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Graduation Fashion Show 2022: photos of the catwalk

On Saturday, 18th of June 2022, Amsterdam Fashion Academy celebrated its Graduation Fashion Show 2022. Seven BA (Hons) Fashion Design students showed their collections to the press, industry professionals, friends and families, in the setting of Amsterdam Fashion Academy’s beautiful historical building.

During the show, among other collections, a non-binary/gender fluid luxury collection, a collection entirely designed on Clo3D and a parody collection that borrows brand’s logos and styles that represent popular culture and consumerism of 1980’s Italy were shown.

In addition to the fashion show, there also was the possibility to visit the exhibition of final projects by students of both BA (Hons) Fashion Design and BA (Hons) Fashion Business students.

Due to Covid-19, the graduation fashion show couldn’t take place for the last two years. Instead of a fashion show, the students showed their final collections via a fashion movie. This year the students could finally host the show again and the seven graduation students didn’t disappoint the guests. From the professional produced ready-to-wear collection from Nathan Barilari Hassan to the handmade dreamy pieces by Janina Kraft, from the knitted pieces inspired by mental health by Mia Skjæret Hanssen to the important statement made by Valerie Bogaert with her designs, the students managed to impress the guests with their unique collections.

During the three years of study at Amsterdam Fashion Academy, the students had the opportunity to undertake internships and work in within the fashion industry with brands such as Viktor & Rolf, Atelier Reservé, Iris van Herpen and Bas Kosters Studio.

ADOM REDO by NATHAN BARILARI HASSAN

ADOM REDO is a parody collection that plays with the appropriation of brand’s logos and styles that represent popular culture and consumerism. The collection contains a message of criticism towards the capitalistic world of fashion and the conformity of popular culture.

WHAT THE FUCK NOW?! by VALERIE BOGAERT

WHAT THE FUCK NOW?! is a collection that represents the feelings post-graduate fashion students undergo before entering the professional fashion industry. The silhouette emphasises the pressure points in order to create the feeling of suffocation.

SOFT LIFE by JANINA KRAFT

Pulling away from the restrictions of the visual perception of clothing, this collection triggers the curiosity behind the artistic process of garment construction. The aim is to reintroduce the craftsmanship of traditional tailoring techniques and handmade fabric manipulations into modern design, radiating the value of this ‘soft life’ behind a handcrafted product.

HEAVLY SAVGE by TAFARI LAKE

The concept for the collection is fusing together the aesthetic of Tafari’s personal brand Heavly Savge and aesthetic elements of Hip Hop culture, taking inspiration from Hip Hop fashion icons of the late ‘90’s and early 2000’s.

SIYA by ARVIN MENDOZA QUIRANTE

SIYA /sha/ or [ʃa] is a luxury fashion collection inspired by and crafted for nonbinary people. The Filipino gender-neutral pronoun “siya” reflects the freedom of gender fluidity and self-expression. SIYA presents well-crafted, creative, and elegant pieces that can be worn by all gender identities.

DSM-5 by MIA SKJÆRET HANSSEN

This fully knitted collection is based on the topic of mental health. The precise illnesses that are looked at are depression and PTSD. The colour and yarns convey emotion and feeling displayed by the intricate textures.

GREEN SCREENED by GIORGIA TESSAROLLO

This collection consists of four physical outfits of a green colour palette and four digital outfits created on Clo3D, a 3D fashion design software. With this collection, Giorgia wants to show how digital fashion can overcome physical garment production.

Photos by Nixon Mukiza.

3D Fashion Design: Preparing students for the future fashion industry

3D fashion design programmes like CLO3D are becoming more and more prevalent within the design industry. CLO3D offers a solution to prevent sample overproduction, to cut down on transport cost and emissions, to speed up the design process as well as to offer a hyper realistic view of a design before it is made. Many of us have seen the digital transformation accelerate during 2020 as the fashion industry’s usual way of designing and producing was under extreme examination.

Digital programmes like CLO3D have shaken up how companies now produce and sell their garments, enabling designers to drape and fit their designs on a 3D human avatar, giving them a precise pattern to print and use to create their physical design. Some are now pushing the boundaries of digital-only design, without ever making the garment in a physical form.

