of disaster. It is one big failure after the other, but sometimes it’s a very happy failure or a happy accident. Like you wouldn’t have thought of it before you did something stupid.

It is a good stupidity.

So you just use your intuition to decide if you should cover something up or leave it there?

Decision is such a strong word, sometimes your mind decides and sometimes your hand decides.

The word intuitive is of course very important. At the same time you do make a lot of choices, but the moment you stop to think about it, it becomes difficult to see. Sometimes it’s better to just do it.

But the biggest problem can be that you go too far; if there is this magical moment and then you think ‘just a little more....’ and then it’s gone. That happens often.

There was an old Purple Magazine that I’d had for a few years here in my studio and I was working on these small-scale postcards trying to cover them with red ballpoint, and I started to do it to this magazine. But of course the ballpoint has a metal point like a knife, so you immediately cut through the magazine. I didn’t think of it because it didn’t happen to the postcards, but with the magazine, because it’s totally soft, like a pie you go into it deeper and deeper. And it became more physically intense. At one point the pen broke, and the red ink started to drip through it. These are the kind of accidents that you can’t think of in advance. Then the whole thing became this wound. Of course you can use an accident and then emphasize it, so afterwards I put a little more ink into the cut to make it a little bit stronger. The moment you try to recreate an accident, then it becomes very difficult to make it believable. I have tried to make a lot of work like this, but it just didn’t work out.

“

Do you enjoy the feeling of not knowing when you are making something?

‘The only thing you know is that you don’t know.’ That’s a very famous saying by....I can’t think of who right now because I don’t know. (Laughs) There you go!

Yes, but at the same time it can be so frustrating because sometimes you just want to have this feeling that you have control. That’s the constant struggle. Of course it’s very important to keep things inexplicit. Sometimes people say ‘that’s the nicest part of creating, that you don’t know what it’s going to be, everything is still possible.’ And that is true, but when you’re really struggling and in the middle of that feeling, you don’t like it. Once you have this slight feeling that you are on a road to a good idea, then suddenly it can be very nice again. So not knowing is feeling insecure, and feeling insecure is not a nice feeling in general.

You seem to remove images from their context to create new ones.

For you, what is the beauty of removing something from its context?

The funny thing is when you remove a page from a magazine, it is still a fashion magazine, so the context is still there, if there is a context. I think that it’s all very superficial of course. I have this rule that I like to work within one image. I don’t really see my work as collages because it’s always just one image. Sometimes it’s a combination of different materials. It’s more about materials. I think when taking things out of their context it’s good to be aware of the original source material again. I think it can be very interesting to see how far you can take something out of its context, within its context. With the cut-outs, just by using what you’ve got, you still have the fashion image, just by removing parts, the story becomes different.

You mentioned that you have a rule that you work with one image.

When working, do you set any more rules for yourself that you try to stay within or are you sort of free to do whatever?

Yeah. I think that secretly I love rules (laughs). I like a certain directness and using existing materials. I like to work with the given. I started to understand that I could work with the given of a space. Until now I have been working a lot with galleries which is always a blank space. I now understand that the white space for me is not such a natural way to reflect or work in because it’s not the way I work. Not that I don’t like white (laughs).

a peek into amie’s alluring studio and work process

my split self / 2010 photo by hans-georg gaul / peres projects, berlin & diana stigter, amsterdam

But I think that there is so much in our world already that we could work with, so I don’t see the necessity to create a totally new image when there are already so many images out there. I really like to be conscious of what Is there, and not inventing or creating more mystique. Of course you do put a little extra, I mean it’s not all pure, pure intuition. Of course you emphasize certain parts.

What is the worst mistake you have made?

Of course I can think of certain small embarrassing moments, but it just doesn’t hit me, like a real good story. For me there is no worst mistake.

“

Do you then think that there are no mistakes?

If I say that there are no mistakes then I imply that I’ve never had a guilty feeling or that I go through life not caring. That Is not true, there’s a lot of shame and guilt, and it plays a very big role in my work.

Being affraid of making mistakes plays a big role, being aware of your position, where you stand, where you are. So I don’t want to say that I don’t care, I definitely care.

