MRS. MO VELD

Wildly overdue, as I have failed to update my site for way too long, but hereby I proudly present my brilliant former fashion theory students, who graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in the summer of 2015, and by now have moved on to do all sorts of exciting things. See the unforgettably cool show at the former Citroën Garage HERE. The graphic design students responsible for all the communication were Nickie Fenja Sigurdsson & Miguel Hervás Gómez, and show pictures are all courtesy of Team Peter Stigter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And these are the graduates, each with a short profile I wrote for them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vita Stasiukynaite (LT/LTU 1992)

Vita’s unstoppable positive energy is reflecting from her graduation collection, which narrates of a happy collision between sweet girly innocence and a brightly coloured hard edge and synthetic aesthetic. What seemed to be opposite worlds clashing turned out to be the happy chaos that is her vision of reality. Shapes inspired by vintage children’s clothing underscore the sense of wonder with which she likes to approach the world.

All fired up by her experience interning at Craig Green in London Vita is ‘super ready’ to storm the fashion system. “The most important thing is to never stop.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ting Gong (CN/CHN 1989)

Ting’s intension is to communicate with the audience. Her graduation collection called: “___” that disappears, “___” is about awareness of being and about absence. “That is why everything is semi-transparent, white; it is about space, what is here, what is the void, and I shift the focus by placing objects. I design the garments to make them perfect, so perfect that there are no questions, in that way they become easy to ignore, you can pass by and not see them.”

Returning from her intimate one-on-one internship with the young New York designer Melitta Baumeister she got the taste of life after Rietveld; “I can see now what is possible, what is new, what is bigger. What I imagine now will be there one day.” (Ting graduated Cum Laude and her work was selected for Modebelofte 2015)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sophie Hardeman (NL/NLD 1990)

Sophie’s tendency to question normality, examining what it means to feel in place, also informed her graduation collection. Choosing conventional jeans as a starting point, she clearly challenges the public’s perspective: “With my collection I want to turn daily routine upside down. These jeans don’t conform to the earth’s rule of gravity and can just as well be worn on the moon or at any other moment in time. It is a re-revolution for jeans as the symbol of freedom. Local jean school House of Denim proudly sponsors Sophie with technical support and with Red Light Denim, recycled from jeans worn in Amsterdam. Fashion as a medium to loosen up those sticky brain cells; Sophie lets us see the world through new eyes.

As an intern at Meadham Kirchhoff in London and Bernhard Willhelm in LA, Sophie experienced the importance of expressing political ideas and fashion being anything but bland. (Sophie went on to be represented by VFiles, showed during New York fashion week, and within a year from graduation she was preparing deliveries to a top 10 selection of boutiques world wide, including Colette, H. Lorenzo, The Freathered and Radd Lounge.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karim Adduchi (MA/MAR 1988)

Karim’s thesis was all about reconnecting with his original homeland and heritage, focussing on the story telling tradition of Berber women like his grandmother, with a special interest in everything that is – traditionally – not being said. “The collection was a process of translating the symbolism and perception of these women, to give them a voice. There is a strong duality to these women being both fragile and strong, hiding their beauty because it is a treasure. It takes time and knowledge to unravel these women’s look.” (In the year following his graduation, Karim Adduchi had the honor to be the opening show of Amsterdam Fashion Week)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roosmarijn van Kessel (NL/NLD 1993)

Roosmarijn started her graduation process by thoroughly exploring her fascination for the unjust negative connotation of Calvinism. The conclusion of her thesis then offered a perfect starting point for a narrative collection showing there is always room for personality and colour, even in the most restricted of strict forms. “Being as scholarly and analytic as I am, I have come to love the elusiveness of fashion. I love the hard work to make sense of everything but it is the intangible open ends that really fascinate me. This is what I learned at Rietveld.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ksenia Nunis (RU/RUS 1987)

Ksenia’s graduation collection captures the ultimate sense of balance; that spilt second between that which appears to be eternal and that which is about to happen and change everything. Technology fan as she may be, her elaborate minimalist collection is an ode to nature. “I always knew I was a true minimalist but the process of opening up and learning techniques like moulage have really brought my ideas to life.”

Ksenia can’t wait to return to New York – where she interned at threeASFOUR – and to start her own label, which is predestined to sell through her own store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chisom Ogundu (NG/NGA 1986)

The concept for Chisom’s graduation collection, ‘shades of infinity’, was birthed unexpectedly after he survived a car accident that caused a disconnect in his subconscious, leading him to research the complex simplicity of the mind, exploring the use of colour as therapy and layers of the psyche. “Everyone is made of many layers. Things may look flat and simple from afar but the closer you get the more complexities you discover, in layers, in detailing.”

His internship at Nasir Mazhar in London got Chisom eager to ‘get to work’ and get more experience before considering his ‘ultimate goal’ – his own label.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tone Bjerkaas (NO/NOR 1987)

Tone’s graduation collection is about “a futuristic dystopia, where the geographically scattered riots and wars we know today are a global reality.” Inspired by the research for her thesis on hyper-masculinity in hip-hop culture she created a line of ‘athleisure’ like garments for men and women, also incorporating bullet-, knife- and fireproof body armor as a modern pragmatic precaution. A satellite view photo print of the notorious housing projects in Brooklyn leaves no questions as to what direction Tone’s forecasting antenna is pointing at. (Tone’s work was selected for Modebelofte 2015)