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Meetup + Fashion Exhibition: UNlearning to Learn

We would like to invite our fashion community to visit us on the 13th of December 2018 from 6:00pm for a new Meetup “UNlearning to Learn: build a brand now that is future proof” and for the Fashion Exhibition of students’ works.

We are programmed into a society of rights and wrongs. This directs us to make decisions and/or shy away from ideas constantly. This session will get you to challenge some ‘facts’ and opinions so you can get better at developing and creating communications and brands. Forget about the codes and rules and how things should be. Join us in order to know more and build a brand now that is future proof.

MEET THE GUEST SPEAKERS

Milly Roy loves all things food – so much so that she made her profession within the consumer goods industry. She has spent the past several years working with National and Global retailers and manufacturers across Europe and Canada: from Loblaw and Metro to Pepsico and Tesco. She specialises in understand shopper habits, what drives their behaviour and how to forecast future trends based on past behaviours. She worked across marketing, sales, business development and client relationships. She now brings this to the Fashion and Lifestyle world at Mamma Soup as Head of Marketing.

Pepe Villaverde is a Creative through and through, his passion lies in strategic branding and communications developed for more than 15 years working in top agencies and global corporate advocating for innovative next-gen strategies. He is leading the charge applying Branding Intelligence and starting up his own boutique creative agency, called Mamma Soup with a strong international portfolio to show for it across Europe with names such as: Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger, deBijenkorf, Adidas, Kia, CK… to name a few. Where he is not only the founder, but also Creative Director.

Visit: mammasoup.com

FASHION EXHIBITION

We want to close the year with a special Meetup, where you won’t only meet two amazing guest speakers from the creative boutique agency Mamma Soup, but also you will have the opportunity to visit our fashion exhibition of pieces realised by students of the BA (Hons) Fashion Design, Foundation Diploma and Fast-Track Fashion Design & Business course.

IT’S FREE

As all our Meetups, this event and the fashion exhibition are for free and everybody is more than welcome to join us at our international fashion academy in a friendly and cosy evening. You will meet our lecturers and students and we will offer you drinks and snacks. During this year we have met many interesting people at our evenings with several ideas and projects and we would like to invite all of you to come at the academy one more time for a toast to 2018 and to welcome the new year!

International fashion internship at Essentiel Antwerp: Evelina’s story

We have reached out our 2nd-year Fashion with Textiles Design (Hons) BA student Evelina Anglickaite to know more about her international fashion internship experience at Essentiel Antwerp in Belgium. Evelina is one of our many international students. Born in Lithuania, she is already expressing a very good talent in fashion design. Check her last work here. This is what she told us:

“Essentiel Antwerp is a fast-growing, vibrant fashion brand based in Belgium. As a fashion design student, I was given a great opportunity to gain greater knowledge of the fashion industry and the design process as an intern at the headquarters of the brand. Working side by side with the designers and stylists, I have so far experienced various steps of the design process – choosing the right fabrics, creating a color story, receiving first prototypes of a garment, fittings, quality checking and of course the thrill of a collection presentation show. As only a third of the internship has passed, I am excited for what it’s yet to come, because the best way to learn about a specific field is to witness it all firsthand”.

All 2nd-year students of the Fashion with Textiles Design (Hons) BA and the Fashion Business (Hons) BA are spending the semester doing interesting and exciting fashion internship experiences in the fashion industry. “We are very proud to have students working all over the world, from London to New York, from Stockholm to Amsterdam and Curaçao. As international fashion academy, we encourage our students to go out their comfort zones and benefit from an international fashion internship in the real world”, says Cristiano Carciani, Head of School ad interim.

If you are dreaming of an international fashion career then send us a message and book a personal visit to the Amsterdam Fashion Academy.

Visit us at the IamExpat Fair and win a place on a summer course!

The Amsterdam Fashion Academy looks forward to meeting you at the IamExpat Fair. Please, drop by our stand for a chat and find out more about who we are and what we offer including our wide range of fashion courses for those who wish to develop new skills and stay abreast of the latest trends in the fashion industry. We are also happy to let you know more about our free MeetUps and our role as part of the international community in Amsterdam and the Netherlands as a whole. The cherry on the cake is our photo challenge where the winner can choose a free place on the summer course of his or her choice. Taking part is simple and our students will choose the winning photo. So come along and find out how to take part.

