Missing out on this year’s edition due to illness didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for one of the most important events in the fashion industry — the 15th edition of the FASHIONCLASH Festival. As we eagerly await the opportunity to attend next year, we wanted to highlight why FASHIONCLASH holds a special place in our hearts.
From November 17th to 19th, Maastricht in The Netherlands came alive with a vibrant celebration of fashion, art, and performance. FASHIONCLASH Festival brought together a new generation of talented designers and artists from around the globe. Their diverse works captivated a broad international audience, pushing boundaries and redefining contemporary fashion culture.
www.instagram.com/fashionclash_festival
All photos by Laura Knipsael www.instagram.com/lauraknipsael
and Mitch van Schijndel www.instagram.com/mitchvanschijndel
With over 100 designers, artists, and makers representing more than 30 countries, the FASHIONCLASH Festival serves as a platform for discovery, inspiration, and collaboration. It ignites a creative dialogue, merging fashion with social design and visual arts. By nurturing the innovative spirit of emerging talent, the festival continues to shape the future of the industry.
Showcasing a dynamic program of exhibitions, performances, talks, workshops, and fashion film screenings, the FASHIONCLASH Festival is a melting pot of ideas and perspectives. The lineup consists of carefully curated projects, selected through open calls and passionate collaborations with different organizations and visionaries.
The festival commenced with the captivating New Fashion Narratives exhibition at Bureau Europa in the Sphinxkwartier. This impressive display drew visitors into an immersive world, featuring thought-provoking designs and a mesmerizing performance by Tevin Blancheville and the talented duo Fynnandmathis.
Fynn Herlinghaus and Mathis Hadji, the creative minds behind Fynnandmathis, use fashion as a means of cultural expression. By engaging with local communities and reimagining existing garments, they foster exchange and empowerment. Their interactive catwalk experience at the opening created a buzz, captivating the audience and reflecting their unique artistic vision.
Another highlight of the festival was the remarkable lineup of fashion films screened at Lumière Cinema. Among the finalists, Cristian Velasco’s film “RETAZOS” won the coveted KALTBLUT Magazine award, while “HUM (we/us)” by Little Shilpa and Ashim Ahluwalia claimed the prestigious Fashion Film Award, valued at 1000 euros. The judging panel, consisting of Mira Postolache, Sam Bassett, Odunayo Ojo, Sofia Tchkonia, and Marcel Schlutt, recognized the remarkable talent behind these visually stunning creations.
Furthermore, the FASHIONCLASH Festival unveiled its very own production, “The Leap,” during the film opening. Made possible by the Meester Koetsier Foundation, this engaging fashion film showcased the collaborative efforts of five talented makers under the guidance of FASHIONCLASH and filmmaker Daniel van Hauten. It exemplified the festival’s commitment to supporting and nurturing emerging talent in the industry.
As we reflect on this extraordinary edition of the FASHIONCLASH Festival, we are left in awe of the creativity and artistry that unfolded in Maastricht. We eagerly anticipate the next chapter of this beloved event, where designers and artists continue to push the boundaries of fashion, culture, and self-expression.
PROGRAM RECAP
New Fashion Narratives in co-creation with 5 fashion practitioners
For this year’s exhibition program, five independent fashion practitioners were invited by FASHIONCLASH to form a curatorial team and collaborate on the concept for the New Fashion Narratives exhibition that was presented at Bureau Europa during FASHIONCLASH Festival 2023.
Starting the curatorial process with a Residency Week in Maastricht in April 2023, they decided to take a different approach: instead of focusing all attention on the final product, they prefer to highlight the diversity of creative approaches that are often hidden away as ‘process’. “We are interested in what is rarely made known to the public.”
How would (re)sources from the past, act in the present and create context for the future?
“What happens during the creation process? What types of creative references get used and lost? What are the different collaborations required in order to make one’s final vision come to life? We would like to explore how multi-authorship is represented in fashion and how to unlock new perspectives by zooming in on the creative processes.”
Curators are: Enzo Aïtkaci, Chinouk Filique, Jonathan Ho, Lotte de Jager and Boris Kollar.
Participants: Annalie van Doorn, avoidstreet, Azalja van Dijk, Bastiaan Reijnen, BAYARTAEV, CHAEWON KONG, FRANK & Moritz Ernst, Fynnandmathis, Ivan Delogu, Jakob Hodel, Justina Semčenkaitė, Kelly Konings, KKJ, Maria Gilmen, Roxy van Kemenade, studio allesingebruik, Svatopluk Ručka, TANJA VIDIC, Teresa Carvalheira x Eunice Pais, Tevin Blancheville, Timothy Scholte/Mary-Ann.
Overview and information about the participants: www.fashionclash.nl/fcf-2023-participants-nfn
The CLASH House @ Studuio Radium
The CLASH House is a showcase and development program for designers who focus on crossovers between fashion and other art disciplines – especially performing arts. These designers explore alternative ways of making and presenting fashion.