At Amsterdam Fashion Academy we saw the growing importance of 3D fashion design software within the fashion industry, as well as the importance for young designers to be able to engage and design with it. Many companies worldwide are implementing digital design tools into their design and selling strategies, therefore we implemented CLO3D into our Bachelor’s degree Fashion Design and Bachelor’s degree Fashion Business programmes.

Since September 2021 our 2nd-year BA (Hons) Fashion Design students have been learning and working on the software with the programme leader Adele Parker, culminating in a digital design brief where students were asked to design and create designs on CLO3D. Through this process, several students have been successful in securing industry internships with 3D design agencies, as well opening up opportunities for our students to collaborate on live projects within the fashion industry. We hope to keep empowering the next generation of designers with the skills necessary to succeed, enabling them to push design thinking forward.

Fashion your Future 2021: BA (Hons) Fashion Design Collections

We are proud to present “Fashion your Future 2021”, a video by Amsterdam Fashion Academy that celebrates a group of 2021 graduates from the BA (Hons) Fashion Design programme and their fashion design collections.

Domitille Georget, “Our Two Mothers”

The collection is based on motherhood and the planet, and how they are perfectly linked with each other. The designs show a mother-child relationship between pregnancy and the early ages of a child. A woman carries her child for nine months before introducing it to the world, and the first few years are the most important for their development. The child will develop its five senses, its first emotions, and start building its character, following the steps of his surroundings. In the collection I have tried to translate the perfect and beautiful, yet complex aspect of being a mother into silhouettes around the woman’s body. With this collection, I aimed to show how a mother can overprotect or over-love her child, reducing the space the child needs to grow, showing protection and comfort yet restrictions at the same time. The colour palette is restricted to resemble the empty canvas we are all born into. Various high end couture sewing techniques have been used to construct the garments.

Eva Celine Lynau, “Mindfulness”

This collection is based on the research of the Sustainable Development Goal from the UN number 12, “Responsible Consumption and Production”. Eva’s concept was to realise a collection with zero waste, second-hand or deadstock fabrics, zippers, buttons, threads or other types of trims. The colour palette and fabrics are inspired by the primary pictures from the exhibition by Alec Soth. The colours are obtained through natural dyeing process.

Francesco Musso, “Francescana”

What I intended to create is the sort of dreamlike imagination of a family who lives in the countryside and finds himself wanting and imagining a life completely different. This collection wants to bring back the original and unique cuts and packaging, with a precision derived from the fact of being a family of artisans. The materials were taken in special deadstock markets, and some I even managed to recover them from local factories to favorr the performance of small producers. There are also deconstructed cuts due to the consequence of having thought of compositions of various fabrics to achieve a similarity to what could be a luxury dress derived from various pieces.

Merel Tibboel, “Everyday Decadence”

The focus of this collection is everyday decadence with a small sub-topic protective performance. A collection where the keywords comfortable, statement, elegant, strong and slow are central and represent quality and every day statement pieces. The collection explores the boundaries of morning and evening clothes, and it is designed for longevity, practicality, versatility and second life. A soft sexy and elegant first skin with a strong oversized second skin to feel safe and protected.

Film direction: Travis Allen, Stefano Sanabria.

Hair & Make-up: Art of Colors.

Models: Mercedes van Elderen, Lieve Elise Trenite, Dana Feijen, Eva van Hulten, Zakiya Shania Cairo Caupain, Hugo Kwaaitaal.

Locations: Posthoornkerk.

Fashion Design alumnae are off to a flying start

2019 Bachelor’s (Honours) degree Fashion Design alumnae, Evelina Anglickaite and Myrthe van der Leden, will present their collections in London and Vancouver fashion shows.

Evelina Anglickaite will showcase her capsule collection at Fashions Finest 10th anniversary event during London Fashion Week. “My evening-wear collection translates the Japanese aesthetic principles into modern day fashion design, inspiring the audience to think and dress in harmony with nature”.

Read her interview on britishstylesociety.uk

Below, photos about two outfits designed by Evelina and presented at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy’s fashion show at ParisFashion 2019 last March. Photos by Atze Pictures. Models: Cindy Koopmans and Sanja Jankovic.