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rachab / 2005

The following accidents were planned by three explorers of visual culture. Despite meticulous planning, sometimes the most beautiful images were captured accidentally in the short-lived moments while exploring an idea. Three concepts evoking strong emotion resulted in these Tragic, Tangled and Restless Accidents. featuring work from amsterdam fashion institute’s fashion and visual culture minor

the a c

tragic c i d e n t 77

by michel pijnen

the a c c

tangled i d e n t

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by anne-britt visbeen

the a c c

restless i d e n t

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by stefanie suchy

pants american apparel, boots episode, heels jeffrey campbell, dresses & jacket daphne van den heuvel

strung between the lines of gender

dress ellis biemans, shoes episode

bodysuit & shorts daphne van den heuvel, pants samantha wijsman

below: dress ellis biemans, shoes jeffrey campbell

left: jacket daphne van den heuvel, shoes jeffrey campbell

suspen d ed photography: malou tan styling & concept by: elyse moland & ines veselic hair & make-up: elber faro models: leontine - fresh model management sander & maurice - skin model management

a small segment of roos’ creative process for the design of one of the hotel rooms

sleeping with fashion words by loes koster

Located in the heart of Amsterdam, the city’s most eccentric hotel will open its doors this September. Sprouted from the minds of Lloyd Hotel’s creative team, The Exchange Hotel will be based inside a historic building full of modern potential. The Exchange Hotel asked a selection of up and coming designers to come up with concepts for the hotel’s 64 rooms, while considering the rooms as models to be dressed. ANT asked three of the project’s creative minds for a quick insight into their inspiration.

r o o s s o e t e k o u w i n a

m a t t

Designers Ina Meijer and Matthijs van Cruijsen are working in the fields of architecture, graphic and textile design. Under the name INA MATT, the duo designed the interior and graphic design for the hotel’s public spaces: the shop ‘OPTIONS!’ and the restaurant ‘STOCK’.

Young illustrator and designer Roos Soetekouw is one of the designers selected to create concepts for The Exchange Hotel. Amongst her designs is the Room of Misunderstood Creatures.

concept

I call it a fantasy world. I need to eat, breathe, sleep and take walks in my fantasy world.

treasure

Can be overrated sometimes.

Lying in the grass. Some ants are finding their way across my belly. A honeybee is tickling my toes, and a spider sits on my knee and bathes in the sun. I treasure this moment.

pleasure

freedom

concept According to us, designing is playing.

freedom

We believe that freedom can be in coincidences and serendipity.

treasure

To explore all the corners of my imagination.

pleasure

I take pleasure in so many things! At the moment, only naughty stuff comes to mind... I think I will keep that to myself.

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The most special treasure we can think of is the reflection of light.

wizardry

agoraphobia / 2011

Katrina Cervoni brings images to life through her use of photography, illustration and collage. While creating collages, she finds ways to alter thoughts and experience through the selection and arrangement of visuals on a page. Each work is like an unfinished puzzle, with various pieces that are compelled (or forced) to be together.

Exploring ideas within intuition, her recent body of work, ‘That Wizardry,’ invites us to look closer...

a / 2011

tout de les filles pleurent / 2011

sometimes / 2011

rituals

ANT interviews three enchantingly talented international artists and designers to discover the secrets behind their idiosyncrasies, both in the preparation and in the midst of their creative process. Toronto-based painter Brian Donnelly, London-based fashion designer Ireneo Ciamella and Swedish illustrator and artist Camilla Engman uncover the reality of their very particular working habits, as well as some comical quirks that we discovered along the way.

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ireneo ciamella

London-based fashion designer Ireneo Ciamella has just finished his Masters course in fashion design at the renowned Central Saint Martins under the strict supervision of the school’s charismatic figurehead Louise Wilson. Ireneo, who is of Dutch-Italian descent, is currently setting up his own label. ANT talks to Ireneo about his inspiration, getting into a zen-vibe and ending the day with Whitney Houston.

How does your ritual work?

