Salon/2 presents: Mattijs van Bergen - Paper Series #2: 'Ship' - Amsterdam Museum

One of the locations of Salon/2 is the Amsterdam Museum. And, again, amazing things happen in 'De regentenkamer'. Not fashion, but a boat-iful installation of MATTIJS is presented on the table of the room. This centre piece is inspired by the sea view- paintings hanging in the Regentenkamer. Mattijs van Bergen said: "In all my work I tend to think from colour, material and texture and specifically pleats. For me paper is the perfect material base to start working from. It is a blank canvas for new ideas. The paper connects to to collars in the sea-view portraits in the room. With bringing something new to this historic room I try to reference the past to the now, as I do in my collections". 

Paper Series #2 is a study for Paper Series #3: 'Paper Wedding'. It will be part of the exhibition Mart Visser, Kerkmeester: 'Ode to Dutch Couture' van 26 Augustus tot 2 oktober in de Nieuwe Kerk. Paper Series #1 (december 2009) was shown in the window of Jones Clothing Arnhem.

Go to the Amsterdam Museum and see for youself how overwelming the crafts of MATTIJS are,  even without textile and metal. The picture is just a detail, because it is to boat-iful to show you it in full....

About Mattijs van Bergen:

“King of Pleats" Mattijs van Bergen (1980) lauched his label in 2008.  His neo classical designs are defined by distinct use of color, high quality fabric and make.  The clothes should be forward, but survive the change of the seasons. Curvaceous tailoring and a sculptural use of pleating are part of the label’s signature cut.

His new glam handwriting has proven itself as highly attractive to women in the past years. The look is fresh, festive and feminine. With his designs, the designer strives to create feminine clothes that’ll seduce the women who wear them as well as surprise them by the highly innovative aspects. Great craftsmanship lies deep in the heart of MATTIJS. No wonder, with an education that started at the Institute of Fine Arts in Arnhem, The Netherlands and successfully ended in London at the Central Saint Martins College, van Bergen has an eye for details, beautiful fabrics and well-cut clothes.

REVIEW: 'Dear Mr/Mrs' - a short film by Freundenthal/Verhagen (July 8, 5-7 pm, Magazijn)

Dear Mr/Mrs - 

A short film by Freudenthal/Verhagen

Text by Kaira van Wijk 

The short motion picture Dear Mr/Mrs, directed by Freudenthal/Verhagen, highlights the collections of this year’s Fashion Design graduates from the ArtEZ Fashion Masters. Once again, after doing last year’s exhibition in Paris, the successful Dutch duo has managed to present the work of the ArtEZ Fashion Masters graduates in a creative way. The main character of Dear Mr/Mrs is in search of his/her true identity. This quest serves as a metaphor for today’s fashion, in which increasingly the boundaries between masculine and feminine have begun to fade. The collections were designed by the graduates of Generation 12: Jonathan Christopher Hofwegen, Zhengzheng Li, Yona van Mansfeld, Nick Rosenboom and Hanna Siwecki.

Carmen Freudenthal (photographer) and Elle Verhagen (stylist) have operated as a creative team since 1989. Their work – whether autonomous or in collaboration with fashion designers, performers and other artists – is always marked by a humoristic approach to daily life and a signature style that both uses and abuses contemporary imagery and (photo)graphic techniques. Freudenthal and Verhagen have worked as in-house designers for Bernhard Willhelm and their work has been published in I-D magazine, Dazed & Confused, Jalouse and Flash Art International. Because of the layered character of their remarkable output, as vividly reflected in their film Painted Series (2008), one may look at their images for minutes and still discover new elements in them.

Dear Mr/Mrs celebrates the blurring boundaries between male and female in current fashion. As teaser for the students’ graduation collections, this intriguing, slightly surreal short fashion film stirs the viewer’s imagination indeed.  The film examines the brain of a model, whereby the face constantly shifts from female to male and back again, a dynamic subtly reinforced by the uncanny musical score, specially written for this production. Interspersed cuts of a nipple and a screaming mouth add a surreal touch but also have an eroticizing effect. As Carmen Freudenthal explains, “The film is about a quest. Although the protagonist seems to have found his/her identity, Dear Mr/Mrs portrays an inner life whose complexity is bound to persist.” Besides being controversial, the style is also rather eclectic. For instance, at one point in the video the model starts planking on a chair.  

