Big fashion cities have Vogue Shopping Night Out. Here in The Hague, an international fashion city in the making, we have to content with just the Shopping Night Unfortunately this time I could not go out and see … Continue reading →
‘There’s too much of Dutch fashion shown everywhere, but, alas, very little sold’ says Laura van Erkelens, founder of Fashion NL, an independent online and offline platform for promoting Dutch fashion.
A passionate champion of local talent van Erkelens is as committed to the Dutch fashion cause as they come. It all started during her student days at the Utrecht School of Visual Arts and Design when she worked on her graduation paper researching Dutch fashion identity and its perception internationally. Well, the conclusion of that research was not encouraging—the overall awareness of Dutch fashion was quite low. Ironically not only abroad but also in the Netherlands.
Continue reading →Here is Part II of the cover story that I wrote for the winter issue of the Access Magazine, The Hague based expatriate publication. This particular part examines various facets of Dutch fashion, its international positioning and outlook for the future
Continue reading →In 1993 when Dutch fashion was still something of an oxymoron Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, graduates of the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design, took the fashion world by storm having won the most prestigious International Fashion and Photography Competition in Hyères, France, known as “an observatory of trends as well as an international launching pad” for a career in fashion.
For the competition the Dutch designers created a collection of distorted dresses with exaggerated waist bands and ballooning skirts. And with this they swept three prizes.
Continue reading →Move over politics and diplomacy. It is fashion time in The Hague.
Political concerns, Greek crisis and the fate of the euro seemed far away as on the night of November 4th the city’s fashion finest got together to celebrate the start of The Hague fashion month at the epicentre of it all – Magazin de la mode, in the historic glass-roofed Passage.
The public in attendance swapped the usual formal and “proper” Hague attire for glamorous outfits befitting the occasion, some bordering on the outrageously colourful, or shockingly short, or sweepingly long. The male audience was less adventurous spotting black ties and tuxedoes accessorised by a smattering of facial hair in all shapes and forms. Facial hair for men is a persistent trend, I notice.