I consider it more like a sort of rhythm. The moment you figure out you are under a lot of pressure you have to find a way to make everything easier for yourself just to stop yourself from making any big mistakes. When I entered Central Saint Martins, I began to meditate and changed my diet and hours of sleep.

interview by loes koster photography by mattias malk

This made my life so much more structured and gave me a lot of energy. Nowadays, I’m really attached to this pattern. I even wake up early when I’m vacationing. Sleeping in is horrendous!

To start off properly I need breakfast, like oatmeal or a fruit shake. I also need some music. I play all kinds of music, from PJ Harvey to Britney Spears, depends on the mood I am in. On a shitty day, I play dark and dramatic tunes. But I end all days with Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ (laughs).

I just freaking love that song although it’s kind of uncool. I guess I am a bit of a dork. But in the end, nothing really gets me started like the work itself.

What fuels your creativity?

Living in London! Everything I need is around me, from cheap British girls with very short skirts and glittery Indian ladies in their saris to posh Chelsea girls.

When you’re stuck, what’s the one thing that always gets your inspiration flowing again?

To take a short break and breathe my way through it.

I sound like a hippie, but believe me, there is nothing like taking five and not thinking anything. Its like power-napping but better!

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Is there a time of day where your imagination sparks?

In the morning! I wake up early, around 6.30 and feel really fresh.

When I am busy I get up slightly earlier. I shower, meditate for at least half an hour and then I take a look at the list I wrote the night before. I have to write everything down that is spinning through my head otherwise I can’t sleep at all.

“

camilla engman Artist Camilla Engman is known for her alluring illustrations and paintings created from subtle paint and pencil strokes and unique paper fragments. In her hometown of Gothenburg Sweden, Camilla begins her ritual accompanied by her dog Morran. She shares with us the shapes, colors and sounds that meander through her mind during the fragile beginnings of her process. interview by loes koster photography by elisabeth dunker

What triggers your imagination and gets your inspiration flowing?

When making a new piece, I try to find something that gets me going, like a color, a shape or a new material. I start to work from that and try to find the story within. I’ve learned that I have to start from the beginning.

Taking shortcuts doesn’t work for me. The only thing I can rely on is that something will happen eventually. Sometimes, I try taking a shortcut even though I know it never works. My mind is lazy and tries to trick me into using experience instead of heart and soul, but so far it has never taken me anywhere. While painting, I have a feeling I disconnect my brain and use my spine, gut and heart. Which leaves me with a weird feeling at the end of the day, like a snail without its shell and almost as stupid.

Do you play any music in particular when you are working?

Music comes first on my list of inspiration, then film. It opens the door to your mind, memories and feelings. I also have a feeling that it is different every day. It depends on what I need, which mood I’m in or which mood I want to be in.

Radiohead always works for me. Right now I’m reading a book called The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

by Haruki Murakami and I like it a lot. But eventually, the fuel to my creativity is creativity itself; I’m simply a creativity junky.

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Can you describe your creative ritual?

Getting started is the most fragile part of the process. You need to get your mind in the right mood and the right direction. I need space and especially some peace and quiet. I’m a social person but having people around me while starting up something new is almost impossible. After starting a project, I don’t get distracted that easily anymore. The work process is built on such fragile inducement. I have to take it slowly and be very careful. This makes me aware of where and who I am in life.

“

”

brian donnelly Figurative painter Brian Donnelly has caught the attention of the contemporary painting scene with his nude portraits juxtaposed with the haunting and detailed heads of animals. Graduating from Toronto’s OCAD University, Brian explores the concept of duality and contradiction in his work. ANT speaks with Brian about his mindset in the midst of his process, and the horrid consequences of beer and television.

interview by katrina cervoni photography by gemma warren

What is your mindset while you’re in the midst of your process?

It’s kind of automatic now. When I’m painting, my mind is just kind of away painting. I do get locked up in my own head, and sometimes it will really interfere with painting if I’m thinking about something else that’s bothering me.

I lay stuff out as it happens. I will lay out ten or fifteen different things before starting. In the way I’m working now, I’ll just start thinking about animals and the way they interact, and then try to think of poses that would work well.

