By Editor Design.nl /asdf 18-02-2008

There has never been a large-scale study by Dutch researchers into fashion, but this is about to change with the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) subsidising the project ‘Dutch fashion in a globalised world’ by €550.000.

Anneke Smelik, professor of visual culture at the Radboud Universtiteit Nijmegen, is leading the project, a collaboration between the Radboud Universiteit, ArtEZ art school, Saxion Academie, the Amsterdam Fashion Institute and the University of Amsterdam. The fashion industry will also be involved in the research.

'Fashion is an important and very visible component of contemporary culture. And therefore it deserves, just like other contemporary cultural expressions, scientific attention', says Smelik. 'Currently Dutch fashion is still an uncultivated research area, which we will examine in this project from several disciplines. We will take a look at fashion and identity, individually and at group level, the production and significance of certain brands and the economy concerning fashion and clothing, in and round the Netherlands. We will also research what the significance of Dutch fashion is internationally'.

The other members of the research project are: José Teunissen, lecturer fashion design and professor Dany Jacobs, lecturer in art, culture and economics (ArtEZ), dr. Michiel Scheffer, lecturer fashion & material design (Saxion University), the Amsterdam Fashion Institute and the Universiteit van Amsterdam (Department Economy). The research project starts in July 2008 with the appointment of four junior researchers, and will continue until the end of 2013.

Image: Orson + Bodil

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