The IamExpat Fair has been running since 2015 and is the meeting place for expats and local businesses. It aims to support internationals in the Netherlands, connecting them with local businesses and service providers. It is a great opportunity for internationals to meet each other and find out how to do things in the Netherlands, all under one roof, so to speak. All you need to know about careers, housing, education and expat services, including family, health and leisure. Free workshops and presentations will also be held throughout the day: whatever you want the IamExpat Fair has it covered!

Our Head of School ad interim Cristiano Carciani explains: “We are very pleased to announce that the Amsterdam Fashion Academy is taking part in the IamExpat Fair 2018, for the first time. As an international fashion academy, this fair represents a good opportunity for us to connect with Amsterdam’s expat community and engage its members with our activities and events. We will be more than happy to answer your questions about our fashion courses, show some of the students’ works and schedule personal visits to our boutique academy. We will also brief you about our photo challenge to win a place in one of our summer courses”.

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday April 7, 2018, 10am – 5pm, at the Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam.

From the Amsterdam Fashion Academy to Vogue: well done, Swinda!

We are so proud of our alumna Swinda van Dijk, whose new collection TRANSITION has been published on Vogue Italia. Swinda successfully completed our Fashion Forecasting, Marketing & Buying course in 2014. Here is what she told us about this new achievement:

“The dresses are elegant, edgy, timeless and the designs are beautifully wearable. They are characterised by the play of light and shadow as they have transparent inserts of georgette and organza. This ready-to-wear collection is also influenced by the architecture of Rem Koolhaas. Within the collection, I used viscose, wool and silk, creating a luxurious and delicate design. The result is that one can wear it to a chic party as well as to the office”.

Craftsmanship is in the DNA of Swinda. Refined fabrics and eye details are combined to captivate a luxurious design. Her career really started to blossom when started working for the Dutch fashion label JANTAMINIAU, which is internationally renowned as the preferred choice by Her Majesty Queen Máxima of The Netherlands. After JANTAMINIAU, Swinda continued her design career working for well-known Dutch commercial brands. Gaining experience in the haute couture and as well as the commercial side of fashion enriched Swinda van Dijk’s vision with more diversity and allowed her to establish her own signature.

If you are interested in following Swinda’s steps into the fashion world, from our international fashion academy to Vogue, then check our fashion courses and let us know if there is one that can be interesting for you.

Other alumni of the Amsterdam Fashion Academy are achieving good results. Olga Salamon is one of them. See her brand new concept store for Polish design.

Photos by Jeroen van Lelieveld.

Part-time fashion courses: enrol and get 2018 off to a flying start!

New part-time fashion courses are on their way at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy. We offer a wide range of part-time courses covering different topics for those interested in fashion design and fashion business. These part-time fashion courses will give you the chance to study one day a week for one semester.

The new year has started. Maybe it’s time to take a part-time fashion course and make yourself smarter, more knowledgeable and gain new skills and experience? And that’s where we come in! Our excellent, enthusiastic lecturers are happy to share their high-quality fashion knowledge along with their experience in the international fashion industry. These are passionate, qualified professionals with many years fashion industry experience, rooted in the international fashion industry, who will be passing on their first-hand knowledge and experience to you.

Fashion Business part-time course

This part time course Fashion Business aims to give you all the marketing and communication skills you need in order to be a successful business professional in the fashion industry. You will not only gain knowledge and expertise in fashion, but the emphasis of the course lies in acquiring the marketing and communication skills needed to understand, promote and convey the unique design and style of a fashion collection or brand.

2 March 2018 – 29 June 2018
Every Friday from 9.30 a.m. till 5 p.m.

Pattern Cutting & Construction part-time course

Technical production areas of fashion play an important part in building subject specific knowledge. Although European garment production has now largely moved overseas due to the globalisation of the industry, employers are still looking for staff with a sound knowledge of technical production areas, specifically production methods, fittings and effective cost management. This part time course will provide you with opportunity to sample, understand garment construction, fit and alter toiles and to produce a garment to a professional standard.