Is there anything that you totally can’t have around when you’re painting; anything that completely distracts you?

Yeah! Television and beer (laughs). Beer ruins everything. For the last year or so, I’ve been referring to it as ‘do-nothing-juice’ because once I have one, I will just think ‘oh, I’ll have another.’ I will paint a little after the first one, I’ll go out for a cigarette and once I get back in, I’ll have another one and then it’s over. And that’s all I’m doing for the rest of the day. And once I start watching t.v. It usually screws things up. I’ll get into something and then something else will come on, and I’ll be stuck watching t.v. probably drinking beer (laughs).

The radio helps to keep me entertained while I’m painting. I can paint with the radio. I can focus on painting and hear people talk without them being in the room. If other people are around, I can’t paint worth shit. I can’t deal with it. They’re the worst distraction; even if they’re not doing anything, even if they’re just sitting there, I’ll just end up talking to them. Whereas with the radio, it’s talking to me, and I just kind of sit there and take it.

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Do you have a routine that you have to do before you start painting?

Yeah, from day to day it’s a tea and a cigarette. I paint in the mornings, so I try to get myself up at 7am and I usually make a big cup of tea before I do anything. I need to be fully awake to paint. I get a lot more done in the mornings. If I get home at five and try to paint, I have no desire because my brain is just done by the time I get home from work, so that pretty much ends the notion of painting.

On 11 November 2010, thirty fashion addicts worldwide stopped buying clothes for one year. In order to pay attention to the fact that fashion has become more about consumption than creativity. These thirty fashion ‘addicts’ regularly share their experiences on the website of Free Fashion Challenge.

One of the participants is Ernestine Koelman, an incredibly inspired fashion illustrator and teacher at AMFI - Amsterdam Fashion Institute. On the Free Fashion website, she shares striking illustrations full of character that she creates as a substitute for shopping new fashion items.

Follow the experiences of Free Fashion Challenge’s contestants on f r e e fa s h i o n ch a l l e n g e . c o m

sketching

substitut

es

boekie woekie ANT adores Boekie Woekie for its undoubted passion for independent, artist-made zines and books. We talk to the spirited shop owner Jan Voss about the charming and fearless beginnings of this enchanting place on a tiny street in Amsterdam. interview & photography by robin straatman Where are you originally from?

I am from Germany and have been living in the Netherlands since 1977, I believe.

What was your life like before Boekie Woekie?

I’m a visual and bookmaking artist who came to Holland for a Dutch girl. I always assumed that the reason for starting something as public as the shop is that in the beginning of having moved here, I never really had any friends. I didn’t know a lot of people, and I had to find something to fill my time with. A shop seemed to be a good solution. Coincidentally, I knew a group of people that had the same hobby as me: bookmaking. We came together and decided to open a shop, instead of leaving the box of books next to the road or under the bed. We presented ourselves in our tiny, tiny shop; it was smaller than a window, and could only fit two people in the space.

How have all of these books ended up here?

In our home countries, we had friends with books and the word spread pretty quickly that there was a shop where these book were sold. The books literally came from everywhere; some from a tiny island next to Russia, some from African countries, and some came from India, Japan and Australia.

Books made by artists are a small piece of the pie. The books are often oneof-a-kind and the subject can be something like ‘birdhouse building.’ People come up with ideas that just won’t work in the real world. Because of that, you won’t have to adjust it for the real world. So everyone who is selling their books here is not planning to be a wealthy man. If you have to appeal to everybody, you have to change god knows what.

Do you still make or publish books yourself?

We have a couple of booklets in production, and it’s going to grow quite a bit, I think. For example we have the booklet: Het Andre Behr Pamflet which is for those who are interested in the great ‘Behr Pamflet.’ I have a friend in Zurich whose name is Andre Behr. This booklet title is really strangely spelled but nobody really gets it.

How does Boekie Woekie differ from most commercial book shops?

Boekie Woekie was not created to make lots of money. Of course we have to make some profit; we have to pay the rent, pay three full-time employee’s and every evening we like to have some beers on the table!

