September
7 - December, 2005
Dutch
at the Edge of Design: Fashion and Textiles from the Netherlands
at the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology
The Museum
at F.I.T. presents an exhibition of avant-garde Dutch Fashion
and textile designs, with work by a wide range of Dutch designers,
including Gijs Bakker, Nicolette Brunklaus, Hil Driessen, Kiki
van Eijk, Niels van Eijk & Miriam van der Lubbe, Freedom
of Creation (Jiri Evenhuis & Janne Kyttanen), Hella Jongerius,
Claudy Jongstra, Yvonne Laurysen, Leendert Masselink, Eelko
Moorer, Saar Oosterhof, Bertjan Pot, Job Smeets, Marcel Wanders,
Laurens van Wieringen, Viktor & Rolf (Viktor Horsting &
Rolf Snoeren), Saskia van Drimmelen, Oscar Suleyman, Niels Klavers
& Astrid van Engelen, Melanie Rozema & Jeroen Teunissen,
Gerrit Uittenbogaard & Natasja Martens, Michiel Keuper &
Francisco van Bentem, and Alexander van Slobbe.
This will
be the first exhibition this size in the United States to bring
together contemporary, avant-garde Dutch fashion design and
textiles. It will also include relevant examples of industrial
design. While fashion and textiles are undoubtedly related to
the broader topic of Dutch design, they are worthy of more in-depth
study. A greater focus on these two disciplines allows shared
and related themes to emerge.
This exhibition
of avant-garde Dutch fashion and textile designs will surprise
viewers and challenge them to question the industry-based perception
of fashion and textiles. The Museum at FIT, as one of the world-renowned
museums of costume and textiles, is uniquely qualified to present
this subject. Located in the heart of New York’s fashion
and textile district, the Museum at FIT reaches a wide and influential
audience in these respective industries.
For over
a decade, Dutch designers have been leading figures in the contemporary
design field. The philosophical basis of their designs has been
exclusively discussed and their work continues to be exhibited
in galleries and museums internationally. This increasing exposure
of contemporary Dutch design in the media has piqued the curiosity
of the audience in the united States and raised the interest
in conceptual design in general. The time is right to bring
a more specialized exhibition of Dutch design to the U.S. audience.
Closer examination
of contemporary Dutch fashion and textiles yields conceptual
and aesthetic links between the disciplines. In this exhibition
it becomes clear that many contemporary Dutch designers share
an intellectual and artistic approach, not hindered by the need
to fulfill market demands. Therefore, the resulting products
challenge the establishment ideals.
Although
there have been exciting new developments in the high tech segment,
the textile industry has not been able to break free from tradition
and convention and has become creatively stagnant. Most textile
designers in the industry are asked to design innocuous textiles
that provide quiet and tasteful backgrounds for interiors or
trendy designs for fashion items.
Dutch designers
have been a particularly strong force for change in this area.
Designers not trained in the traditional textile industry have
produced some of the most challenging examples. Works by these
designers are not constrained by the traditional expectations
of the textile industry and as a result have broken many of
its cardinal rules. These new pieces demand attention, an emotional
response, and a dialogue with the viewers. For example, through
their designs, commissioned by the Dutch Textile Museum, Leendert
Masselink, Job Smeets, and Miriam van der Lubbe challenge the
long established tradition of fine damask table linens. This
signifier of status is turned into a vehicle for story telling
in which sweet and macabre are combined; to confront issues
of war, and industry against nature or the state of affairs
in the contemporary Netherlands.
Similarly,
the lack of an established fashion industry in the Netherlands
has encouraged the development of a fiercely independent fashion
movement. This lack has allowed designers to grow and develop
an individual voice before they are faced with the realities
of production. Dutch fashion has, therefore, been about experimentation
and freedom rather than production costs and profits. The inspiration
for most Dutch fashion design is highly individualistic and
is often a rejection of the excessive luxury and mass branding
found in contemporary high fashion. The focus is instead on
craftmanship and the wearer’s special connection to their
garment.
Although
Viktor & Rolf left The Netherlands for Paris many years
ago, their individualistic and conceptual approach can be considered
typically Dutch. Their initial outsider status encouraged them
to question the fashion world and enabled them to develop their
unique approach to fashion. Two famous examples include the
“launch” of a fragrance in a bottle that doesn’t
actually open as well as their “L’appearance du
vide” collection that featured golden garments accompanied
by “shadows” of the actual garments, a wry commentary
on the gulf between runway fashion and reality. Narrative is
an aspect important to Viktor & Rolf, but can also be seen
in the work of Keuper/vanBentm and Oscar Suleyman, whose “Boutique”
collection both celebrated and parodied the consumer who buys
and wears everything in a collection, including the garment
bag.