The film’s animations, according to Verhagen, open the door to a world that does not exist and towards the story’s end they actually seem to have breathed life into the clothes presented. The graduating students’ collections are largely shot in close-up and from behind, which in combination with the misty landscape imagery triggers an eerie sense of mystery. If anything, Dear Mr/Mrs reveals this creative duo’s signature again, while also providing an exciting sneak-peak of this year’s ArtEZ Fashion Masters graduation collections.

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Dear Mr/Mrs premiered during the Arnhem Mode Biennale 2011 and will be showed the 8th of July July 5-7pm at the first floor of Magazijn - oudezijds voorburgwal 153.  Come see this beautiful fashion film, a piece of art.  

Koos van den Akker's 'live': "Hey, i would sure beat those fashion reality shows. Get the money together and I'll do the work! "

As special guest SALON/2 presents “Koos van den Akker” live from New York City. Using a live feed, from his workroom in New York directly to Amsterdam, the viewer can gain insights into Koos’ daily world and work, starting July 7^th. You are invited to peek over the shoulders at how he thinks, works and how he creates his unique pieces. Koos participates directly with the audience. Please come and enjoy this direct dialogue. Koos van der Akker ‘LIVE’ is generously supported by AFK - Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunsten.

In 2009 Koos van den Akker was interviewed by W-Magazine and he told that one day he would have a one-man-show as a reaction on the bad quality real life fashion shows on television. He said: "Hey, it would sure beat those reality shows. Get the money together and I'll do the work!

" 

Now, in 2011, he gets his one man show he wanted at SALON/2. Come to DROOG to meet Koos in person. Maybe he is out, maybe he is working, maybe he is drinking coffee with you.  

Read the interview below:

W-Magazine's interviewed Koos van den Akker in 2009 (by Vanessa Lau)

"[...] His name is practically synonymous with patchworked clothing. He's the guy responsible for Bill Cosby's colorful collage sweaters from the Eighties, after all. W-Magazine hunted him down to his Madison Avenue store, where Van Den Akker continues to deliver on his crafty creations. We're happy to report that the designer, at age 70, is as feisty, droll and engaging as ever.  

W: Where do you think the fashion industry is nowadays (2009, red.)? 


KOOS: Right now, everything in the kitchen sink works. And very often, it's not pretty. But that is just the freedom that people have today. There's all this craziness, and a lot of it is done for the "do-ing" of it. But I have nothing to do with this. I mean, I'm totally out of the loop. I'm very much a one-man band.



W: What about collections that get their inspiration from you? For example, there was Balenciaga from spring 2002 and, even this season, the Marc by Marc Jacobs line was partly inspired those old Bill Cosby sweaters you did.


KOOS: What I like is that the designers give their own version, which is so much freer. I'm a 70-year-old man; I come with that era. But the kids today can see this and out comes something completely different. That's delightful. 



W: OK, what about celebrity designers? Did you see Lindsay Lohan's debut at Emanuel Ungaro?


KOOS: Oh, that's bullshit. That is total commerce and total, total bullshit— and you can write that down too. No, I don't go for that. That's a waste of time. The only one that does it well is [Gwen Stefani of] L.A.M.B. Not Lindsay Lohan. I mean, who the f-ck cares?



W: Fashion reality shows? 


KOOS: Forget that. They're poison. That f-cking [Project] Runway thing—that is the worst thing in the world. Those reality shows do nothing for the kids. The thing is that all the people are making money on them, except for those kids. 

W: You had your own line on QVC for a long time.

KOOS: I loved that, and I was good at it too. I was good on camera and all that. I'm not very good with customers, face to face.



W: What was it like working for Dior? 


KOOS: Those were my most difficult customers, in Paris. Those French women, they had you by the balls. 



W: You really should have a one-man show of your own. Your career's packed with terrific stories. 


KOOS: Hey, it would sure beat those reality shows. Get the money together and I'll do the work!



www.wmagazine.com/w/blogs/editorsblog/2009/10/15/where-are-they-now-koos-van-de.html

PREMIERE : 7TH OF JULY AT DROOG - AMSTERDAM 

Salon/2 presents: Lizan Freijsen - 'Utopia at the table' - Museum Van Loon

SALON/2 presents: Antoine Peters - Get Dizzy! s/s2010 - Droog

"A speeding up world makes us dizzy more and more. Clothing, wearer, reality and fiction get mixed up or even fuse together. 

Fight back by making a spontaneous somersault. " - Antoine Peters about 'Get Dizzy!'.  
See this film and pieces of his latest collection at Droog. 