Myrthe van der Leden will present her graduate collection at VFW Vancouver Fashion Week for the S/S 2020 Season. Myrthe is the only Dutch young fashion designer who has been offered a sponsorship to attend VFW. “The collection ‘Coup d’état’ is inspired by the North Korean Culture and visually represented trough a Western point of view”.

This runway event is one of the fastest growing fashion weeks in the world, and since 2001, Vancouver Fashion Week has acted as a stepping-stone for emerging designers to launch their creations into the fashion industry in hopes of one day appearing on the stages of London, Paris, Milan, and New York.

Just like it happened to renowned Dutch fashion designer Pauline van Dongen in 2011, VFW could represent an important stepping stone for Myrthe.

Below, photos about two outfits designed and realised by Myrthe. Photos by Maaike Daatselaar. Models: Donsie and André Edward Vyent.

2019 Fashion Graduates aim to clean up fashion

On Sunday the 30th of June 2019 the Amsterdam Fashion Academy celebrated the graduation of its students from the Bachelor’s (Hons) degree programmes in Fashion Business and Fashion with Textiles Design, at the exclusive Andaz hotel in Amsterdam. The event included an open exhibition of some Final Major Projects of the BA (Hons) Fashion Business graduates and a fashion show presenting the final collections of the 2019 fashion graduates from the BA (Hons) Fashion with Textiles Design.

After an introduction speech by Cristiano Carciani, Head of Academic Affairs, the stage was set for a celebration of sustainable, highly creative and innovative fashion, as design graduates showed their final collections on the catwalk. This, together with the exhibited Final Major Projects of Fashion Business graduates, was the crowning glory of three years hard work, a culmination of skills, knowledge and creativity. Following on from this came the formal ritual of recognition: the graduation ceremony. Where tradition set the tone as student’s clad in caps and gowns came forward to accept their degree from Cristiano Carciani and by doing so accepting the recognition for their endeavours and walking away as graduates. This new generation of 2019 fashion graduates are all determined to make their mark in fashion and change the industry into a more sustainable and humane one. One they can all be proud to be part of. We wish them all the best.

Photo: Ping Huang

“It’s the third year in a row that the Andaz hotel is hosting our Graduation Ceremony. The cosy, elegant and charming spaces perfectly represent the Amsterdam Fashion Academy’s characteristics. It’s the perfect location to celebrate our 2019 graduates who have been personally guided by our international teaching staff during the last 3 years. Finally, each one of them is ready for a bright career in the fashion industry with projects and collections addressing relevant topics in today’s society, from sustainable techniques to Japanese aesthetics and appreciation”, Cristiano Carciani, Head of Academic Affairs.

Photo: Maaike Daatselaar
Model: instagram.com/fridamvdw_
Make-up: Art of Colors makeup school

The 2019 fashion graduates arrived at our international fashion university three years ago full of the desire to learn and now, they are all highly-skilled and knowledgeable, not just in the practical skills they have acquired, but also as confident, self-assured individuals who are aware of how they work and of their own strengths and weaknesses. They have been followed by the teaching staff according to personal approach principle that runs this private fashion university.

Photo: Maaike Daatselaar
Model: instagram.com/happyasasquare
Make-up: instagram.com/super.cala.fragilistic

The Amsterdam Fashion Academy is a private international fashion school situated in the heart of Amsterdam; this state-of the-art academy has become a hub of student-centred learning with a high level of personal attention while also focusing on graduate employability. The Amsterdam Fashion Academy prides itself on being a, small and personal fashion academy putting quality before quantity. In 2017 it moved to its current location in an elegant townhouse in the heart of Amsterdam, which helps create a more friendly and informal atmosphere where students can get to know each other better and inspire each other.

Amsterdam’s fashion trade fair Modefabriek: how did it go?

By Heidi Law, FashionUnited

The Amsterdam Fashion Academy always works hard to provide the students with direct work experience in the fashion industry. With this purpose, students and lecturers of the BA (Hons) Fashion Business went to Modefabriek last January as press to cover the event on the students’ blog. Our top picks were the virtual reality at Elvine’s booth, Fraenck business and social production model, and Purewhite collection display concept. Discover more about Modefabriek and European fashion fairs on FashionUnited. As an independent platform which collects, creates and communicates content relevant to the industry, it helps to stay up-to-date with global and local fashion news with the utmost efficiency – regardless if it concerns education matters or the latest business insights.