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boekie woekie owner jan voss shares the beautiful obscurities the shop inhabits

What do you consider as your most precious items at the shop?

We have one thing that I really like: it’s a French catalogue from 1978, the artists who celebrated the 1,000,001 birthday of art. The price for this catalogue was 1,000,001 guilders, as long the guilder was there. Now we ask 1,000,001 euros for this book. Please don’t put this in your magazine otherwise the bad guys will come here and rob the place (laughs) But you can probably find this book on eBay and pay 120 euros for it.

What is your view on the future of print? Do you see a future for books like the ones in your shop?

Absolutely! Twelve years ago, there was a big breakthrough: the internet.

Lots of people that had the urge to say something were free to do so. They didn’t need the permission of an author or editor-in-chief. Artists that work through the Internet are not obliged to listen to anyone: they don’t need permission from a supervisor.

Every year we go to the New York Art Book Fair, this is the biggest art manifest in the world. Five years ago, there were maybe 100 representatives; now there are more than 700! The print market is still growing, you know why?

Because it’s ‘modern and sexy’!

Describe a typical Boekie Woekie visitor.

We get a lot of English, American and Japanese customers. Amsterdam is a very international city. I’m not suggesting that we live off tourists...

But actually, yes we do. We have a lot of friends coming over from several countries, and we also have a lot of people who have heard of Boekie Woekie, and made a special stop just to come to our shop.

Now we have a lot of Japanese people who can’t return to Japan because of the earthquake. They frequently visit our shop, have a quick look, buy a pile of books and leave the shop. I really think that they can create their own library with the amount of books they have bought from me!

What’s the future of Boekie Woekie? Do you have anyone specific in mind to take over the shop?

I don’t know. It’s an empty spot. I really don’t know.

Of course there are people out there who would be interested in this. I’m 66 years old, am I going to continue working for 5 years? Probably. Am I going to continue working for 10 years? Maybe. Because of my age, these things are starting to come to my attention. We don’t have this ‘ideal’ family where children can take over the shop. We were too adventurous for children at the time. So it’s still not clear if it will continue.

“

zines ANT has fallen for:

brussels beauties & bangkok beauties - by erik kessels two photography zines from a series that collects images of comeliness from around the world

fluxus and friends going out for a drive - by ben vautier a book cleverly depicting artists of the 1960’s fluxus movement as action figures

�

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furniture bondage - by melanie bonajo a book with beautiful photographs that explore the space between attachment and detachment

pants velour, shoes church, shirt episode, blazer hans ubbink

if grandma had her say in modern menswear...

socks henrik vibskov, shoes church, shirt, cardigan & boxers cos

pants & socks american apparel, shoes church, shirt episode

boxers cos, socks henrik vibskov, cardigan cheap monday, shirt mads norgaard copenhagen

shirt velour, pants acne, socks henrik vibskov, shoes church

shirt american apparel, pants cos

photography: sanja marusic styling & concept: anni truu production: robin straatman grooming: carlos saidel - colourfool agency model: jorik smit - 77 models

shirt cos, blazer episode

defective tea party

commodity fetish a short story by ivania carpio van osch illustration by shannon jager

Her eyes glide across the shelves crammed with small plastic packages with promises inside. She scans the mannequin legs hanging from the ceiling showing off sheer thigh highs. Left and right in the narrow alleys of the hosiery section women are fixated by the almost sexual images on the products. Sexual images without a face. Legs sitting on a bed with messed up sheets on which you can imagine what happened previously, flawless naked bodies wearing nothing but the tights. And even the more conservative ads of businesswomen in pencil skirts have a restricted fetish undertone. By looking at them you can almost hear the clicking of stilettos on a marble floor and the sound of the nylon covered thighs rubbing against each other underneath that tight pencil skirt.

In one of the alleys a woman in her mid-40’s is nervously unpacking one of the pantyhose while keeping her eyes on the salesperson and hiding behind the racks and plastic mannequin legs. Then walks over to a mirror and holds the pantyhose, that look more like two thin ribbons, in front of her thick leg. She squeezes her eyes a bit while looking at her reflection, visualizing her soon to be new look.

