My Love for Textiles and Fashion..2 Exhibitions...

Within 2 weeks I did see 2 great exhibitions I really have enjoyed.
One about Textiles in the TextielMuseum in Tilburg and the other one about Fashion in MoMu in Antwerp.

Ever since a little boy I was fascinated by textiles. My late Mother was very good in sewing and knitting. I remember her making out of a piece of fabric - which she bought a market-stall- beautiful dresses, shirts, skirts and trousers for herself. One of the highlights was a dress for the wedding of my brother in a black checked voile with flowers on it. Very difficult fabric to work with. I can see her puzzling about how to cut it because all those checks needed to be placed perfect so they were not broken at the seams. and of course she could do it and she made it even better than one you could buy in a store. 
For me she made once a Safari suit in light brown corduroy, a checked shirt with a round shaped collar.  Flared trousers with V stitching on the knees (very fashionable in the 70's) and Grandpa's shirts in typical Dutch Traditional stripes.

And she was a keen knitter too...and she learned me how to knit..

Guess somewhere in my youth my love for textiles was started. And it has developed since. Next to my Mum  the other great influence was of course my relation with Bram. He was trained as an Interior architect at the Rietveld-Academy in Amsterdam. He was more an architect than interior architect, but he had a very good sense for color and fabrics.
So, when I told him that I wanted to study Fashion Design at Art-school in Arnhem he told me to go for it.
A 5 years evening-course. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday to school form 18.30 till 9 hrs. Not always easy, but it has changed my life dramatically, and that is why I am now the person who I am. 
Coming from a family with no interest in Art or Fashion, I had to find out everything myself. Bram has always been very supportive to me.
At art-school I did find out that I am better in textiles than in fashion design. Of course I could and can make garment designs, but I am more a textile person with a love for using traditions in a modern way.

That was why the trend-presentation on fashion and lifestyle by Lidewij Edelkoort for Summer 2015 and a small seminar about textiles for the home were very interesting for me.
Both of them focused on textiles, and the way textiles can be used. 
Some of the words she used were:
Pleating, Stitching, Draping, Wrapped, Embroided, Frilled, Layered, Ribboned..etc....Linen, Handwoven...
And all under the Umbrella of the word "Gathering". 

We need to come together again..work together, while positivity is at the horizon.
Summer 2015 will be perfect for a Textile Lover as I am.

The exhibition is called: "Talking Textiles".

Curated by Lidewij Edelkoort and Philip Fimmano, and on till the 26th of January 2014.
Startingpoint is the strong Digital world we are living in and the reaction of the need for textiles as storytellers in our lives. Tradition techniques who need to be saved, and modern ways to produce textiles.

There is a lot to see, but one of the things which really moved me, was the sofa designed by the Bokja Girls from Beirut. 

A sofa based on the theme "Migration" which tells stories..a sofa with memories.
Textile can keep memories alive. 

I remember a project I have done years ago with my students.
We had asked students to bring with them garments which were important for them.
One of them was Razia who came as a refugee with her family to the Netherlands.

She brought 3 garments and jewelry with her, which the family took with them when they left Afghanistan. The one in the middle was the most special to the family, because it has been the wedding-dress for the bride in many generations. Hand-embroidered with gold thread and little mirrors. In this way they kept contact with the place they were born and memories were kept alive. I remember being very moved by her story, and this is also a  good example of the power of Textiles.
I have lost contact with her...but who knows she could be find...would love to know how she is doing??
And of course I had 3 Dutch students who wanted to try on those dresses. It must have been very special for them too. 

I still have contact with them thanks to Facebook.

There are the colorful masks by Bertjan Pot..

They always make me smile and must be a joy to make.

And there was this Blackbird...wrapped in Black fabric.
Designed and made by Guus Kusters & Maarten Kolk

More from the exhibition can bee seen HERE.

But there were more Birds in the Museum..

Woven, embroided and printed..

Next to this exhibition you can also see the exhibition: 

Textile Art only made by Men...very interesting.
Very strong work, and very architectural.

Harrie Boom (1945-1995) Black Lover V, 1972

Both by Krijn Giezen (1939-2011)
Untitled

The exhibition ended with more Birds....

and also by  Guus Kusters & Maarten Kolk.

Bye Bye BlackBirds...because..

In the afternoon, at a little seminar on Home textiles Lidewij told us that our home will be influenced by this theme under the name: "Nomadism". 

We will carry cushions and carpets around in our home,wrap up in blankets...sleep under linen...and no straps anymore for our sheets...so we will become nomads in our own house...

And than..off to Antwerp...to have a talk with my student Desi who is doing a training at the Koninklijk Ballet Vlaanderen were she works at the Costume atelier..and she is doing VERY WELL..so a proud teacher left after the talk..

While in Antwerp I always love to go to the MoMu..the fashion-museum which is in the same building as that Famous Fashion Academy.

And it was...

because of 50 years of Fashion Education...

How about this at the start of the exhibition....

The exhibition was a a Big Party for me..made me smile, laugh and moved me..

There are 4 different themes..Arcadia, Nirvana, Desire and Harmony/Protest in which former students show their creativity to the utmost, and to develop their own artistic signature. Next to that is the theme: Signature in which work can be seen by former students with their own label or Fashion house.

Let's do the tour..but better go there yourself..

Koji Arai 2006 (loved this!!)

Bernhard Willhelm 1998

Hideki Seo 2005 

Lluis Corujo, 2008

Sabien Devriendt, Circus, 1986

Jurgi Persoons, 1992

Serkan Sarier, 2001

Angelo Figus, 1999

Eric Verdonck,1993

Patrick Van Ommeslaeghe, 1990

And than there are the Famous Antwerp 6 + 1

Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Bikkembergs, Dries van Noten, Dirk van Saene, 

Walter van Beirendonck, Marina Yee and Martin Margiela.

An overwhelming room filled with beautiful outfits...

Those were the years when I went to Art school to study Fashion design..

I remember admiring the work from Walter, Bram bought me a hoodie from Dries...there was music playing from that time...and I felt moved by it...Memories came back..

Textiles and Fashion will always be a part of my life..starting in my childhood and still developing...Love Forever...
There is Embroidery and Knitting waiting for me downstairs...Better go there now..