February 2 till June 8 2018
Every Friday 9.30 am till 4.30 pm.

Forecasting, Marketing & Buying short-course

A multi-faceted, exciting course from which you will gain both proficiency and understanding in forecasting, marketing and fashion buying. Within this course you will have the opportunity to study the marketing environment, apply research to inform future probable consumer needs and trends analysis, and will gain an understanding of fashion buying motives.

6 February till 27 March
Every Tuesday evening from 6. p.m. till 9 p.m

Collection Design & Realisation part-time course

There is also the opportunity to join the Collection Design & Realisation part-time course for one semester. The Collection Design & Realisation part-time course will run from end of January until June. If you are dreaming of designing and producing your own collection then register as soon as possible, there are only a few places available.

Starting 30th of January 2018
Every Tuesday from 9.30 am till 5 pm.

At our international fashion academy, we are proud of our small classes which give a high level of personal attention in an extremely creative environment. So take advantage of this once in a life-time opportunity. Don’t miss the boat! Our teaching staff is not only enthusiastic, supportive and accessible, but is also given the time and space required to adapt to the specific learning needs of individual students.

To find out more about our part-time fashion courses click on the links and visit the website pages. You can also email us to info@amsterdamfashionacademy.com and we will be happy to schedule a meeting or a call with you.

Create garments from above: new perspectives at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy

The 2nd year Fashion with Textiles Design (Hons) BA students are busy creating garments as part of the course Fashion Cutting & Construction, under the expert instruction of senior lecturer Cristiano Carciani. The theme is “top view” meaning they need to design and create garments as seen from above. We asked Myrthe van der Leden, Evelina Anglickaite, Silvia Porru and Alexandra Poláková to tell us more.

Evelina Anglickaite: “To some it’s a dangerous pseudoscience, to others it offers unique insights. The Rorschach psychological test consists of inkblots challenging a person’s perception. The piece, inspired by the controversial test and made from leather, showcases strong individual minds”.

Silvia Porru: “This project is all about shapes, forms, geometry and chrome colours. I wanted to express these elements giving a three-dimensional effect to my garment. Inspired by the universe and the stars, I have created a spacey, star-shaped collar”.

Alexandra Poláková: “The most important part of the garment are the three-dimensional spikes placed on the shoulder. When the final garment will be completed, these elements will design a black hole when seen from above. I’m enjoying working on this piece, because it gives the opportunity to balance details and simplicity”.

Myrthe van der Leden: “For this project we had to create garments as seen from above. My inspiration came from the veins in the human body and by using see-through plastic and red felt I wanted to create the effect that if you looked down from above you could see the veins going down the arms and the body. Working with the plastic was a real challenge but with some help I still managed to achieve the look I was going for.”

The Fashion with Textiles Design (Hons) BA offers a nurturing environment where you our students develop industry standard skills in both fashion and textiles. The course is taught through a series of practical project assignments, with key emphasis on quality of products and innovative design. The practical modules are delivered through a variety of workshops, demonstrations, lectures and seminars, but the most important aspect of this programme is that each student becomes an individual designer. Thanks to our small classes and commitment we can achieve this together by providing each individual student with one to one tuition time every week.

At the Amsterdam Fashion Academy we pride ourselves on our commitment to our students. We recognise that giving each student substantial personal support is key to helping them get the most out of the course and themselves and help them successfully enter into the international world of fashion and textiles.

Would you like to study at our international boutique academy in Amsterdam and create garments like these? Then sign up to one of our open days and we will be happy to schedule for you a personal meeting with us.

Alumni Story: how did Olga set up a new fashion business?

One of the most frequent questions we hear is “How do I set up a new fashion business”? The answer is complex with many variables which need to be taken into account. This is why we met up with one of our former students who has recently started a new business in the Jordaan. This area was once the underbelly of Amsterdam’s working class but now it is famous for its cosy and unique boutiques, cafés and restaurants.

