Contemporary fashion exhibition premieres at Dutch Costume Museum

By

Shomara Roosblad

Published
Sep 4, 2018

On Wednesday 5 September, the Dutch Costume Museum is premiering the exhibition 'Contemporary Fashion'.

The show focuses on how contemporary fashion designers use crafts and craftsmanship techniques from traditional Dutch costumes as a source of inspiration to develop new ideas.

The exhibition features designs of Dutch and Belgian fashion designers who all used Dutch costumery to inform their collections, including Tess van Zalinge, Bas Kosters, Kasper Jongejan, David Laport, Meeta Mastani and Marlies Vissers, Elke Wierenga and Walter Van Beirendonck.

In addition, Contemporary Fashion will also feature special loans from the Zuiderzee Museum and the Zeeuws Museum, including works from Alexander van Slobbe, Viktor & Rolf, Mattijs van Bergen, Elisabeth van der Helm, and Antoine Peters.

The contemporary designs are exhibited next to the traditional costumes that served as the designer’s source of inspiration, which have often added a sense of identity and traditional quality to the new design, the museum said.

It added that today’s designers regularly reference traditions. Dutch clothing traditions and costumes have also influenced couture collections: both Walter Van Beirendonck and John Galliano used the Dutch Staphorst Stipwerk technique to paint their menswear collections, which were painted by Staphorst Stipwerk expert, Gerard van Oosten. On another occasion, David Laport unveiled a white pleated dress, inspired by his Zeeland roots and the headdresses traditionally worn in the southwest Dutch province.

Contemporary Fashion will be on view until 31 March 2019.

The Dutch Costume museum is located in a 17th century canal house in the city centre of Amsterdam. The museum aims to preserve the knowledge, craftsmanship, and techniques of Dutch costume history.