The 15th edition of the international FASHIONCLASH Festival took place in Maastricht, The Netherlands, from November 17th to 19th, 2023. This highly anticipated three-day event served as a dynamic platform for emerging designers and performing artists from all around the world to showcase their work to a diverse and international audience.
The festival aimed to provide a space for creative exploration, stimulation, and co-shaping within the realm of contemporary fashion. It specifically focused on the work of a new generation of designers and artists who challenge the conventional boundaries of their disciplines, bringing a fresh and innovative perspective to fashion, social design, and visual arts.
The festival program was meticulously curated through a combination of open calls for submissions and projects initiated by FASHIONCLASH in collaboration with various organizations and makers. This inclusive approach ensured a broad representation of projects and talents, showcasing the diverse and multifaceted nature of contemporary fashion culture.
The festival kicked off with the New Fashion Narratives exhibition at Bureau Europa in the Sphinxkwartier. This immersive exhibition unveiled the transformative power of fashion by shedding light on the creative process behind it. Curated by a team of five independent fashion practitioners, in collaboration with FASHIONCLASH, the exhibition aimed to showcase the diversity of creative approaches, revealing the hidden aspects of fashion creation and highlighting its cultural context.
How would (re)sources from the past, act in the present and create context for the future?
“What happens during the creation process? What types of creative references get used and lost? What are the different collaborations required in order to make one’s final vision come to life? We would like to explore how multi-authorship is represented in fashion and how to unlock new perspectives by zooming in on the creative processes.”
Curators are: Enzo Aïtkaci, Chinouk Filique, Jonathan Ho, Lotte de Jager and Boris Kollar.
Participants: Annalie van Doorn, avoidstreet, Azalja van Dijk, Bastiaan Reijnen, BAYARTAEV, CHAEWON KONG, FRANK & Moritz Ernst, Fynnandmathis, Ivan Delogu, Jakob Hodel, Justina Semčenkaitė, Kelly Konings, KKJ, Maria Gilmen, Roxy van Kemenade, studio allesingebruik, Svatopluk Ručka, TANJA VIDIC, Teresa Carvalheira x Eunice Pais, Tevin Blancheville, Timothy Scholte/Mary-Ann.
In addition to the exhibition, the festival featured The CLASH House, a showcase and development program for designers exploring the intersections of fashion with performing arts. Led by theater maker Giovanni Brand and dancer and choreographer Laisvie Andrea Ochoa Gaevska, participating designers were encouraged to experiment with alternative presentation formats, pushing the boundaries of traditional fashion norms and offering audiences a unique and captivating fashion experience.
Lumière Cinema played host to the Fashion Film Program, a selection of 41 carefully curated fashion films from various countries. This program emphasized the significance of fashion film as a medium for designers and brands to express their ethics, aesthetics, and storytelling techniques, offering a rich tapestry of cultural insights and diverse artistic perspectives.
The festival’s Fashion Makes Sense participation program aimed to engage and involve diverse target groups, particularly young people. This ongoing program focused on social design, inclusion, education, and collaboration between professionals and aspiring talents. The festival showcased the completed projects that emerged from this program, such as the awe-inspiring ‘THE HOOOOOOODIE PROJECT,’ which involved over 500 individuals—primarily young people—contributing their work over two years to create a hoodie with sleeves extending over 300 meters.
Throughout the festival, attendees had the opportunity to participate in a wide range of workshops, focusing on topics such as upcycling, garment mending, and sustainable fashion practices. These interactive sessions fostered learning, engagement, and creative expression, allowing participants to develop new skills and deepen their understanding of fashion’s impact.
Pop-up exhibits and installations, scattered throughout the festival venue, showcased the fusion of fashion with other art forms, providing a dynamic platform for artists and designers to present their work and engage with audiences in unexpected and immersive ways.
FASHIONCLASH Festival is an initiative of the FASHIONCLASH Foundation, based in Maastricht. Since its inception in 2009, the foundation has organized over 250 projects, both nationally and internationally, supporting and providing a platform for more than 1500 artists and designers worldwide. Through its diverse range of projects and initiatives, FASHIONCLASH continues to shape and elevate contemporary fashion culture on a global scale.
To get a more comprehensive sense of the festival’s vibrant atmosphere and diverse offerings, you can delve into the captivating 2022 Aftermovie or explore the extensive collection of program highlights on FASHIONCLASH’s YouTube channel HERE
