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| Dutch Creativity Showcased! |
| November 19, 2007 |
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Wednesday 31 October, 4pm. Our plane literally dives into the puffy clouds covering Amsterdam and prepares to land at Schipol Airport. Upon our arrival, Jolanda Strien from the Dutch Fashion Foundation welcomes us and leads us to a luxurious limousine that takes us to our five-star hotel in Dam Square. It's just the beginning and we already feel like very important people!! Barbara has been invited to be a Jury member of the first edition of the Dutch Fashion Awards and, as often happens, I am more than happy to be at her side as a "Jury guest". The event is organised by Angelique Westerhof's Dutch Fashion Foundation that works to strengthen the social, cultural and economic role of Dutch fashion on a national and international level. The purpose of the Fashion Awards is to showcase and support young Dutch fashion designers who already have their own brand and distribution, but who are still in need of some help to really establish themselves, mostly on an international level. The event was also obviously concieved to give visibility to the Dutch fashion scene. Angelique is a long time friend of ITS and is also the head of FIA - Fashion Institute Arnhem, a one year master's course in fashion design based in Amsterdam (despite the name). Just like Barbara, she's been working and struggling to support young designers for ages, and this event is yet another way to do so.
Some of the members of the Jury were also "habitues"of the ITS Jury, like Maria Luisa Poumaillou, owner of the Maria Luisa boutiques, and Valentina Maggi, from the headhunting agency Floriane de St Pierre. Then there was Bernadette Wittman, project manager for Bread&Butter Design and Bread&Butter Studio, Christine Ellis, buyer for AGA group, and Cecilia Jesi Ferrari, researcher for Neiman Marcus at AGA group. We would have loved to meet with Colin Mc Dowell again who was expected to be there, but in the end he could not make it because he was sick.
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On Thursday 1 November, the day of the show, the Jury had a very packed schedule. After a great breakfast in a cozy place with homemade bread and sweets where you really feel at home, we moved to the Beurs Van Berlage, the location of the event. It's a wonderful and huge building in red bricks, perfect for an event of this kind. Here we had one-to-one meetings with the finalists. They had the chance to present themselves and their brand, explain their work (with three models each wearing their clothes), their expectations for the future... And answer all the tricky questions from the Jury members!
We had a short break for lunch in a beautiful restaurant before meeting the last three finalists. Among them was Mada Van Gaans, ITS#THREE finalist, who is doing very well in Holland and is now trying to go international. We love to see our finalists grow and improve!
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After a short break, the Jury was back at Beurs Van Berlage for the general rehearsal. It was the final judging moment to decide who would be the winner of the € 25,000 award. The rehearsal washed away all doubts on who should win and we went back to the hotel to prepare for the evening... And here one of the funniest parts of our Amsterdam experience begins.
Reading the program we had noticed that at 8.30pm there would be a "Red Carpet Entrance". Now, Barbara and I have never been on a red carpet, we've only seen them on TV. You know, during a movie premiere, journalists with flashes and microphones, the famous actor or actress that steps out of the car while everyone starts screaming "LOOK OVER HERE!!" You can tell yourself you don't give a damn, but truth is you blush the moment you step out of that car if you're not used to it. Picture it. We are in a big black limousine, just a few meters away from the venue and we see loads of journalists and lights, and this big red carpet that goes right inside the Beurs Van Berlage like a huge tongue...Barbara starts saying "no no no no no no" and the driver laughs. The car stops in front of the red carpet, we step out and without looking at or listening to anyone, we grab each others hand and walk in with a stiff, super fake smile! We're definitely not VIPs...
The show was perfectly organised (as was our hospitality... a big thanks also goes to Mariel!) and went off without a hitch. A very professional female host presented the evening, and also Angelique Westerhof, wearing a beautiful evening dress, stepped on stage to present the event, welcome the guests and explain the reasons for the Dutch Fashion Awards. Short and very well edited videos presented the fashion designers and their brands to the 800 guests before actually seeing the collections on stage, in order to give a more complete view of the finalists and their work. As Maria Luisa said when she was called on the catwalk to announce the winner, it is always difficult to choose when the outifts are all well executed. Indeed, the 7 collections made a great impression on the audience that applauded every exit, transmitting positive energy to the tense finalists seated in the front row.
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Klavers Van Engelen, the brand by designers Niels Klavers and Astrid Van Engelen won in the end. Because we knew who the winner was, we were looking at their faces right before the announcement. It was great because they really were not expecting it. Mouths open and no words coming out for a few seconds! Niels and Astrid are a very humble couple and we believe they deserve it. We hope the € 25,000 and the attention they will receive really give them a big push forward.
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During the party after the show we were more than happy to stop and chat with some friends we had not seen for a while. Joline Jolink (ITS#TWO finalist) for example, told us about what she's currently doing.
For two years she's been working together with her partner on her own label and they've produced three collections showing them in Amsterdam, New York, Berlin, Rome and Paris. The label is growing well and now they have an agent for press and sales in the US. She is well established in Holland so her next dream is to start going abroad, and sell in Europe and the US. It's hard in a packed market such as the fashion one, but Joline is headstrong and dedicated. She works professionally and you can clearly see passion in her eyes when she talks about her projects for the future, an essential characteristic if you want to reach your goal. She's on the right track!
We also met Angelos Bratis. He's from Greece and was born into fashion: His mother had an atelier and therefore his interest for fashion design started at a very early age. After graduating in Athens he was accepted for the FIA master's course which he completed presenting a collection during Paris Haute Couture in 2003. In the same year he was invited to AltaModa in Rome and the reaction to his work was so good that Maison Gattinoni offered him a work placement for the following two years. He never forgot his own brand though, and even found the time to lecture as a guest professor at IED and Accademia di Costume e di Moda in Rome. Also Maria Luisa noticed him and Angelos has dressed her shop windows together with famous photographer Michel Mallard. Angelos is well established now, with regular customers in Rome, Greece and Spain. He is a very sweet person who, despite his success, has remained humble and normal. Just the kind of people we like. Not stars or VIPs, but strong, creative and experienced designers who know what they are doing and never give up. Barbara had not seen him in a long time and was very happy to spend some time catching up on what he has done over the last few years.
It was hard to find the time to fly to Amsterdam for this event because we are so busy in this time of the year, but we're really happy we participated. Angelique Westerhof and her staff organised a great show and made us feel comfortable and at ease. We love her, she is a strong woman who is doing an incredible amount of work in Holland. More people over there should realise what kind of person she is: a precious jewel that can really grant the Dutch fashion scene the consideration it deserves. You know the saying: You don't know what you've got until it's gone. We hope Holland never looses this invaluable woman.
p.s. Amsterdam is wonderful!!
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