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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.

Second Years are starting their fashion internships!

The second-year students of the BA (Hons) Fashion Business and BA (Hons) Fashion Design are off to work at their fashion internships for the next months.

They arrived at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy from different countries during a warm late-summer day in September 2017. We worked all together very hard for one year and half to prepare them for their first big step into the fashion industry. And now, it’s time for them to spread the wings and fly.

We want to wish all students good luck! We are sure that they will learn a lot from a real experience in the industry! We are looking forward to seeing them in September as new and young professionals of the fashion world! Of course, we’ll keep you up to date about all the new developments and feedbacks of their fashion internships.

(Photo credit: Ping Huang)

Virginie Thirion, BA (Hons) Fashion Business, 22 years old from Belgium, will work in her home country at Ambiorix in the Creative Department. “I am doing my internship as a product manager for the 125th year celebration. I will develop the collection and bring it to the market. They expect me to create the idea behind the collection and doing all the marketing research”.

Phillip Roessen, BA (Hons) Fashion Business, 23 years old from the Netherlands: “I am doing my internship at Amsterdam-based retail store FOUR Amsterdam. I am working as an “All-round E-commerce intern” focussing on website optimisation, online sales and developing my own customer base around the world”.

Zoe Kooren, BA (Hons) Fashion Business, 22 years old from Belgium, says: “My position/department for my upcoming internship at Gassan Diamonds will be in visual merchandising. During the next months I expect to learn a lot about how the internal organizations work within a luxury company. I’m looking forward to working with the styling and visual merchandising teams”.

Rebecca van Caem, 22 years old from the Netherlands, and Robin Hubert, 19 years old from the Netherlands, students of the BA (Hons) Fashion Design will both work at Reconstruct. “I am starting my internship at an Amsterdam-based clothing brand Reconstruct, where I hope to learn more about the process of producing a collection. I’m really interested in getting a better understanding of how the industry works and be able to create my own brand in the future”, Robin says.

Tricie Bergmann, 22 years old from Austria: “I will be moving to the UK to start my internship at Aitor Throup Studio. I’m very passionate about sewing, so I wanted an internship in which I would be involved in the production process, with a designer whose work I genuinely admire”.

Ellen Hawes, 21 years old from the UK: “I worked with fashion designer Kasper Jongejan over the course of about 4 months and was helping him to create the garments for his collection that was to be part of Dutch Sustainable Fashion Week. I did a lot of weaving when I was with him but then moved on to pattern cutting for some hats which were going to be featured in his new shop”.

Alexandra Poláková, BA (Hons) Fashion Design, 23 years old from Slovakia: “My internship will take place at a design studio of a young Dutch designer Tess van Zalinge, in Amsterdam. I will be Fashion Design Intern and some of my daily tasks will include gathering inspiration for new projects, translating ideas into sketches and designs, creating moodboards and technical drawings, making patterns and transforming them into garments. I am looking forward to being part of the development and realisation of the collections from the first sketches to a fashion show”.

Lisa Wiendels, BA (Hons) Fashion Business, 22 years old from the Netherlands: “I am doing an internship at Runes Athletica as a Fashion Intern with a specialization in Social Media. I have been given the opportunity to assist in all areas for the launch and development of this start up brand”.

Liana Weber, BA (Hons) Fashion Business, 21 years old from Germany, will work as Social Media Intern with a DJ/artist in Amsterdam.

Marijne Weggemans, BA (Hons) Fashion Business, 23 years old from the Netherlands, will work with popular fashion blogger Rebecca Laurey as Social Media Intern.

Maria Sole Novelli, 23 years old from Italy, will be intern at Suitsupply, renowned Dutch men’s fashion brand.

Sophia Pohlmann, 20 years old from Austria, is in Germany working at A Kind of Guise, brand that offers a wide range of menswear, womenswear and accessories.

Gabriella Frempong, 27 years old from the Netherlands, will work at The New Originals in Amsterdam.

Domitille Georget, 24 years old from France, is starting soon her internship at La Belle Studio, Amsterdam.

Sabrina Marinus, 25 years old from the Netherlands, will do her internship with Dutch fashion designer Dennis Diem.

Merel van der Laak, 21 years old from the Netherlands, will work with Dutch illustrator Anne Stooker.

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.

Interview days 2019: see what happened in the first one

Are you interested in attending one of our interview days 2019 and study at fashion academy in Amsterdam? On the 6th of February we held the first interview day at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy for 2019 intake. Just like last year’s interview days, this first shortlisted group of potential students arrived from different countries to get their chance to be admitted on our three fashion programmes validated by Bucks New University: Fashion Business (Hons) BA, Fashion with Textiles Design (Hons) BA, Foundation Diploma.

Netherlands, Switzerland, UK, Italy, Colombia, Japan, Suriname, Peru, Vietnam and Venezuela: students came to our Amsterdam international school of fashion from all corners of the world and this to underline once again the international value of our fashion academy.

What do interview days 2019 mean? The interview day is a day when we invite a group of potential fashion students to come and work with us. The day is designed to give our team the chance to spend time with potential students of our and work with them so they can get a real feel of what it is like at our international fashion academy, meet other students, explore Amsterdam fashion world and the city.

