Collectie/Collection Arnhem 2014: “Zest”: Collectie Arnhem is an annual project by 3rd year bachelor students at ArtEZ Fashion Design in which the students get to design, style, sample, present, finance, show, sell and produce their own collection.
The fashion show by Collection Arnhem was held in a photo studio in Amsterdam. At the entrance we were served to a gin tonic and got our shoes protected. On entering the studio a we got a little disoriented because we were in a completely white room without corners. No horizon, nothing to focus us on. until the models walked by. The designs were made in a nude/white/grey color palette with a blue and yellow added hint of “Zest”. The silhouettes were long and lean, often ending at the height of the calf. Volumes were crushed by folding them underneath transparent fabrics. They made use of wonderful fabric embellishments such as knitted smocking techniques and puff prints to make the fabric cringe. At the end of the show the audience could touch and feel all garments as the models stood still. All together a wonderful show!
This year the focus was not only on the clothes. Even before we saw a single garment we already knew a lot about Collectie Arnhem 2014. The students worked their marketing very well! Come to think of it: It is for the first time they spent time on marketing this way (2014 is the 16th edition of Collectie Arnhem). First we got to see Collectie Arnhem’s campaign image; “From Arnhem with Love” shot by photographer Erwin Olaf. With this campaign they ask attention for the degrading circumstances surrounding gay rights in Russia. The print was inspired on “Beat the white with the red wedge” by El Lissitzky. The t-shirt is available in a limited edition of 60 pieces and will be sold in order to support Amnesty International’s LGBT project. Secondly they produced a perfume (in collaboration with Tanja Deurloo of Annindriya) called Eau de la Mode, “60 years of Arnhem Fashion in one perfume” (note: ArtEZ Arnhem just celebrated it’s 60th jubilee) The development of this perfume started with one question to the hundreds of alumni of the fashion department in Arnhem: What does fashion smells like? The answers were divers, ranging from Cigarette Smoke to a Morning in Paris. Inspired by these answers they created a unique smell (in a limited edition of 60 bottles each with a unique ribbon laser cut with a year from 1953-2014) If you buy a bottle you will support the realization of Collectie Arnhem 2014. Eau de la Mode can be bought at Arnhem Coming Soon and at Margreet Olsthoorn or can be ordered on-line at collectiearnhem@artez.nl. (80 ml / €100,-) In third place: For the first time the 3rd year bachelor students gave themselves face, simply by posting a group portrait and wishing everybody a great new year 2014 and thanking all that helped them with this project. Needless to say they gained a lot of (press) attention even before they showed the collection. Clever bachelor’s! www.collectiearnhem.nl
