Leslie Eisinger, KABK
For the fashion and textile graduates of KABK, Royal Academy of Fine Art, The Hague, the academy’s catwalk show is not the end of the presentations. Nine days later these brand-new alumni take refuge into various locations throughout The Hague’s city centre to exhibit their collections to a wider audience. It’s a tradition the KABK has maintained for a few years and it gives the graduates an opportunity to show their work in context.
Leslie Eisinger is someone who has rebuilt her childhood memories into a 3D life size paper play box. When you walk in to this room, you enter into to a fairytale that has been coloured in with pencils.
Geanne Welles, KABK
Over at the city hall, for insiders better known as the Ice Palace, three students exhibit their final pieces at the front entrance. Geanne Welles looks at her final year at KABK as a world trip. This is how she came up with PLAY.SCAPE: a 100 puzzle pieces with universal shapes that fit in every possible way and are made from plexiglass with lasered felt designs.
Amber Anthe Scholten, KABK
When we arrive at the far end of Hague’s most fashionable street, the Prinsestraat, Amber Anthe Scholten is a frenzy state of mind dressing her models, pouring champagne and preparing her press packs…..only minutes away from the KABK jury to paying her a visit. However anyone can see that her Liebgewonnen collection, which refers to the time Amber lived in Germany and felt homesick, is a winner.
Bianca Heinis, KABK
Back at the City Hall, Bianca Heinis, who interned at Philips Lumalive, exhibits her White Light project. It’s about combining light with fabrics. The result looks like a subtle sixties rainbow peace T-shirt.
Tessa Wagenvoort, KABK
On to Tessa Wagenvoort at the Westeinde, who based her collection on the will to win. Her silhouettes are grand, her shoes bear a resemblance to trophies and the prints are so shiny, no one can ignore them. Above all, her collection is beautifully styled.
Natasja Admiraal Persbeeld, KABK
Next in our journey is Natasja Adimiraal. Her collection ‘What to do when feeling bored?’ is the registration of endlessness, in which shapes are determined through repetitions. The result, very feminine flowing silhouettes, is anything but boring.
Patti Fonseca, KABK
A few blocks away, in the attic of the relatively new department store Sketch, we find Patti Fonseca. This lovely designer, who lives in Rotterdam, but insisted on studying at the KABK, has made a sport out of transforming old-fashioned prints and quirky materials into masculine silhouettes.
The catwalk show by KABK in The Hague shows work from all four years. The first year focuses on the shape and materials of a skirt, dress and trench coat. The second dives into the world of historic costumes, whereas the third year takes on folklore. And then of course, there is the fourth year. With ten silhouettes each, the eight graduates of 2010 presented their visions on contemporary fashion.
Leslie Eisinger
Geanne Welles
Amber Anthe Scholten
Bianca Heinis
Tessa Wagenvoort
Natasja Adimiraal
Patti Fonseca: p_fonsecamonteiro@hotmail.com
