Fashion : Iris van Herpen

Here the promized post about the young Dutch designer Iris van Herpen exhibition in the Groninger Museum (in Groningen in The Netherlands). This was a real treat for me ! I had seen some of Iris her creations on the internet already and I was thrilled to see them in real life. They are even much more intriguing and spectacular in real than on pictures. The dresses were shown on fashion dolls and you could walk around them to see all sides, and to see all details close by, and this was great. Iris makes such intricate structures, that you have to follow the lines on the front over the sides to the back, to get the full picture. I made lots of pics, but most of them were very bad as I told you before (a too long exposure time for me to hold my camera stable enough). But I managed to edit some and so I hope you still can enjoy a bit of what I saw :)

Fashion : Azzedine Alaïa

I told you already that I have been to an exhibition in the Groninger Museum (in Groningen in The Netherlands) about the Tunisian fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa when we were visiting my family. It was fantastic. The dresses were shown on fashion dolls and you could walk around them to see all sides, and to see all details close by. And with Alaïa's dresses, this is quite important, because then you can see the innovative materials he uses and the seams that are almost invisible. He is combining leather, silk, organza, velvet (sometimes in a very real looking animal print), battist, knitted felted wool, lace, etc. I made lots of pics, but most of them were very bad :( It was pretty dark in the exhibition rooms and I was not allowed to use flashlight, so to get decent pics I had to have a long exposure time and with no tripod I cannot get my camera stable enough. But I bought the magazine of the museum, and scanned some of the pics so that you still can enjoy a bit of what I saw :)

My Flickr Favorites : Traditional Costume North Netherlands

Today we move from the east of The Netherlands to the north of The Netherlands, the provinces of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. There are differences in the costumes between the various regions in this area, but they are very difficult to see for outsiders. That's why I combine them here in the mosaic. The women wear a rich costume (silk, wool, damask) with the characteristics of the crinoline fashion, namely a tailored upper part with a wide skirt and petticoats. Above it they wear a scarf and an apron made of embroidered lace. The most striking element however is the the broad gold casque, a goldcap that covers the entire head. Above the gold casque they wear a lace cap with a small pleated tail.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.
1. People of The Netherlands , about half a century ago, 2. Lace headdress, 3. Ljouwerter Skotsploech-Folklore Dancing-Group, 4. Ringstekken Burgum


And two picture postcards from my own collection.