Success Stories

Maarten van Mulken

During his studies at Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts & Design (MAFAD), Maarten van Mulken participated in various FASHIONCLASH-projects. “Participating in two fashion shows was amazing for our exposure as students (…) Besides that it was very nice to have full support for the work you do from a different institute next to school. FASHIONCLASH helped me grow so much, more than I would have been able to do on my own. (…) They don’t just offer a platform for young designers; they try to stimulate, connect and grow.”

Maarten participated in FASHIONCLASH Festival 2017,2018, 2019. He designed a small collection of costumes for the play FANTASIO from Opera Zuid in 2019 and created the performance ‘I don't know why I am here’ for the release of Alexander McQueen’s documentary ‘McQueen’ during Docfest 2018, together with theatre maker Celine Daemen.

Characteristic for Maarten’s work is the theatrical aspect. “I try to look at my work with an eye for detail, but I mostly want to create a big gesture within the general picture. Visually you could characterize it as an in-your- face aggression, where I do not only want to show beauty, but make the audience reflect and, hopefully, sometimes make them feel awkward. This doesn’t take away that I try to make my designs, in my esthetics, attractive for my audience.”