Participants of The CLASH House receive a coaching program in which they are supported by theatre maker Giovanni Brand and dancer and choreographer Laisvie Andrea Ochoa Gaevska. The aim of the program is to encourage designers to experiment with presentation formats and thus contribute to the innovation of the field and create a unique experience for the audience. The CLASH House was hosted by Ariah Lester who was wearing an outfit by Denzel Veerkamp.
Esra Copur took up the challenge of turning her performance to-be-to-exist into a participatory project in collaboration with five people of different ages and experiences. During a number of workshops in Tilburg, they worked together on the performance and the outfits for the performance.
Participants of The CLASH House 2023: Barbara Rozenberg, Jean Flogie, Esra Copur, MAASH, Ruben Jurriën and maatrev.
Overview and information about the participants: www.fashionclash.nl/fcf-2023-participants-tch
Fashion Film Program @Lumière Cinema
Fashion film (short fashion film) has become an established format in which designers and brands present their ethics and aesthetics. In this multimedia age, fashion film has become a growing way to capture a story and reach a wide audience through online platforms and media.
The program consisted of a selection of 41 films from different countries in the world, thus showing a very diverse and rich view of perspectives, disciplines, cultures and stories.
Overview and information about the participants: www.fashionclash.nl/fcf-2023-participants-ffp
Fashion Makes Sense, participation program @ Centre Céramique
Fashion Makes Sense is the ongoing participation program of FASHIONCLASH from which projects are developed focused on social design, inclusion, education and collaboration between professionals and semi-professionals/amateurs, especially involving young people.
During the festival, the results of a number of participation projects are presented, such as the finissage of ‘THE HOOOOOOODIE PROJECT’. The sleeves of the hoodie are now more than 300 meters long and more than 500 people, mainly young people, have worked on them over the past two years.
On the third floor there was the Fashion Makes Sense exhibition with fashion films about fashion and sustainability, work by Faye van der Aa, winner of the Kunstbende main prize, and the creations of the Campaign Project, which was made in co-creation with young people, were on display.
During the festival, there were also some upcycling mending workshops and Who cares what you wear? was on the program, an interactive theatre performance for young people about fashion and sustainability, developed in collaboration with theatre maker Mayke Roels.
On Sunday afternoon, November 19, the Fashion Makes Sense Talk took place, moderated by Chanel Trapman (MUMSTER). She talked to a number of makers about the process and experience of these participatory projects.
Afterparty with performances
What do we express in the light and who do we want to become when everyone’s watching?
On Saturday evening, fashion and identity could literally be celebrated during the Afterparty at Dansen Partycentrum Bernaards. For this project, FASHIONCLASH collaborated with theatremaker and performer Samuel Valor Reyes. The FASHIONCLASH Festival Afterparty is an invitation to celebrate our individual identity; an act of community, empowerment, safe spaces and individual expression to play with the idea of who we are in the shadows when no one is looking through fashion, music, dance, performance and spoken word!
Samuel invited a number of performers for this evening. Jento Schaf, Mikael De Geyter, Renzo Pepers and Nata Mandaria shared the stage with a number of participants of the movement and workshops that were organized prior to the festival.
And there was more
During the festival weekend, there are a number of continuous and free activities such as the exhibition in the garden of Marres with work by André Konings, Roumans, UGO WOATZI and TIM VAN DER PLAS. At The Green Elephant, there is an installation of OUR SHIFT. Limestone Books, in collaboration with Warehouse, is organizing a pop-up around the fusion between fashion and publications and on Saturday they are organizing a talk with designers and artists Anouk Beckers, Iris de Leeuw and Muslin Brothers. At S.A.C store you could see and buy work by Floris Wamelink A.k.a. Flowed, Underdog Collective and OUR SHIFT.
Overview and information about the participants: www.fashionclash.nl/fcf-2023-participants-other
Campaign Project in co-creation with young people
FASHIONCLASH is actively dedicated to involving various target groups and a broad audience, especially young people, by organizing all kinds of activities throughout the year. This year the festival campaign was developed entirely in co-creation with young people. From outfits to styling and performance, more than 40 young people aged 8 to 37 participated in the project.
Between Friday, April 14 and Saturday, May 27, 2023, FASHIONCLASH set up a Pop-Up Atelier in collaboration with Centre Céramique in Maastricht. Several designers have supervised the fashion-making workshops. Photographer Laura Knipsael and video maker Steve Iseger guided the young people in the photo and video production.
The result, consisting of a collection of outfits, a series of photos and a fashion film, is used for the festival campaign and was exhibited at Centre Céramique during the festival.
FASHIONCLASH Festival is an initiative of the Maastricht (Netherlands) based FASHIONCLASH Foundation. FASHIONCLASH is a development and presentation platform for fashion (culture) that, through crossovers, contributes to, on the one hand, the individual talent development of the new generation of fashion makers and, on the other hand, to general awareness of the role of fashion in the world.
Since 2009, FASHIONCLASH has completed more than 250 projects in the Netherlands and abroad and provided a stage and support for more than 1500 artists and designers from all over the world.
For an impression of the festival, watch 2022 Aftermovie. In addition, most program parts of the previous two editions are available on the YouTube channel.
