Larissa de Jager

Mama Put The Bags To Use

Larissa de Jager is an Amsterdam-based designer and image director whose personal fashion practice revolves around the recentralisation of the (human) body. By using traditional fashion techniques in a contemporary way, she applies them to the postmodern body.

This runway show tells, look by look, the story of Larissa’s grandmother, Oma Lies, who lived in Amsterdam West. After becoming a widow, she continued producing and selling the bags her husband had designed in order to become financially independent. However, in 1960s Amsterdam, it was taboo for a woman to be financially independent. Her family and friends pushed her away, yet she continued her creative practice and is now honoured on the runway to celebrate her artistic agency.

With this work, Larissa connects with her grandmother by reusing the pattern pieces that her grandmother previously sewed together. Her grandmother’s story not only shows the perseverance and survival of women in a patriarch society, but also serves as an ode to female empowerment and financial independence.