Olga Salamon, originally from Poland has decided to fly the flag and bring Polish art and design to Amsterdam. In doing so, she is also continuing Amsterdam’s cosmopolitan allure, maintaining its tradition of being an innovative cultural melting-pot. We went along to her Salamon Art & Design store where she shared her experiences with us about her time at our international fashion Academy, how she managed to set up a new fashion business and just how much our course contributed to making this a success.

We are very proud and happy for her and wish her the best. We recommend everyone to go and explore the delights of the Jordaan and of course visit Salamon Art & Design on the Rozengracht 75.

Read another alumni story: Monica is bringing Brazilian colours in Amsterdam.

Internship story: Linda’s fashion career starts at Asger Juel Larsen

Internship is a key moment for our students’ fashion career during their second year in both Bachelor’s honours degree in Fashion Business and Bachelor’s honours degree in Fashion with Textiles Design. Linda is back from Copenhagen where she spent a rewarding 4 months working at Asger Juel Larsen renowned for unconventional tailoring with a heritage of hell-raising. She explained us why she decided to study fashion design in Amsterdam and what she learnt during her internship.

“Hello, my name is Linda Dittrich, I am in my 3rd year of the Bachelor’s honours degree in Fashion with Textiles Design. Originally, I am from Berlin, Germany and chose the Amsterdam Fashion Academy ahead of other fashion schools because of the personal attention it gives its students. During my intake interview I had the feeling I would get the support I was expecting from tutors and that the Academy would be able to give me the right base for my future career.

In my second year I went to Copenhagen for my internship. I was always interested in men’s wear and thrilled when I got accepted for one of my favourite designers Asger Juel Larsen. At AJL I worked closely with Asger and the design team on the upcoming collection. My responsibilities included researching for the collection, digital realisation of design sketches, making range plans and other overviews and creating technical specs ready for production. In addition to this, I worked closely with the print designer which I found very inspiring. Being away in another country and different environment helped me further develop as a person and was definitely the right decision. There are certain things a school can’t teach you and an internship is the best possible way to find out and understand what the industry expects from you as a young fashion designer.”

Do you want to know more about our students and steps towards a bright fashion career? Then read here!

Haute Couture Meetup: an inspiring success and get together!

We love seeing our Boutique Academy full of people interested in knowing more about the world of fashion business or fashion design during our monthly Meetups. This is certainly what happened during our last Meetup on Tuesday, October 31. More than 60 people from our fashion community came along for the lecture about Haute Couture and also shared ideas, opinions and got connected with each other.

Our senior lecturer, Cristiano Carciani, offered a visual tour through Haute Couture’s history from Chanel’s Little Black Dress to Dior’s New Look, from Paco Rabanne’s Twelve Unwearable Dresses to Hussein Chalayan’s Airplane Dress and Iris Van Herpen’s Skeleton Dress: 100 years of top-quality materials, traditional craftsmanship and unbelievable experimentations. “Glad to know that Haute Couture could keep all these people on the edge of their seats for more than an hour! It was an extreme pleasure sharing my passion for fashion design, artisanship and technology with them at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy”, Cristiano Carciani says.

Here are a few of the comments we have received from our aficionados:

“Inspiring”

“Thanks for organising it, a great presentation!”

“Such a friendly atmosphere, a nice welcoming establishment and then very informative presentation over the history of Haute Couture. Thank you”

Our next Meetup is scheduled on Thursday, November 30, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. We will be talking about Fashion Management. The structure of the next Meetup will be slightly different from the last ones. As usual, there will be free drink and nibbles for all who attend and an opportunity to meet and mingle with the academy staff and other likeminded people. We will post more details soon. Meanwhile, mark the date in your diary!

Alumni Monica Fuentes brings Brazilian colours in Amsterdam

Hello, my name is Monica Fuentes, I was born in Costa Rica and studied in the United States & Brazil. I have been living in The Netherlands for almost four years. I am a wife, mother and owner and founder of Femiwear.