> Read the full article on FashionUnited: https://fashionunited.com/news/fairs/fashionunited-s-highlights-from-ss19-s-international-trade-fairs/2019032726955

Lecturer Laura Malone selected as judge for Zalando Lounge Design Contest

The Amsterdam Fashion Academy is proud to announce that the lecturer Laura Malone has been invited to be part of the jury at Zalando Lounge Design Contest, which invites students, creatives, designers and interested parties to come up with a design idea for a jute bag that will create a moment of happiness in daily life and thus increase the general awareness of happiness.

Originally from Ireland, Laura Malone is a fashion designer, illustrator and lecturer in the BA (Hons) Fashion Design, Fashion Foundation Diploma and Fast-Track Fashion Design & Business programmes. She has lived and worked in Amsterdam for more than four years. In the course of her career Laura worked together with international brands to develop concepts, trend forecasts and the developments of capsule collections.

“I feel so honoured to be part of the Zalando Lounge Design Contest. I can’t wait to see the creativity of the entrees and expect to see an exciting array of ideas filled with joyful designs. Working with the creative and innovative Zalando team is a very exciting prospect”, says Laura Malone.

“Zalando Lounge is delighted to announce that Amsterdam Fashion Academy’s very own lecturer, Laura Malone, will be one of our judges to the much anticipated Zalando Lounge Design Contest. Laura’s expertise in Fashion alongside her experience in teaching makes her a perfect judge for the competition and we are looking forward to seeing her favourite designs submitted by students!”, says Marielord Lumumba, Senior PR & Corporate Communications Manager for Zalando Lounge.

Paris Fashion Week: 3rd-year students present final collections

Last day of preparations before ParIsfashion on March 5th, international runway while Paris Fashion Week where our 3rd-year students of the BA (Hons) Fashion Design will present part of their final collections.

Evelina Anglickaite, Isabelle Wildenburg, Joanna Grice, Myrthe van der Leden and Zara Kanaan have worked during the first semester in the conceptualisation, research and design of their final major projects and are now in the process of creating the collections. FashionUnited will cover the students’ experience during Paris Fashion Week on its Instagram stories on March 5th from 3:00pm.

“For my final collection I made a research about a country that is unknown in the Western world: North Korea. I’ve inspired by the oppressing feeling of the dictatorship as well as visuals and colour palette by the music video “Coup d’état” by the south Korean rapper G-Dragon. This music video visually represents the feeling of a dictatorship very well and stimulates the feeling of fighting back.”
– Myrthe van der Leden

“Western beauty is radiance, majesty, grandness and broadness. In comparison, Eastern beauty is desolateness. Humility. Hidden beauty”, says Shozo Kato. The Japanese Aesthetics are a set of ancient ideals which underpin much of the Japanese culture and aesthetics norms on what is considered tasteful and beautiful. It is a worldview, a lifestyle. Seen throughout architecture, design and art, it is the true core behind traditional Japan, defining every element and detail. For this collection, a deeper insight will be taken into Japanese Aesthetic Principles and architecture – what truly was the surrounding environment of the ancient Japanese – as well as exploring the relationship between nature and innovation, simplicity and tranquillity.”
– Evelina Anglickaite

“Welcome to 2019. We are currently living in the future and the nature of a human being is evolving along with digital technology. This collection is designed for the future costumer. She is empowered, provocative and full of velocity. Most of all, expressing myself through my art is one of the morales that I live by, so I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to create this collection and share it with creative minds. So excited for the Paris Fashion Week!”
– Zara Kanaan

“Dress icons of tomorrow with designer outfits carrying the message that says: take care of each other and the planet we live on. Sustainable and responsible fashion also can be of top quality and care about the people working in the production process the same time. The D1RT Sports Collection carries a message. A protest against polluting the world and following the. It’s a rebel collection as well as a promise. A promise to be an icon in the world of tomorrow with a message of the past that we can do better, be smarter, more beautiful from the inside and out.”
– Isabelle Wildenburg

Follow the students’ experience at ParIs Fashion on our Instagram stories or on FashionUnited on March 5th from 3:00pm.

