Fashion in the Netherlands
In comparison to countries like France, Italy and England, the Netherlands doesn’t really have a fashion history it can boast about. Dutch designers followed what happened in France step by step until long after World War II. However, Dutch fashion has started to show a more distinct profile in recent years. Dutch fashion talent has its own style, which is known under the label ‘Dutch Modernism’.
Then and now
The first department stores opened in the Netherlands around 1900. Hirsch & Cie, Maison Künhne, Metz & Co and Gerzon are the successful fashion houses that translate the French style to an affordable Dutch look. A little later C&A and Peek & Cloppenburg enter the market. After World War II Charles Montagne is the first Dutch couturier to try his luck abroad. Ferry Offerman and Max Heymans distinguish themselves through stylish collections. Constance Wibaut makes her mark in the 1950s with her fashion illustrations.
With the emergence of youth culture in the 1960s, fashion is no longer a hierarchical system that needs to be followed religiously. Frank Govers, Dick Holthaus, Puck & Hans, Jan Jansen, Marielle Bolier, Frans Ankoné, Fong Leng and Frans Molenaar all benefit from this development. The launch of the magazine Avenue in 1965 shows the Netherlands as a fashion-conscious nation with an international flair.
Style forecasting enters the fashion curriculum at the end of the 1970s, trying to pick up fashion trends from the street. The name Lidewij Edelkoort has been closely connected to trend watching ever since. As the 1980s are characterised internationally by an explosion of creativity, the Netherlands also see various fashion trends occurring side by side. To help emerging talent establish itself, the Fonds voor Beeldende Kunst, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst (Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture) offers support. The range of high steet brands expands in the 1980s as well, with names like Mac & Maggie, Mexx, Sopastudo, Turnover and the Gill group entering the scene.
Under the guidance of Elly Lamaker, fashion students at the Academy of Fine Art in Arnhem have been stimulated to work from the design since 1953. This approach leads to a characteristic, abstract kind of fashion. The clothes presented by Alexander van Slobbe under the name Orson & Bodil around 1990 have a personal appeal and pure lines. Under the header ‘Le Cri Neérlandais’ a group of graduates present their work in Paris in 1993. Lucas Ossendrijver, Pascale Gatzen, Marcel Verheijen, Saskia van Drimmelen, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren are all representatives of this movement and together they generate a new name for the Dutch style: ‘Dutch Modernism’.
The fashion magazine Dutch becomes an international success in the 1990s, while the work by photographers like Viviane Sassen, Van Lamsweerde/Matadin and Blommers/Schumm receives wide acclaim. Marlies Dekkers designs lingerie based on the lines of movement of the body. Gsus translates street style into a contemporary fashion image.
The Fashion Institute Arnhem still produces new fashion talent every year: Klavers Van Engelen, Francisco van Benthum, Monique van Heist, Bas Kosters and Jan Taminiau currently are the ones mainly responsible for Dutch fashion’s international reputation. Many Dutch designers work behind the scenes in successful international fashion houses.
Traditional regional costumes in fashion
In recent years there’s been a renewed interest in local craftmanship and craft techniques, but craft skills and tradition have also been cherished in the past. Exotic influences became intertwined with international fashion and Indian chintz became a commonly available fabric at the end of the eighteenth century. When chintz goes out of fashion at the beginning of the nineteenth century, it remains a treasured material for traditional regional costumes in the Netherlands, like in Hindeloopen and the villages along the Zuiderzee. A century later Dutch children’s clothes label Oilily adapts Indian patterns in its designs, inspired by traditional costumes from Marken and Volendam. Fashion designer Frank Govers’ collections in the 1970s and 1980s also show influences from regional costumes.
Viktor & Rolf have taken inspiration from Dutch regional costumes too for their Autumn /Winter 2007/2008 ‘Fashion Show’ collection. In addition to regional costumes Dutch fashion also harks back to modernist artists like Piet Mondriaan and Gerrit Rietveld. Their clear visual vocabulary befits current ideas in Dutch fashion. An example is the ‘Gone with the wind’ collections by Spijkers & Spijkers. Using bright colours and strong lines they reflect the minimalist roots of the Dutch design tradition, while their mix of materials and fabric designs can be related to the Dutch regional costumes from Marken.
Author: Annelies Sinke
