By Katie Dominy / 09-07-2009

This year's graduation runway took place at the city's historic St Eusebius Church, in the centre of the city's old town. For the biennale, the church, dating from the 15th century onwards, has been decorated into a shrine to fashion, dotted with wooden huts, each one personalised with a display of their inspirations, from international designers such as Boudicca, Gareth Pugh and Mattijs.

The atmospheric central aisle was transformed into a catwalk for two nights, framed by marble pillars and soaring Gothic arches. The twenty graduates showed their work in front of a select audience of invited guests, including ArtEZ alumni Viktor & Rolf, plus family and friends lucky enough to get a ticket.

Ann Boogaerts' collection, Fabiola, in soft red, white and cobalt blue, featured feminine shapes cut with angular volume on hips and on shoulders. Inserts of embroidery and tulle peaked out from waists; the tulle used to create unexpected fullness. White woolly ankle and legwarmers were accented by beading and embroidery in cream and soft greens.

Amen, the menswear collection from Ester van Kempen, played on proportion and layering, mixing denim with poorboy skinny vests, layering tie-dye over ecru cobweb knits, quilted cropped tops and teal arm-warmers in smooth nylon, not forgetting knitted woolly striped scarves and beanie hats.

Helen van Rees's sophisticated colour palette of lemon yellow, white and tones of grey was called Floating Figures and featured dramatic dress shapes, silk billowing out from structured yokes designed from raw-edge strips of chiffon. Coated sections on shoulders gave the fabric a jelly-like appearance and fluorescent accents in yellow added drama to the pieces.  

Mirte Engelhard fused street girl with Arabic princess for a collection of slinky cowl-draped hoods in jersey or pleated silk, fluid dhoti and harem trousers alongside sweatshirt hoodies, woolly legwarmers and silver chains. In a palette of neutrals with accents of pomegranate, this collection offered a new look at layering.

Gladys Tumewa played with the concept of volume in her collection I Heart Fuzz, with oversize rounded shoulders and hips, using an exciting colour palette of cream textured cloqué wool, hot pink, apricot mohair and baby blue organza. Chunky wool yarn in these shades was embroidered into lollipop swirls onto bodices. Striking headdresses played their part; a cluster of matt baby blue balls atop a headband, a tall spiral of mohair wrapped in elastic bands or a white and pink 'meringue' hat of fabric and wool yarns.

The show was concluded by Dido Yland’s collection Alphaville. In black, white, canary yellow and tomato red, the bold 80s pop theme featured geometric folds of colour softened by neck ruffles in white cotton or red mohair wool. Rows of tiny dots in yellow or white were printed down the front of black tights.

Prior to the main show, guests were treated to a warm-up show of first year student pieces in denim on the theme of Woven Buildings, followed by second year work revolved around research on modernist art movements, such as De Stijl, from a brief entitled 'Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue?' and finally the third year collective collection, worked on by all the students, from concept to production to retail; this ongoing collection is now in its eleventh year.

Course director Matthijs Boelee explains, “We run one of the best fashion courses in Europe, our students regularly scoop the most coveted prizes and their achievements receive a great deal of media attention. Arnhem graduates are now working in all segments of the market. Following their finals, a high proportion of former students have succeeded in making a name for themselves in many areas of the fashion world, both at home and abroad.”

In addition, a nearby exhibition by the Product Design graduates from ArtEZ featured some exceptionally strong accessories, shoes, jewellery and hats.



Images: main Mirte Engelhard, Ann Boogaerts. Gladys Tumewa, Ester van Kempen, and Dido Yland - photos by Peter Stigter

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