Fashion Design programme exhibition: how did it go?

What a lovely vibe at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy last Thursday, 13th of December 2018! Many people and friends came to visit our exhibition of students works created in the BA (Hons) Fashion Design, BA (Hons) Fashion Business, Fashion Foundation and Fast-Track programmes.

Garments, coats, designs, styling and textiles: the visitors had the opportunity to check what the fashion students did in just 3 months in our fashion design programme. The exhibition was also the excuse to celebrate the students of the Fast-Track Fashion Design & Business course, a group of international students coming from different countries who studies at our fashion university for 12 weeks.

The Fashion Design programme exhibition included several pieces, such as jackets realised by the second-year BA (Hons) Fashion Design students, two dresses created by Emma and inspired by her childhood in Shanghai, two clothes by Tiffany, from Tokyo, inspired by a Parisian love story, a piece by Zhinia inspired by Iranian craftmanship and a piece from Olivia’s feminine collection inspired by Spanish culture and storytelling, among others.

The Fast-Track Fashion Design & Business course will start again on May 6th and applications are open. You can spend three months at our international fashion academy in Amsterdam learning fashion design, illustration, pattern making, draping, trend forecasting, marketing. The perfect way to combine travel, culture, creativity, learning and laying the foundations of your future and all in 12 weeks, which also happens to fit the validity of a 3-month tourist visa to the Netherlands. Please, watch the video below about the experience of the previous course.

Furthermore, we have scheduled a new event on the 29th of January 2019, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm under the topic “How can designers & stakeholders contribute to a more sustainable fashion”. Guest speaker will be Dr. Radha Jethu, assistant-professor and program manager of the MBA-program Fashion Management at Business School the Netherlands. She has a PhD-degree in European Law and conducted research on Textile labelling. Moreover, she is the co-author of the book International Business (2016) published by Noordhoff Publishers and Routledge Publishers (UK).

“I work in the textile industry for almost 20 years and I feel privileged to share my knowledge and ideas of Fashion Business, gained over the years through intensive research and study combined with my experience in the fashion industry”, says Radha.

The Meetup is free and open to everybody. After the talk, we will have a networking session, with drinks and snacks.

Dec. 13th: fashion show exhibition and branding lecture

The Amsterdam Fashion Academy is happy to invite you to visit its first world-inspired fashion show exhibition on Thursday, the 13th of December 2018 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. Simultaneously, a lecture about branding will be offered by the creative boutique agency Mamma Soup.

The fashion show exhibition and the lecture will be open to the public with no cost. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet students and lectures, beside exploring the works that the talented students have created during the last three months as part of the BA (Hons) Fashion Design, Fashion Foundation Diploma and Fast-Track Fashion Design & Business course.

23 students, coming from all corners of the world, chose to continue their studies and to gain professional skills in this private international fashion school situated in the heart of Amsterdam. The fashion show exhibition will include several pieces, such as jackets realised by the second-year BA (Hons) Fashion Design students, two dresses created by Emma and inspired by her childhood in Shanghai, two clothes by Tiffany, from Tokyo, inspired by a Parisian love story, a piece by Zhinia inspired by Iranian craftmanship and a piece from Olivia’s feminine collection inspired by Spanish culture and storytelling, among others.

“We are very proud to host this fashion show exhibition in our elegant building and to give our students the opportunity to show their pieces to Amsterdam’s fashion community. It is important for them to meet and receive feedbacks from external people. During this semester we did our best to bring experts from the fashion industry in our exclusive academy in order to offer the students more learning opportunities”, says Iris Peitzmeier, Managing Director. “From Viktor & Rolf’s Masterclass and the jeans design competition for the Dubai’s market with Stefan Lohmann to guest lectures by London-based print designer Davinder Madaher, Paris Fashion Week designer Nasheli Juliana and former Calvin Klein Marketing Manager Sara Tugnolo, our semester has been very busy, and we are happy to show this to the public. I’m also glad to announce that the collection of our third-year students will be presented at Paris Fashion Show in March 5th and 6th”.

