FASHION MAKES SENSEThe 9th edition of the international & interdisciplinary FASHIONCLASH Festival 29 June — 2 July 2017 Maastricht (The Netherlands)
During this 4-day festival over more than 150 young fashion designers and (performing)artists from all over the world will get the opportunity to show their work to a diverse, international audience. The program contains fashion shows, exhibitions, awards, fashion talks, designer market, theatre and dance performances and specially curated Fashion Makes Sense LAB. The 9th edition will be composed and curated around the theme ‘Fashion Makes Sense’. Through ‘Fashion Makes Sense’ FASHIONCLASH this year focuses on senses and making sense in relation to fashion.
The campaign for this edition is developed in cooperation with Lonneke van der Palen, Studio Noto, Pleun van Dijk and Kevin Murphy.
FASHION MAKES SENSE We live in a rapidly changing world where progress is accompanied by environmental pollution and ethical issues. The fashion world is a mighty billion dollar industry, and like no other is able to create an illusion, seduce us humans and excite our senses. Today's fashion industry is a reflection of society with a strong focus on aesthetics. Our society approaches fashion as a purely visual phenomenon and doesn’t always see the nature of the interaction with the body (of the wearer), despite the fact that fashion is the most intimate form of art, as it is literally worn “on the body”! As a second skin, clothing also enables us to express ourselves and helps us make sense of the world.
How can we use fashion to truly connect with our body instead of being just a simple aesthetic of symbolic phenomenon? How can we (re)connect with ourselves and the world through fashion? How can fashion (designer & industry) nowadays truly connect with the body and human-being?
With 'Sense' FASHIONCLASH puts the focus on the senses and the sensory experience of fashion in a world that dominates the visual sensations. With 'Fashion Makes Sense' we want to examine the relationship between fashion and the human body. Fashion as a means to connect yourself to the world and to enrich a bodily experience. The playful double meaning of 'Fashion Makes Sense’ also aims at stimulating designers, the industry and the public to think about the state of the fashion industry. What is the importance and role of fashion in our society and how can fashion contribute to a better world and well-being?
Using the question “How Does Fashion Make Sense?” FASHIONCLASH wants to engage in a dialogue with the public (consumer-designer-industry-education), because we believe that no change will be possible without interacting with the public.
About FASHIONCLASH Festival FASHIONCLASH Festival (FCF) is an initiative of the FASHIONCLASH Foundation and its artistic and managing directors Branko Popovic, Laurens Hamacher and Nawie Kuiper. FCF is an inspiring, international and interdisciplinary fashion festival that takes place in Maastricht (the Netherlands), that shows the art of fashion in the broadest sense of the word. The festival aims to provide a fertile platform where a new generation of designers and artists from various disciplines get the opportunity to present their work to a broad and diverse audience, (inter)national press and industry leaders. With themes, such as ‘Age/Art of Aging’ (FCF 2014), ‘Gender’ (FCF 2015), ‘Heritage’ (FCF 2016) and now ‘Fashion Makes Sense’ (FCF 2017) FASHIONCLASH creates narratives that rise above the superficial definition of the word ‘Fashion’. Since the first edition in 2009 more than 1,000 talents from 50 different countries and 6 continents have joined FASHIONCLASH Festival and were given the opportunity to show their talent and work. Some of their careers really took off from there!
FASHIONCLASH Festival is structurally supported by the Province of Limburg and The Municipality of Maastricht.
FASHIONCLASH is structurally supported by the Province of Limburg and The Municipality of Maastricht. FASHIONCLASH Festival is part of Fashion Maastricht.