RUNWAY

We teamed up with two friends Remi Vanderhaeghen and Matti Paffen to create a fashion show without any new clothes that we showcased during Dutch Design Week 2022. The show was open to the public and featured a collection of 30 looks made entirely from assembling pre-existing garments — reversing, layering, and reinterpreting them; merging styles, playing with colors, and highlighting the patination caused by time.

RUNWAY is featured in the DAMN Magazine issue 84: https://www.damnmagazine.net/fashionability

MAN DOES NOT NEED NEW CLOTHES TO CREATE NEW NARRATIVES

As four young designers from the Design Academy Eindhoven, we desire to react with ‘RUNWAY’.

Mathis Hadji (France)
Fynn Herlinghaus (Germany)
Remi Vanderhaeghen (Belgium)
Matti Paffen (Netherlands)

Too many clothes are being produced to satisfy a consumer who wants too many things. ‘RUNWAY’ aims to showcase a projection of the fashion industry as a whole: to share our point of view about everyday consumerism and ordinary occurrences through a distorted lens. In this age of interconnectivity, now more than ever we see an importance for designers to highlight this issue. Understanding what our role plays in this whole. Defining and redefining what it means to create a ‘Fashion Show’. We are part of a generation that needs forward-thinking approaches. Repurposing lays at the foundation of ‘RUNWAY’. The ideology behind the show is about combining existing garments to create looks, rather than looks created with newly produced clothing: turning clothes inside out, layering clothes, merging styles, reinterpreting old garments into new compositions, playing with colors, highlighting the beauty of aging (Patina) and creating new possibilities. Through this process, we aim for a critical and aesthetical representation of Western society in its different forms: formal wear, work wear, outdoor wear, and casual wear.

Being at the Design Academy for several years and being surrounded by immense creative potential, it is time for us to bring people together. The current and the future world is defined by collaborating. With ‘RUNWAY’ we bring young talents from the fields of curation (Eliott Vallin, DAE alumni and co-founder of Adaptism), light installation (Lucien Nicou, 4th year DAE student who recently worked on a light show for Kanye West), sound design (Benjamin Migsch, 4th year DAE student, designer for Mowalola and house model for Balenciaga), beat making (BBY_PLUTO__808 who is involved in the London and Parisian Hip-Hop scene), photography (Jakob Rieper, 4th year DAE student, who has been a long time collaborator), videography (Henry Wein, 4th year DAE student, who did documentaries for Arte and other German TV channels) together, to create something bigger than what we could achieve as individuals. We are creating a runway show that is a statement towards the fashion industry and that hopefully will be an inspiration for further collaborations in the creative community connecting DAE to the world.



‘RUNWAY’ was a pure expression of fashion from a youthful perspective. Vintage garments were skillfully contorted into new silhouettes, surrounded by great sounds and strong visual storytelling. The show was gritty and dark, but also playful! Overall I’m very grateful to have experienced the work of this collective of promising creatives.

- Jonas Zitter


Through ‘RUNWAY’ Mathis, Fynn, Remi and Matti, found the balance between their four strong creative DNA. The overall of the show combined a mesmerizing atmosphere with a down-to-earth message.

- Eliott Vallin

Really impressive and full of inspiration. Showing off an interesting process of working out garments. Rethinking structure and the inherent shapes and colors already present in the garment to create a new narrative, life, and a new breath of inspiration. World is always about picking the best from the old to make it new. This is what they did!

- Clément Toumire



CREDITS:

Fynn Herlinghaus @fynnherlinghaus
Mathis Hadji @swr5ski
Matti Paffen @mattipaffen
Remi Vanderhaeghen @remivanderhaeghen


Music:
Benjamin Migsch @steezinspielberg
Aiden Kaltenborn @zacfive0

Video:
Henry Wein @weinworks

Photo:
Jakob Rieper @jesky_rieper

Light:
Lucien Nikou @lucien_nikou