face of fashion Text by Lisa Goudsmit
Throughout our entire lives we care for objects and take an interest in our surroundings. We love them, cherish them, talk to them and give them names. We name our children, so why not our passions? We nurture them, make them better and stronger and most importantly: love them. In a way we all personify our favourite items; we give inanimate objects a soul. When we were younger we had conversations with our teddy bear. After that we spent hours communicating with computer games, and as adults we even name our bicycles and cars. If all these objects are like loved ones to us, why can not a passion be a friend as well? For as long as I can remember I have been crazy about fashion. At first I was just a lover, but then became obsessed and finally, addicted. While my friends were entertaining themselves with planning weddings for their dolls, I was designing her wedding dress. When they were playing with their teddy bears, I was conversing with my favourite t-shirt. I felt alone, as if I had nobody to discuss my interests with, until one very special day… It was an ordinary Sunday way back in 1993. I was nine years old and in my bedroom looking out the window when my concentration was broken by a weird sound - it was like somebody was whispering in my ear. The sound seemed to come from my room: my closet. I opened the doors and there was this girl standing there with a frown on her face. She was wearing a beautiful floral dress with every colour of the rainbow on it. She had butterflies in her hair and smelt of chocolate chip cookies. Once I got over the shock of her apparition I asked her what was wrong. She looked at me sternly. She said that I was not treating my clothing the way that I should and that by “making a mess of my closet, I had disrespected the craft of all the people who had put their hearts and souls into creating my beautiful clothing.” She told me that my clothing played an important role in my life. That the pieces would guide me through all of my adventures in life and, as such, should be treated with great dignity.
Fashion is my best friend: she has a name, she has a face.
I was taken aback. Who was this girl? Was she really the conscience of fashion talking to me? The girl stayed in my room the entire day, and soon I found myself a new best friend, equally obsessed with clothing. She told me to call her Imogen, because “…people may say you just imagined me”. For years Imogen was the only person I could really talk to. For a long time I thought I was the only one whose best friend was fashion. That is until I discovered magazines. With every page I turned I realised that I was not the only one completely and utterly taken by fashion. Magazines became my bibles. There were people writing in them that cared just as much about clothing as I did. These people had each other to talk to, not just another Imogen. Throughout the years the appearance of Imogen became more transparent. As if she realised that I did not need her as much as I had previously, she started to slowly vanish. Sometimes I imagine that I see a glimpse of her, but I am pretty sure she is gone now. It does not matter though, even when I can not see her, I know in a way she is always by my side. For me she will always be the face of fashion. Illustration by Caitlin Shearer
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“Maybe some people need fashion - I definitely don’t.” Getting Dressed in the Dark
“Everything can inspire me. Once I start working on a new project, I get so inspired by working in my studio. During the process of working I get the most inspiration. My latest collection was called Denominate a Space and was mainly a collection of ideas. The setting for the show was dark. The whole surrounding was black. You did not see anything other than garments. Because of the dark you could not even see the faces of the models. The effect this gave was that the garments were walking on their own on stage. I try to avoid that sensual glamorous feeling that most fashion shows have, where people only look at the model and the way the model moves. For me the most important things are the clothes, so they are all I show. Actually, I did not even show whole garments. I avoided some parts being seen by the audience; by putting them in black they disappeared into the stage set. So I decided to show the audience only the pieces of the clothing I considered to be important.”
Fashion beyond clothing
“I am not a fashion designer. I would call myself a garment thinker. My work is largely investigative. So I try to make clothes that come from my drawings or from objects or shapes that I develop, and make them become a reality in my garments. Clothing for me is just a combination of fabrics’ texture, shape and colours. I don’t know why the world would need fashion… Does it? Maybe some people need fashion. I definitely don’t need fashion so much and probably 75% of the world does not need fashion at all. Currently I am working on an exhibition in different galleries in Stockholm, Sweden, in collaboration with Amsterdam-based designer Bogomir Doringer. It is called ALTER/MODE and is supposed to be a venue of dialogue. We want to communicate through clothing. We consider fashion to be something more than clothing and its functionality. Fashion beyond clothing is the theme. In the exhibition pictures of clothing are projected on big screens. We want to give the visitor the experience of observing fashion separate from trends, shopping and functionality. There is much more to see behind the world of fashion, and much more also to see behind the fact of making
clothes. At ALTER/MODE I also showcase paintings and objects I created. With the exhibition I want to show my work to people and hopefully get people to see a new point of view. It’s a good opportunity for me, a person that actually makes clothes in an artistic way, to show all that is behind the process of making a collection. My way of working is more than patterns, cutting and sewing. I need that other part that complements my work and makes my concept stronger, like the sculptures, my drawings, or the series of tarot cards. I am occupied with different sorts of art, not just clothing design.”
Living in a world filled with fantasy characters
“I believe in sharing and communication. I connect to people because of my work. But I also feel connected to others when I share the same artistic aesthetics or thoughts. Good people can be found everywhere; it doesn’t depend on a certain place. It is all about the quality of the people. I am just a human being that works, eats and sleeps. I do what I do because it’s a necessity. I really need to do what I do to make me feel good. Every day something else can make me feel powerful. For instance when I start a new day, with a good breakfast. When I look outside and see a sunny day, waiting for me to start, I feel happy. I had a great childhood. Because I was not living in the city, I was outside all day, running, investigating the forest with my cousins. I think this is such a different childhood from growing up in the city. I grew up living in my own fantasy world with animals and fantasy characters. I guess I still live in that world a little bit. I just can not avoid it. My work keeps developing. My studies at the Fashion Academy in Antwerp, and getting so deep into my work during those 4 years, made me grow a lot. The constant research made me very selective. After all these years of developing projects I see peoples’ interest in my work. This is the first time I have exposed my work as an ‘artist’, at the exhibition in Sweden, and for me this is a great opportunity. Hopefully I can do more exhibitions like this in the future.” www.andreaayala.com
Ayala’s collection ‘Re-drawn To Understand’ manipulates the body silhouette. Absurdity is a key word in the collection.