I graduated in Business Management in Brazil and wanted to bring a bit of the colour and vibrancy of beautiful Brazil to Europe. Therefore, I created my activewear line. Femiwear provides colourful, comfortable and different activewear that is made in a sustainable way by women for women. I have created the collections and have a team of three seamstresses that make the garments in Brazil. Our Fabric Supplier is in Brazil and follows sustainable practices in the process of making the fabric. In this way, when you buy a piece from our collection, you know exactly where it is coming from and how it was made. You should check the tall, regular fit and maternity collections at www.femiwear.com

How did this all come about? When I was 4 years old I made my first trip to Italy. I think that is when I began observing the beauty of clothing and fashion. My grandma sewed and my great-uncle was a tailor making suits. I grew up wearing and observing the making of beautiful handmade tailored garments. My mother was always very creative when dressing, she always taught me that it is not the label in your clothes that makes the clothing special, but how you wear it. As a teenager, I did some modelling, so I was surrounded by great creative designers and was always interested in one day owning a fashion business. In 2015, I studied the “Fashion forecasting, marketing and buying” short course at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy, which represented an essential step in the creation of my fashion business.

I am a big fan of the Amsterdam Fashion Academy MeetUps because of the great atmosphere at the academy where you truly feel welcomed. The lectures are very informative, the teachers and speakers are very knowledgeable and they always give you the chance to put into practice what you have learned. The meetups are very useful for my business because they are a way of staying up to date with trends, plus they inspire me and it is a great opportunity to brainstorm with people that share your fashion interests.

In my opinion, elegance is a mind-set, it is having confidence in yourself and the strong presence a person brings with him/her when they enter a room. It is a quality that a person can have. The label on a lady’s clothes does not make her elegant, her presence does. As Yves Saint Laurent once said: ‘Without elegance of the heart, there is no elegance.’

Internship story: Lexie returns from the City of Angels

Our 3rd year Fashion Business student Lexie Hingsen did her internship in Los Angeles last year at Lunya Co., top-end specialists in luxury sleepwear. Ashley Merrill launched Lunya in 2014 with a clear conviction that the time was ripe to give women’s sleepwear a long-overdue fresh, modern perspective. We had the pleasure of meeting up with Alexandra and finding out how she got on at Lunya Co. and living and working in Los Angeles.

“My name is Lexie Hingsen, I am a 3rd Year Fashion Business student. I am half German, half American and I went to Los Angeles, California, for my internship. The company is called Lunya, a southern Californian based sleepwear company for the “modern woman”. My role at the company was to cover all digital media and e-commerce work. I worked closely with their Instagram and Facebook platforms to ensure that the right brand message got across to Lunya consumers. Some of my tasks included collecting quantitative and qualitative data from marketing campaigns, performing market analysis and researching competitors, supporting the marketing team in their daily administrative tasks.

I learned many lessons and was able to apply these in a professional environment. It is important to always have a positive attitude and work on personal development. Constructive criticism really helped me evaluate myself in such a professional setting. I definitely feel like I have grown, developing my skills and knowledge whilst working with such positive, inspirational woman who really pushed me to my full ability. I look forward to staying in contact with the entire Lunya team and possibly returning in the future.”

Catch a glimpse of Induction week

Induction week was truly an inspiring, exciting and fun time with new students and staff all getting to know each other. Students were totally immersed in the culture and creativity of Amsterdam. Sharing ideas and appreciation of the finer things in life, drawing inspiration from the masters to the modern, enough food for thought to spark off lots of creative ideas for the coming year.

Watch the full video:

Why all eyes are on our 3rd year Fashion Business student, Noortje

Our third year Fashion Business student Noortje is already working wonders in marketing and she was happy to tell us more about her new job and why she is looking forward to her final year at the academy. We were curious to find out more…

Hello, Noortje. Would you please introduce yourself?

Hello, my name is Noortje van Warmerdam. I’m 21 years old and a third-year Fashion Business student at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy. I come from Lisse in The Netherlands, a nice town south-west of Amsterdam.

Would you tell us about your experience at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy?

I am grateful to the Amsterdam Fashion Academy for all the countless experiences I have had during the last two years, I can now really start a career in the fashion business. Above all, the internship I did at Loes Vrij during my second year represented a big step forward for me, because I could practice what I had learnt in the class about branding and marketing. Thanks to the curriculum vitae I built up while studying Fashion Business at the Academy, I am already working in marketing.