They worked from 10:00am to 4:00pm with our lecturer Laura Malone in a fashion styling workshop. We divided them into groups of 3 (the stylist, the photographer, the model) and asked each group to organise and work on a photo shooting to tell a story or express a concept. After working on mood boards in the morning, the groups took action and used the whole building and the surroundings for the photo shootings. During the day, each student had a formal interview with our lecturers.

“It was a talented group of students who produced really creative works. We are excited to work with them next year and we are looking forward to meeting more talents in the next interview day on the 26th of April”, says Iris Peitzmeier, Managing Director.

So, don’t worry if you missed out on this one! We scheduled two dates for the interview days 2019. You can still be shortlisted to the April 26th interview day. How? Here are your options: you can sign up to the last Open Day and visit our international fashion university on March 9th (we will also schedule a personal meeting for you with a lecturer on that day), or you can send us an email to schedule a call or a meeting on a day of your choice in February or March. Don’t miss the chance and please contact us as soon as possible.

See here below the final photos!

The busy life of the Amsterdam Fashion Academy’s students

Dutch Sustainable Fashion Week:
A group of students of the Fashion Business (Hons) BA, Fashion with Textiles Design (Hons) BA, Fashion Foundation Diploma and Fast-Track Fashion Design & Business programmes, guided by the lectures Deborah Smailes and Giancarlo Pazzanese, had the opportunity to work in the backstage of the Dutch Sustainable Fashion Week on Friday, the 12th of October 2018.

Tafari Lake, student of the Fashion Foundation programme, shared his experience with us: “It was a really nice experience for all of us and the first time for me in the backstage of a fashion show. We had the chance to help with managing the location and, above all, with dressing up the models. I started the Fashion Foundation programme two weeks ago and I really like the mix of fashion design and fashion business that it offers. What do I want to study after? Before the course, I would have said Fashion Design, but now I’m also very interested in the

business side of fashion. I will have a more clear idea in June!“.

Professional lectures:
Every week we bring professional guest lecturers at our boutique academy to give the students new learning opportunities and insights from the fashion industry.

Nasheli Ortiz, London Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week designer, presented her last collection Stranded and her previous pieces, featured on Vogue and Forbes.

Davinder Madaher is a print and textiles designer who shared with the students his 25 years experience in the field and gave feedback to the 2nd year Fashion with Textiles Design (Hons) BA students on their textiles projects.

Sara Tugnolo, former marketing manager at Calvin Klein, met the Fashion Business (Hons) BA students to talk about how to grow a business.

Renske Mennen is an expert trendwatcher and founder of Trend Agency Move. She offered a lecture to all students about fashion trends.

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.

Intake 2018: did you miss the last interview day? Don’t panic. You can still apply!

On the 26th of April we held the third interview day at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy for intake 2018. It’s a day when we invite a group of potential students to come and work with us. An important day for all concerned. The day is designed to give our team the chance to spend time with potential students and work with them so they can get a real feel of what it is like at our international fashion academy, meet other would-be students and also see Amsterdam.

The countries represented by the third group of 12 potential students were France, Italy, Sweden, The Netherlands, UK and Zambia. A really creative and talented group, perfect for our international boutique academy. They worked from 10:00am to 4:00pm with our lecturers Laura Malone and Laura Lepre in a fashion styling workshop. We divided them into groups of 3 (the stylist, the photographer, the model) and asked each group to organise and work on a photo shooting (a face close-up and a full-body photo) to tell a story or express a concept. After working on mood boards in the morning, a walk in the city around stores and canals was the right excuse to have a break, enjoy Amsterdam and find more inspirations for their projects.

In the afternoon the groups took action and used the whole building for the photo shootings. We loved seeing these young fashion lovers walking around our fashion school looking for the perfect spot and mixing with our current students.

Although this was the last interview day of intake 2018, applications 2018 for our Fashion with Textiles Design (Hons) BA, Fashion Business (Hons) BA and Fashion Foundation Diploma are still open. Don’t wait too long. Check our three fashion programmes validated by Bucks New University and schedule a personal meeting on the 1st of June 2018.

First 2018 fashion students shortlist: 15 people and 9 nationalities

On the 9th of February we held the first interview day at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy for 2018 intake. It’s a day when we invite a group of potential fashion students to come and work with us. An important day for all concerned. The day is designed to give our team the chance to spend time with potential students of our three fashion programmes validated by Bucks New University (Fashion Business (Hons) BA, Fashion with Textiles Design (Hons) BA, Foundation Diploma) and work with them so they can get a real feel of what it is like at our international fashion academy, meet other would-be students and also see Amsterdam.

Last week our first group of 15 potential fashion students came from all corners of Europe: Netherlands, UK, Italy, Poland, Greece, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Germany and Norway. This to underline once again the international value of our boutique academy. They worked from 10:00m to 4:00pm with our lecturers Laura Malone and Laura Lepre and created mood boards based on their own taste and personality and in the meantime each student had an interview with Cristiano Carciani, Head of school.

We are holding two more interview days: March 23rd and April 26th. So if you missed out on this one but are still interested in studying fashion in Amsterdam, then please contact us as soon as possible. We will more than happy to inform you how to be shortlisted for the next two groups of potential fashion students.

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 students