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Getting Intimate with the Editorial Team Mint is a four-letter word – most good ones are. Mint embraces unkempt moustaches, flushed cheeks, aerodynamic haircuts, white socks, peanut-butter sandwiches. Mint feels like cotton balls. Mint smells like puppies. Mint looks for shiny objects. In this issue we bring you all sorts of previously undiscovered good. We’ve uprooted golden children from all over the world to bring their stories (and pictures!) to you. What makes them Mint? They think about and feel fashion in a uniquely different way. They want to explore and experience it – just like we do. Fashion, for Mint, goes above and beyond aesthetics. It is an experience, something to be felt. Mint aims to give a voice to clothing and tell the stories that are woven in. The Minor Fashion Magazines at AMFI - Amsterdam Fashion Institute offers us, as students, the opportunity to carry the heart of Mint to you.
Illustration by Allyson Mellberg
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Girls
their Dresses
Illustration and Text by Tara Dougans I knew I was meant to be in her arms when I saw her peering at me through the shop window. She admired me, touched me and caressed my pleats with her delicate finger tips. Her name was Caroline. It didn’t take her long to realize that we were meant to be together: Caroline took me home almost immediately. When we got up to her room, she carefully unwrapped my parcel and lay me on the bed. She unbuttoned her coat, sat down beside me and pulled off her shoes. My heart fluttered a little with anticipation. On her body I felt fulfilled. Finally: I had found my other.
She unbuttoned her coat and sat down beside me.
When I left the house that morning, I knew that I was looking for something special. As I walked along, the usual pretty shapes pulled at me but couldn’t deter me from my purpose. When I saw her in the shop window, I knew she was the one: I had never seen something so beautiful. I had to have her. I was so excited to take her home. I wanted to feel her, know her, go out at night and dance with her. On our first night together, I really felt like myself. She made me feel comfortable. She just knew and fit my body so well. For the first time I really felt like a woman. We’re still together today.
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Top by Individuals || Skirt by Episode || Tights stylist own || Shoes by Fred Perry
Top by Django Steenbakker Tights by EnD by Eva and Delia Shorts by Thelin 83
Ga
lber I think that if a person’s charming, they don’t really have to work that hard. Charisma is a way of life. So is tweed. I like Neil Young, fine wine and chewing tobacco.
1980’s 3-Piece Suit: Lady Day || 1970’s Plaid Button-Up: Zipper
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“I love the look of them: the patterns, the strangeness” t age ten, when his classmates were scribbling moustaches on bus-stops billboards, Patrick Gildersleeves was illustrating intricate battle scenes full of dragons, cowboys, soldiers and animals. Popular childhood storybook Where’s Wally, an early inspiration for Patrick, translated into some of the most complicated, crowded illustrative scenes that the schoolyard had ever seen. Today, at age twenty-four, Patrick is still drawing intricate pieces filled with a menagerie of people, animals and in-betweens. Patrick, born in sunny Suffolk, UK and currently residing in seaside Brighton, offers a portfolio of illustrations that views something like a psychedelic anthropology exhibit. This is understandable considering that Soviet space travel cards, folk art pieces of new China, Canadian Inuit tales and aged Apache tribe photographs from New Mexico are all at the top of Patrick’s current list of inspirations. Although he describes his own style as “fairly normal twenty-something man garb i.e. jeans and a t-shirt”, Patrick likes to illustrate the people in his drawings wearing clothing that he likes from all over the world. “I like drawing people wearing a combination of traditional clothing from places like South America and modern things like tracksuit tops.” Fashion historian Pearl Binder’s 1959 style encyclopedia Look at Clothes helped Patrick realize how fascinated he was by the aesthetics of dress. Although he admits that he liked the book “more for the illustrations”, he amends that he is “interested in clothes” and is “always searching for clothes for my characters to
wear.” The history of dress is especially intriguing to Patrick, as he “likes seeing what people used to wear before the kind of globalized fashion that is going on now.” Patrick is inspired by the tribal dress of indigenous peoples and works to translate the overall feel of the garments into his self-described “colourful, cautious” illustrations. Sealskin boots, buffalo pelt coats embellished with red and yellow stitching and straw moccasins all creep their way into this work. Patrick “love(s) the look of them: the patterns, the strangeness” and feels that they “add a sense of mystery and drama” to his illustrations. Patrick is always thinking about the stories behind the characters in his illustrations and likes to use dress as a way to communicate those stories to his viewers. By illustrating his characters into brightly coloured and unusual garments, Patrick encourages the viewer to “look at them and try to figure out where the characters in the picture might be and why they are dressed in that particular way.” Patrick notes that global fashion today makes it a “bit tricky” to “tell exactly where someone (is) from just by the way they are dressed.” His illustrations, however, work to translate their cultural roots to the viewer loud and clear. Going forward, Patrick aims to move away from “just drawing pleasant things” and hopes to “increase the drama and danger” in his pictures. But he is “sure there will always be an influence from other cultures.” Dress is, after all, part of who we are and how we best communicate.
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Pantsuit by Lotte Biermasz Shoes by Pied a Terre
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