This conceptual
approach is prevalent throughout Dutch design. Some of the textiles
provide an experience of hyper-consciousness related to scale
or sexuality. Kiki van Eijk distorts spatial relationships and
overwhelms the viewer with her carpet that features a gigantic
rose motif. Nicolette Brunklaus enlarges the natural size of
her subject, a photographic image of blond hair digitally printed
on silk curtains. This large-scale image of human hair appears
surrealistically erotic. Claudy Jongstra’s innovative
felts convey a dual quality of beastly and delicate beauty by
purposely retaining the natural rough-hewn tactility of wool
and contrasting it with silk.
An installation
by Hil Driessen is also a hyper-realistic universe of textures.
Through digital reproduction techniques, provided by the Dutch
Textile Museum, textural pattern was printed on velvet and on
laminate, woven into a tufted carpet and damask. The resulting
heavily ornamental environment is a sensory experience; simultaneously
abstract and narrative, futuristic and historical. Both the
Dutch Baroque interior as well as the Tuschinski Theater inspired
her work. These represent Dutch aesthetic periods that appear
to be a subtext to many of the works, both fashion and textiles.
Sensuality
and historicism are emerging trends among Dutch fashion designers.
The work of design duo Rozema Teunissen has often been described
as disturbing, sexual and neo-baroque. An excellent example
of their aesthetic is the “Transient” collection.
Based on the trash left at a crime scene, the garments featured
such disparate elements as electrical wire and exquisitely embroidered
police tape. Younger designers such as Mada van Gaans and Hamid
Ed Dakisshi have also embraced this neo-baroque approach, frequently
combining traditional opulence with naturalistic or animalistic
imagery.
Experimentation
is also an important theme, although the approach varies between
the two disciplines. Many textile designers are experimenting
with various techniques and materials to create new types of
textiles. With her “Repeat” series Hella Jongerius
revived a tradition through the use of the jacquard archive
at a textile company, Maharam. She introduced a new idea in
textiles: one-of-a-kind using industrial production by stretching
a single repeat to over three meters. Freedom of Creation is
exploring an entirely new way of creating textiles through the
use of Selective Laser Sintering, a type of rapid prototyping
technology that was originally invented for industrial prototype
making. Although the material created resembles chain mail,
with the advancement in science and technology this technique
may eventually revolutionize design and production of textiles
garments.
Some of
the textiles are made of surprising and somewhat perverse materials.
For example, Eelko Moorer's “Bear Rug” made of polyurethane
rubber, Laurens van Wieringen’s carpet made of polyurethane
foam, and Saar Oosterhof’s tablecloth made of soft polyurethane.
These works challenge the technical, material, and aesthetic
limitations of what is accepted as the commercial status quo
of textiles.
The current
wave of Dutch fashion was founded on the spirit of experimentation.
The Arnhem School, led by Alexander van Slobbe, advocated subtle
refinement and experimentation through cut. Through the thoughtful
shifting of seams and manipulation of fabric, clothing could
become increasingly abstract. This dry minimalist approach is
especially prevalent in the work of Saskia van Drimmelen, whose
designs have been compared to sculpture.
Experimental
Dutch fashion is frequently humorous and often surreal. Surrealism
was championed by the “ceci n’est pas un pantaloon”
collection by Klavers van Engelen that featured traditional
garments in unexpected, and often mutated forms. In their work,
jackets appear with two sets of sleeves and skirts made of trouser
legs. Later collections were also similarly abstract, taking
inspiration from such divergent themes as crumpled paper, flower
buds and the wind.
A collection
of furniture, lighting, and china will represent the essence
of the best of Dutch design; categorical boundaries are broken
and the crossing of disciplines occurs in the most elegant manner.
These objects were made by the application of textile material
and techniques. Examples include: Marcel Wanders’ “Knotted
Chair”, Niels van Eijk’s “Bobbin lace Lamp”,
and Gijs Bakker’s “Knitted Maria”. The newest
product among the group, “Carbon Chair” by Bertjan
Pot and Marcel Wanders utilizes carbon fiber to create an amazingly
light, comfortable, and practical seating. These works are especially
refreshing to those who were trained in a strict occupational
division of trade or craft tradition.
This exhibition
intends to introduce the essential elements of contemporary
avant-garde Dutch fashion and textiles to the U.S. audience.
It will illuminate themes common to both disciplines and that
are increasingly important to modern design. The objects exhibited
will capture the viewers’ attention and stir their imagination.
This exhibition will inspire design professionals and students
as well as present the general audience with a unique experience.
Contact:
Harumi Hotta
The Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology
Seventh Avenue at 27th Street
New York, NY 10001
Tel.: 212-217-5965
Fax: 212-217-5978
harumi_hotta@fitnyc.edu
www.fitnyc.edu
