Amsterdam Fashion Academy students will participate at the Dutch Design Week

First-year BA (Hons) degree students of the Amsterdam Fashion Academy will participate in the next DDW Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, the Netherlands that will take place from October 16 to October 24, 2021. In collaboration with Mediamatic, an Amsterdam-based art centre dedicated to new developments in the arts focusing on nature, biotechnology, and art+science, students created 30 costume designs inspired by biodiversity.

With questions like “How can we promote more empathy for the other species on the planet with fashion?” “Can we see the world from a non-human perspective by dressing up and becoming an insect, a plant, or an animal?” Mediamatic and Amsterdam Fashion Academy challenged new students of the BA (Hons) degree programmes in designing the garments.

““We are delighted by the opportunity to bring our students to the DDW Dutch Design Week, the biggest design event in Northern Europe. Our students have been invited to participate to Mediamatic’s costumelab In(human) Carnaval, where visitors can see the students’ designs and experiment with them in the open costumelab”. This was not only a big chance for them to work on a real project and to participate in an important event among many professional designers, but it also encouraged the students to analyse biodiversity and apply their critical thinking skills to come out with solutions that would meet the project’s goal,” comments Cristiano Carciani, Head of School.

"During Dutch Design Week we will create an open costume LAB. We challenge artists, designers, make-up artists, makers, and passers-by to dress themselves and each other as the beautiful species that make up our ecosystem. A costume of a fungus? Or dress up like a fungus? A scented mask that looks like a dahlia? or painting your face like a water bear? All these ways are translated into Instructables and that will lead to a large collection of DIY biodiversity costumes that we will publish in a DIY guide to Carnival. During DDW we will fill the Natlab building with workshops, masterclasses, lectures, films, exhibitions, and dining experiences around this theme: A large and ambitious program that works towards an even larger project during Carnival 2022 and beyond." comments Mediamatic in a press release.

“I am pleased to develop a creative brief that combines fashion, design, sustainability and raising awareness on biodiversity. This project touches upon all these areas and immediately triggered creative thinking of our young students,” says Giancarlo Pazzanese, full-time lecturer.

The DDW Dutch Design Week will take place from October 16 to October 24. The Mediamatic’s space can be found at the Natlab building in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

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