From 6:30pm to 7:30pm, Pepe Villaverde, Founder and Creative Director, and Milly Roy, Head of Marketing, from the creative agency Mamma Soup will offer the lecture “UNlearning to Learn: build a brand now that is future proof”.

“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”, says Pepe Villaverde.

Mamma Soup has spent 6 years of boosting lifestyle branding and developing global campaigns and digital strategies for brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Adidas, Calvin Klein, Diesel and deBijenkorf. They have collaborated in internationally recognised projects for agencies such as JWT, DDB, Grey or StrawberryFrog achieving international awards and recognition.

“This event is 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”, says Iris Peitzmeier.

Students’ jeans collections will be sold in Dubai’s market!

During the last weeks, the third year BA (Hons) Fashion with Textiles Design students have been challenged to design jeans collections for the Dubai’s market.

Last Friday, they presented their final works to Stefan Lohmann, Head of Pattern, Designs and Sales at Skytex. The project involved custom analysis, jeans trends analysis, final sketches, technical drawings and patterns.

The jeans collections of the winners, Myrthe van der Leden and Evelina Anglickaite, will be developed at the Academy under the guidance of Stefan Lohmann and sold in the Dubai’s market.

“The Amsterdam Fashion Academy is very proud of all four finalists, including Joanna Grice and Isabelle Wildenburg, for the professional and excellent work. It was a wonderful opportunity for them to work with a real client within our international fashion academy and grow professionally as fashion designers”, says Iris Peitzmeier, Managing Director.

On Monday, November 26th Stefan met again the students and offered them a workshop in advanced CAD and grading techniques with Assyst System. Stefan and the students made together the pattern of the final designs and chose the fabric. Then they will make the prototypes in Stefan’s factory to than create the actual fashion collection pieces.

“Evelina had a very commercial concept that fits perfectly in our collection so we would also do the styling in our collection to show it to our customers. Myrthe had a very good concept for our target group. I liked a lot her detailed presentation”, says Stefan Lohmann.

Fashion Design BA students selected by Viktor & Rolf

What’s more inspiring for fashion design students than meeting professional designers? On Thursday, 13th of September, we brought the 2nd and 3rd year BA students to Viktor & Rolf’s masterclass at Kunsthal Rotterdam.

Three of our Fashion with Textiles Design (Hons) BA students were selected to present their fashion portfolios to Viktor & Rolf in front of the audience. Isabelle Wildenburg, Myrthe van der Leden and Zara Kanaan just came back from their internships and have been immersed immediately into projects and competitions at our international fashion academy.

“It was a really overwhelming experience. Being selected by Viktor & Rolf was unexpected, as well as having the opportunity to meet them and talk with them. Even though they are very famous, we felt very welcome and at our ease while showing them our work”, they say.

Just like the other 2nd year BA students, Isabelle, Myrthe and Zara spent few months away from our boutique academy and did an internship in the fashion industry. Isabelle spent six months in New York City working at luxury streetwear brand Nomad VII by Anne Bowen. Myrthe was intern in Copenhagen at Tobias Birk Nielsen where she worked in the photoshoot and in the preparation of the look books of AW18 collection and collaborated the in creation of the SS19 collection. Zara worked at Amsterdam’s based company Stieglitz where she made prints for the SS19 collection and managed social content.

During this new academic year, they will work on their dissertation and final collection that will be presented in June at the graduation ceremony. Oh, by the way, did you check the 2018 graduates on this page?

Cover photo by Fred Ernst.
Other photos by JFstyles Photography.

One year of Fashion with Textiles Design BA (Hons)

Translate inspired ideas into real clothes. Turn abstract ideas into well-made garments. We all have our own unique creativity but you need to be able to find it, nurture it, inspire it and learn to express it. We can help you to become an independent creative thinker who can come up with your own innovative solutions on a daily basis. Are you creative and fashion-minded? Are you dreaming to become a fashion designer? Do you want to study a Fashion with Textiles Design BA (Hons) programme in our international fashion academy and start in September 2018? Then you really need to let us hear from you, otherwise this chance of a lifetime will pass you by. Sign up to our next Open Day or send us an email to info@amsterdamfashionacademy.com

Let’s take a look to what the students did this past year.