About Antoine Peters:

Antoine Peters graduated cum laude at the Art Academy in Arnhem as well at the master course Fashion Institute Arnhem and has working working experience at Viktor&Rolf. Known for his A SWEATER FOR THE WORLD! project, a 2-person sweater with the goal to photograph as many ‘different kind of people’ as possible inside it, in a few years the fanatical football player gathered even more reputation with his pop-culture inspired designs and drew attention of the international press. He is covered as one of the world's hundred most innovative young designers in the '100 new fashion designers' book by Hywel Davies and his work is used in books such as Fabric for Fashion by Clive Hallet, Textiles and Fashion by Jenny Udale and Graphics in Fashion by Jay Hes and noticed by Vogue Italy, Dazed, A Shaded View On Fashion, Style Bubble and many more. Antoine Peters proudly designed the volunteer costumes for the Arnhem Fashion Biennial 2009 and had collaborations with iconic brands like United Nude, Effio, Quinze & Milan and Film Festival Rotterdam. He recently launched his ANTOINE PETERS x EASTPAK bags which are selling in the Benelux, Italy and leading shops like Seven New York, Corso Como Milan, SPRMRKT Amsterdam, Margreeth Olsthoorn Rotterdam and Hunting & Collecting Brussels. 

Peters' work is known because of his conceptual, layered and innovative style and is praised because if its optimism, playfulness and renewing form of elegance. More serious matter is brought in a light manner, with the arising of a new unbiased perspective as a result. His work brings airiness by means of concept, but also literally in the clothing and installations itself. ANTOINE PETERS stands for 'One size fits all elegance'. Bringing together the best of 'casual' and 'sophistication'. ANTOINE PETERS wants to spread a smile. 

www.antoinepeters.com

Salon/2 presents: Pauline van Dongen - Kinetic Landscapes S/S 2012 - Galerie Diana Stigter

"This collection tells about the forces of water and air and the abstraction I find in nature’s eroded appearance. I tried to capture the effect of wind and water on our surroundings. The visible result of wear, resulting in lines and undulations of the earth's surface. It is about the unremarkable changes in nature which only after decades becomes visible".

"I find it very interesting how our surroundings are changing shape under influence of processes like erosion. The extraordinary shapes that nature creates by itself: Desert winds sculpt smooth and gentle swirls out of rocks and sandstone hills. It’s Impressive what kind of patterns and protruding surfaces are created by the forces of nature. Undulations, holes, waves, curves..."

"The gesture of movement you find in rigid and massive rock formations is astonishing. For instance 'The Wave' in Arizona, a small ravine between eroded sandstone domes, is formed of amazingly beautiful rocks containing thin, swirling strata. I translated these wavy patterns into my designs. The orange copper-like glow of 'The Wave' can also be found in the color palette, along with a bright blue and stony shades of gray between the bright white and deep black.

The reflection and the flowing nature of water is represented in the use of a reflective fabric and supple leather that is stitched into a sculptural pleating. This collection comes from a play with fluid form language in combination with abstract constructed shapes, offering an aesthetic of graphic lines and undulations with striking materials around the body." - Pauline van Dongen, 2011

Shoe design: Anna Korshun for Pauline van Dongen

About Pauline van Dongen:

In 2008 Pauline graduated with a BA in Fashion Design from the renowned Artez, Academy of the Arts in Arnhem, the Netherlands. It was there that she first developed an interest in developing her designs by draping fabrics directly on a mannequin. This is how she could translate her conceptual approach into a visual aesthetic around the body.
During her Master Program at the Fashion Institute Arnhem she was offered a shoe design course. Here she discovered a love for product design and also further developed her personal signature that has been described as “organic science”. Working with unconventional or new materials triggers her to explore and research the processing and finishing in a garment and allows her to work like a researcher. 

Her fascination for the relation between human and their surroundings is something that keeps feeding her inspiration. By working with sculptural shapes, forms like capsules floating around the body, she examines the space between the garment and the body and tries to emphasize that void in her designs. This has not always been a point of focus within fashion. In that sense she wants to present a unique proposal, since her designs don't refer to the classic Western tradition, whereby clothing casts the body in a certain form. Pauline prefers the idea that the body is what gives the clothes a certain volume.

Pauline’s work focuses on the surface, she uses fabric as a starting point.Tactility, texture and no-frills modernity are the essence of her work. As she continues to explore the use of unconventional materials and new ways of construction she wants to create “a proposal for the future”.

www.paulinevandongen.com