Amsterdam Fashion Week 2023: These were the five highlights

Amsterdam Fashion Week is already at its end. The Dutch fashion week ran from Wednesday 30 August to Saturday 2 September. With a full schedule, there was plenty to see and do, but not every event turned out well. As to be expected, there was a lot of waiting for the shows, bombastic music throughout and fashionable visitors everywhere – but five events left a lasting impression. FashionUnited lists them for you.

The flamboyant Ruben Jurriën floods the audience with love and emotion

On the sixth floor of the distinctive Felix Meritis event venue, a hall full of positivity, love and joy awaited visitors on Friday afternoon. The rounded interior with its balcony, coloured purple, pink and red by the lighting, quickly filled up. There were cheerful murmurs and it was clear that Ruben Jurriën had already hooked a lot of fans.

One cannot ignore ‘Super Femboyant’, as the brand’s Toetie mascot was projected large on the wall. When the show began, the purple, pink, red spotlights turned into white-yellow beams. Jurriën’s clothes are for everyone, he told FashionUnited earlier, and this was clearly reflected. For instance, models representing the queer community paced the runway and two children were loudly cheered on by the audience. The designer’s father also participated in the fashion show again this year.

The collection and the vibe sported by the models made the audience emotional and gave them goosebumps. The colour palette consisted mainly of red and pink. Some denim garments also appeared here and there. All items featured hearts. Toetie’s comic strip was not missing either. As icing on the cake, Jurriën also designed his own Super Femboyant shoes, all with a block heel, which had been 3D printed. Needless to say: Jurriën made it a party and left the audience full of love.

Tess van Zalinge kicks off Amsterdam Fashion Week

The opening of Amsterdam Fashion Week this year was ironically in Rotterdam. Upstairs at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Depot, designer Tess van Zalinge showed her latest collection. ‘Klavertje drie’ – or Clover Three – as the line was called, was an ode to Van Zalinge’s Dutch summer. It was therefore almost fitting that on the morning of the show, it remained unclear for a long time whether the show could take place without rain. So the evening before the event, invitees were given a reminder to bring an umbrella. Fortunately, the rain clouds dissipated an hour before the show.

Van Zalinge played with volumes and emphasised feminine shapes through corsets. As typical for the designer, the collection was made of deadstock fabrics and white predominated in the colour palette complemented by pink, turquoise and yellow.

Max Zara Sterck shows own silhouettes through modern dance

Anyone who visited Max Zara Sterck’s fashion show was welcomed to an industrial warehouse in Amsterdam-North. At the stroke of 14:30 on Wednesday afternoon, attendees were led up the steel stairs. Behind a dark curtain followed a pitch-black room. Soon the audience got out their torches and looked for the best spots. The show opened with a modern dance, with five models manoeuvring across a white tarpaulin to Cynthia Nixon’s “Be a lady, They said” monologue. Models wore minimalist silhouettes with diagonal lines and cut-out pieces. There was a lot of skin on show, making Sterck’s message was therefore abundantly clear: The female body should be celebrated.

Atelier Reservé goes for maximalism and an abundance of detail

One of the more impressive show venues this year was Atelier Reservé’s. On the roof of the Adyen office on Oosterdokskade next to Amsterdam Central Station, one found a moment of serenity in the quiet height between all the shows. The hustle and bustle of central Amsterdam could no longer be heard. There was, however, the wind, which was supplemented with a piano, through which the sound of a drone flying past easily emerged. The models, too, seemingly found peace at the location. After each look, there was plenty of time to let your impression sink in before the next one came along again. This did not bore viewers, because in contrast to the serenity of the location, most of the looks were actually boldly maximalist and with an abundance of details. Something you have to take a moment to absorb.

The promise to “step away from clichés” and “disrupt society’s norms” was followed up with a diverse cast and the adoption of cultural references. There was no deterring from prints, colour and theatrical hairstyles either. Relatively bold reconstructions made for clothes you can keep looking at and continue discovering new details for. All in all, the designers successfully demonstrated a rawer form of reusing deadstock and old clothes.

Optical illusion: Clothing changes colour at Elzinga

For the final show on the third day of fashion week, the fashion crowd travelled to the cultural centre Vondelbunker in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark. Those not familiar with the bunker, hidden under one of the bridges, have to search carefully, but in this case could be happily guided by a stream of fashionably dressed people. As space in the bunker was limited, Elzinga held several short shows in a row.

The show was accompanied by the band Baby Berserk, of which designer Lieselot Elzinga herself is also a part. Piece by piece, models appeared in their looks and took their seats on a rotating platform. Thanks to the lights aimed at the platform, the designs seemed to change colour in what appeared to be an optical illusion. The idea behind the collection was therefore to create items that react to stage lights. Still, some of the voluminous looks wouldn’t look out of place off stage.

This article was created through contributions from FashionUnited editors Sylvana Lijbaart, Marthe Stroom and Caitlyn Terra.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.NL. Translation and edit by: Rachel Douglass.