Draped Madness Collection

The 1st-year Fashion with Textiles Design BA students worked on the Draped Madness Collection under the guidance of lecturers Hanneke Ketting and Laura Malone.

Top-view collection

During the first semester, our 2nd-year students were busy creating garments under the theme “top view” meaning they need to design and create garments as seen from above. This was part of the course Fashion Cutting & Construction with our lecturer Cristiano Carciani.

Textiles Cutting & Construction

Experimentation with fabrics and re-use of materials. Here are few of the very creative works done by the 2nd-year students.

Illustrations

Mood boards, sketchbooks, silhouettes, and more.

Internship

All 2nd-year students are spending the semester doing interesting and exciting fashion internship experiences in the fashion industry. This is what two students told us about their experience:

“As a Bachelor’s degree student, I was given the opportunity to gain greater knowledge of the fashion industry and the design process with an internship at the headquarters of Essentiel Antwerp. Working side by side with the designers, stylists I experienced the various steps of the design process – choosing the right fabrics, creating a colour story, receiving first prototypes of a garment, fittings, quality checking and of course the thrill of a collection presentation show” – Evelina Anglickaite

“When I started my internship on the 1st of February 2018, the collection AW18 was already finished, but I had the big opportunity to work in the main photoshoot and in the preparation of the look books. After that we started to design the SS19 collection, for which I worked with showpiece patterns, creation of hoodies and short cords from scratch, as well as fabric dying, styling and mood boards” – Myrthe van der Leden

Stay tuned to see the photos of the final show with pieces by the Fashion with Textiles Design BA 3rd-year students.

Meet Pauline: I’m taking 2 courses at the Academy to become a denim expert

The Pattern Cutting & Construction part-time course is in full swing and we want to introduce you the nine students who are attending it. The first one is Pauline, who is studying to become a denim expert.

Hello, Pauline. Can you please introduce yourself?

My name is Pauline, I am 38 years old. Born and raised in Paris. Been living in Amsterdam for 2 and a half years. I am now having a professional break to invest in my skills and reach the next level of my career.

Which are the best aspects of living in Amsterdam?

Amsterdam offers an intense life, day and night! But at the same time it’s a very relaxed lifestyle, and a no stress city. I really like the mixed populations living here: it’s very rich in terms of cultures, art and human relations.

What is your professional story?

I have 12 years’ experience in the fashion industry as Product Manager and my speciality is denim. I love this product because it has no limits in terms of creativity. I had the opportunity to work for sports brands and fashion brands such as Tommy Jeans here in Amsterdam.

Which course are you attending at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy?

I am attending the CAD (Illustrator & Photoshop) workshop series and the Pattern Cutting & Construction part-time course.

Why did you choose these courses?

I chose these two courses to become more technically advanced in garment construction and fitting, and also to be able to design my own denim styles.

What’s the best part of these courses for you?

Thanks to the CAD workshops I am now able to create my own designs, while I really like the manual work I’m doing at the Pattern Cutting & Construction part-time course. It’s so impressive to create something by hand.

Which is the most challenging part of the course for you?

The sewing is the most challenging part for me, as I had never really experienced sewing before.

What do you expect from the course and afterwards?

With these courses my goal is to become a denim expert and to offer a large panel of skills to clients, such as design and development & production, besides improving my skills in garment construction and fitting.

Visit Pauline Pattier on LinkedIn.

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.

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.

Fashion brands and more: which three came out on top at the Academy?

Being small and offering personal attention to our students is very important to us. We want to get to know each student personally and make them feel at home during their time at our international fashion academy in Amsterdam. With this in mind, we asked each first-year student to tell us their top three favourite brands, not just in the fashion world but generally, to help us find out more about their tastes and the business models of this generation.

As expected, answers varied greatly, but there was an undisputed winner: Gucci is our students’ top brand. They don’t just love Gucci’s products, but also the branding and marketing strategy; an interesting case study for both Fashion Business BA and Fashion with Textiles Design BA students. Gucci is an Italian luxury brand of fashion and leather goods founded in Florence, Italy, in 1921. According to Forbes, as of May 2017, the brand value was around $12.7 billion.