This is great news! Can you please tell us something about your job?

I am working for a company called Eyes on Media and I take care of online marketing inside the Sales Department. I am really enjoying this job, especially because we have recently worked with advertisements for Chanel and Hugo Boss.

Congratulations then. Let’s talk about your last two years at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy. Which was your favourite course and which was the hardest one?

I really loved the Fashion Communication course, because I had to write a script for a new advertisement of MiuMiu. It was fun and fascinating studying the brand and creating a promotional strategy from scratch. On the other side, the Historical and Contextual studies course was the hardest, although interesting.

What are you working on today and which are your plans for next year?

As a third year Fashion Business student, I am now starting to work on my final project which will be the creation of an online platform dedicated to new designers who need to meet each other, to exchange advice and share ideas. It will be basically a social networking platform for designers. Next year, I am planning to study for a Master’s degree in Marketing Management.

One last question. Which is the company you admire the most in terms of branding or marketing strategy?

That’s a difficult question! I love Chloé’s style, but I think that Gucci did a great job in changing its brand image. It represents a really interesting case-study to analyse and to take inspiration from.

European Fashion Market: our speech at the African Fashion Designers Expo 2017

It was a big honour for us to be invited at the African Fashion Designers Expo 2017, which has been celebrated on Monday, 28th of August, at the World Fashion Centre. Our new Senior Lecturer, Cristiano Carciani, gave a speech about the European fashion market, in front of professionals of the fashion industry from Nigeria, Ghana and other African countries.

To understand the actual European fashion market, Cristiano made an overview of the fashion design history from 1858, when Charles Frederick Worth begun designing complete collections for his clients and sawing his personal labels on garments he created.

Q. Cristiano, can you tell us a bit of the European fashion design history?

From 1860 to 1960, haute couture’s designers were from Western Europe, specifically from Italy and France: Paul Poiret, Chanel, Elsa Schiapparelli, Salvatore Ferragamo, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Roberto Capucci, Valentino, and so on. One hundred year of haute couture: a combination of fine materials, interesting silhouettes and … artisanship.

Q. What happened after the 1960s?

During the 1970s, fashion designers started to experiment with materials and techniques. Let’s think about Paco Rabanne and his clothes made with metals and crafted with hammers and pliers. Then, in the 1980s, catwalks saw the arrival of the prêt-à-porter (or ready-to-wear), a new sector of the fashion industry, in which North American (Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Betsey Johnson) and Japanese (Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto) designers occupied an important portion of the market. These are the times of mass production, and ten years later, of fast fashion with H&M and Zara. During the 1990s, technology and innovation started to be integrated with fashion design and the main exponent was, certainly, Hussein Chalayan, who created foldable dresses and motor-powered skirts.

Q. What about the new millennium?

Today, the fashion industry is composed of three sectors: haute couture, prêt-à-porter, fast fashion. In haute couture, Middle and Northern European designers are gaining great value. For example, Dutch fashion designers like Iris van Herpen and Viktor & Rolf. While fast fashion is being populated by numerous commercial brands, many Eastern European designers are “conquering” prêt-à-porter world: Ksenia Schnaider from Ukraine, Anton Belinskiy from Ukraine, Situationist from Georgia, Misbhv from Poland. These fashion brands have strong identities, historical and folk references that are new and exotic to Western consumers. Also, since the explosion of internet, prêt-à-porter is also been populated by a lot of independent designers.

Q. What can you tell us about independent brands?

Independent brands are businesses that are owned, run or managed by the designers or their families. They have a fair and transparent supply chain, and no sweatshops. Sustainability is their most important value: they don’t use fur or exotic skins, their products are chemicals-free and have natural or organic ingredients. In addition, they produce limited editions of products, which are made to last and to be worn season after season. In general, independent brands focus more on quality than on trends.

Q. What did you suggest to the fashion designers at the African Fashion Designers Expo 2017?

I think they should follow the example of the independent brands that make of sustainability and transparency their key strength and that produce high-quality products, in limited quantities. They should also focus their attention on the e-commerce and social media channels to reach the global market.

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