Our girl is opting for a thin yet athletic pair of legs for this spring. The Wolford section promises her this with a Parisian fantasy. The black back seem on the nude sheer pantyhose are held by two delicate hands illustrated in 1960’s Parisian Vogue style.

Worn by surreal long legs of the model that are effortlessly crossed over one another like a pair of scissors. By possessing these she would be able to wear that dress, those shorts, and heck even that thong bodysuit from the picture on the package.

None other than the visual master himself, Helmut Newton could of have contributed more to this luxe, flawless and almost porno chic message of Wolford.

He shot their campaign during the late 90’s in which a short haired model is seen looking over the ocean, camera hung around her shoulder, hand in her side and wearing nothing but a pair of white Wolford pantyhose. It looks like she is about to do great things. And that added coveted subjective values like power, sex and freedom to the product. Without admitting it to herself, a quiet battle inside of her starts. But her fetish for all things fashion wins it every time. She convinces herself that this is a much needed basic that will make her gigantic collection of clothes wearable. Today’s purchase, as every other days, justifies all her earlier bad bargains. If she doesn’t indulge in this short lasting obsession she will have nothing to wear tomorrow. She snatches the pantyhose out of the racks and hurries to the counter. A tiny voice, her reasonable self, tells her

that this purchase is driven by completely irrational reasons, that there is still a way out of all this; turning around and putting the plastic package back on the shelf. Joins in on the queue of women that are waiting to spend their money. But one glance at the beautiful fashion dream makes her even more persistent. These tights are more crucial than the air she breathes. And this dominating thought pushes away every reason left in her.

The thick-legged lady in front of her stuffs her newly bought piece of nylon luxury in her handbag. The last argument to convince herself that this purchase is a justified one goes through her mind. The black back seem is the epitome of chic. This is timeless, not a seasonal frill.

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Bleep. That would be 35 euros please.

The battle is won. As for the exquisite Wolford pantyhose, at home she will realize she bought a piece of nylon and that the goddess legs on the picture weren’t included. The pantyhose will end up in her big drawer together with the rest of her collection. And tomorrow a new object will be the symbol of the subjective values she is looking for.

Be good to me because I am good to you – even though our love is strange.  Fashionable love stories collected and created from the imaginations of magazine makers.

I will love you like no other.

strange love

shirt individuals shirt hyun yeu concept & styling masha erjavec, photography by david keppelaar & collage by enrico nagel

necklace bibi van der velden concept & styling by lindsey watson & anouk van der laan, photography by jasper abels & romi severein

shirt acne concept & styling by eve keskinen & tiffanni trench, photography by ana rita sousa & ivano salonia

concept & styling by bregje crone photography by renĂŠe janssen

shirt musa shah, pants non by kim, shoes blackstone concept & styling by loes koster & chaay tilakdharie, photography by thomas aangeenbrug

concept & styling by lisette ros, photography by joost van manen

CONTINUE OP ZOEK NAAR TALENT

KIJK VOOR ACTUELE VACATURES OF LAAT JE CV ACHTER OP:

WWW.

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pleasant explorations This summer Palladium will travel with you as you explore unfamiliar cities and spend your days at your favorite music festivals. The flexible but strong boots make it easy for you to walk all day and dance all night. Combining fashion with function, Palladium provides lovers of fashionable footwear with shoes for exploring new and undiscovered terrain all over the world.

In their new campaign “Hidden Gems of L.A.” LatinAmerican actress Odette Annable strays away from the tourist traps and explores the cities hidden landmarks wearing her new LITE boots. Palladium’s LITE boots are based on the original Pampa Boot and were redesigned with summer days in mind. The original boot, but with exciting new colors and a new light-weight design! This LITE boot is perfect for the summer season.

Palladiums original design, classic lines and time tested utility are as relevant as they have ever been. Combining over 60 years of authenticity with modern manufacturing, premium materials and cutting edge styling, Palladium boots are ready to help you explore your street, your city, and the world.

For a complete view on Palladium’s collection visit the website www.palladiumboots.com or head over to a local concept store.

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