Second place is shared by Zara and Apple, while third place sees a wide group of labels. The list of favourite brands changes when we separate the outcomes between the Fashion Business BA and the Fashion with Textiles Design BA programmes. While the top-three list of those who study fashion business is again composed of Gucci, Zara and Apple, the Fashion with Textiles Design students have a different taste: Dior, Balmain and Comme de Garçons are their favourite best brands.

Logically, fashion brands dominate the whole list, with some exceptions like Jeep, Tasty or Costa Coffee. It is also interesting to underline that Iris van Herpen was mentioned by many students. And speaking of this innovative Dutch fashion designer, did you see the photo we took at the Johannes Vermeer Prijs 2017?

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!

Elegant up-cycling for our boutique academy’s interior style

On August 1, 2017 we moved to a beautiful townhouse in Amsterdam’s city centre. This is the story about how the new interior style has been conceived.

My name is Sandrine Botilde-Doré, I’ve been living in Amsterdam for 5 years. I’m a traveller at heart, a nomad. I moved here from the South of France, but have also lived in Mali, Guinea, Belgium, Switzerland and France. Before coming to the Amsterdam Fashion Academy, I was already working in the fashion industry, being mainly involved in PR and events. I realised I wanted to learn more about the business side of fashion and so I started studying for a BA in Fashion Business. Then my second child was born and I took a year off. Now I’m back again, this time studying Fashion Design. I decided that studying fashion business was really my comfort zone and that I wanted to explore the process of garment making. I can use my background in fashion marketing to build a brand which will be ready by the end of this year. It’s a big challenge and I am working hard.

I am grateful to the Amsterdam Fashion Academy for giving me the opportunity to decorate the building and design its new interior style. Interior design is something that I have always loved. I adore second-hand furniture. Furniture is timeless: if you buy the right pieces, they can stay with you forever. Most of the pieces I found for the library, for instance the chairs, already have a long history.

We have to learn to be more sustainable in the way we consume. There are so many things which already exist that we can re-use. The bookcase and the 4-meter long table now in the library were found in this way. It took me 6 hours to pick up the table, but I was really motivated to have that piece. I also didn’t know what kind of lamps to put in the library, so I thought “let’s create one”. I decided to use different kinds of lamps to reflect the diversity of the academy. Moreover, I didn’t want to use fixed lamps because I wanted a flexible space: one where the table can be made smaller and moved depending on the situation.

I don’t have a particular style that people can instantly recognise. What I did was mix and match styles. We could have gone for only using modern furniture, with the same colour, but then we would have turned this International Fashion Academy into a showroom. I wanted to give the Academy’s interior style a hotel-feeling. It is a boutique academy where people should not feel like they are at school. I wanted to give them a pleasant atmosphere conducive to developing skills and learning. I wanted personality.

The space that I am most proud of is the basement, the student lobby, even though it is not finished yet. It was a real challenge. The space was limited by its low ceiling, light wooden floor and low lighting. The opposite of all the other floors of the building. I didn’t know what to do with the space, I just knew I wanted to design a space where students could feel good and chill. I am particularly proud of the colourful chairs and poufs. I drove to an antique store at a riding school to pick them up and spent a whole day cleaning them! But now I am more than satisfied since it is these elements with their bright colours which light up the members lobby.

I am also proud of the library, although it was the most challenging space. It was extremely difficult to find the right bookcase for the 5-meter wall. I wanted one to fill the wall completely, with no spaces and, of course, it had to have a style which fitted with the rest of the library. An elegant mahogany table full of poise and purpose really needs an accompanying mahogany bookcase. We were really focused on this, as it was to be the central piece for the most central space of the Amsterdam Fashion Academy. And I can proudly say that the bookcase I found is perfect!

How would I describe the interior style of the Academy? First, with the word “second-life”, because I wanted to give antique but precious pieces a new use; then with cosy and sophisticated hotel-vibe, and finally I would describe it as a timeless style. One word that I didn’t have in mind was school. I wanted and went for quality.

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:

Tag: fashion design