Highlights of the FASHIONCLASH Festival 2015

by Adriano B.

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The 7th edition of the international and interdisciplinary fashion festival – FASHIONCLASH – took place last week from June 11th – 14th in Maastricht. The 4-day festival program complete with fashion shows showcased upcoming creative talent, exhibitions, fashion film, awards, theatre and dance performances, lectures, workshops and a dynamic Side Program, which gave promising young talents from across the globe the opportunity to present their work to a diverse international audience and industry professionals. The 7th edition of the festival presented more than 150 talents from over 30 countries. It was a very sunny weekend with happy visitors and radiant designers and artists, the shows were packed and sold out. The whole of Maastricht was dominated by fashion and the celebration of talent and diversity.

This year’s overarching theme during the FC Festival was GENDER. The theme shaped the overall festival and was interwoven through the program inviting the audience to think about the broader spectrum within the gender codes. The theme was mostly reflected in the Gender exhibition on main location, the Opening Show with VERWEVEN 2015 project by theatre performer Nina Willems, Fashion Talk with Aynouk Tan, Meet the Maker at Bureau Europe and the Tabula Rasa dance performance that literally brought the festival’s campaign image of the festival to life. Tabula Rasa is a joint project of FASHIONCLASH, Project Sally Maastricht and Mieke Kockelkorn. The festival’s main location scenography and spatial design was designed by Studio Stad inspired by ‘Queer Space’ and gender

The festival ended with a festive award ceremony. Argentinian Lautaro Amadeo Tambutto, designer behind the label LAT won the FASHIONCLASH Festival 2015 Talent Award worth EUR 5,000 and a spot in the 2016 program. LAT has been chosen by a jury panel consisted of Rosario Morabito (Vogue Talents), Carlo Wijnants (fashion consultant), and Philippe Pourhashemi (ASVOF). Jury panel about the winner: Philippe: “The collection offers an innovative mix between sportswear elements and folklore traditions“. Carlo: “The whole package from design together with the styling creates a string creative identity“. Rosario: “The complexity of blending several elements tackling design, cultural and commercial elements resulting in a coherent collection”. The Kaltblut Magazine award presented by Marcel Schlutt (founder and editor-in-chief KALTBLUTT magazine) and was given to Portuguese designer Patrick de Pádua. The Chapeau Magazine award presented by Xavier Cortenraedt (editor-in-chief Chapeau Magazine) and Elise Crutzen (fashion journalist) was awarded to MAFAD academy graduate Paula Reichert.