Author: Design & Culture by Ed

Quinten Mestdagh

| Design & Culture by Ed

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I know I wrote that before, but Instagram really is a treasure chest of creatives who deserve the spotlight. A casual morning scroll-down-of-my-feed later and here I’m with Quinten Mestdagh‘s powerful collection, which has been presented during the last fashion show of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. The designer is a third-year graduate of the school, which breeded the famous Antwerp Six, and already makes a unique mark on the Belgian fashion scene. Quinten’s voluminous garments electrify the viewer with their texture, colour and imagery. Speaking of the last, its the designer’s  visible strenght in ‘Dodge This’ collection. “I have always been attracted by highly stylized images in fashion magazines and advertisements. Last summer, I started collecting pictures in the archive of the MoMu library in Antwerp. With those images, I made collages and paper 3D experiments to create tension and roughness, contrasting with the beauty found in fashion photography. I then approached the garments as abstract panels for the images,” Quinten told ASVOF. With faces of fashion models and icons like Nico, Karen Elson or Princess Elizabeth of Toro as prints, the designer emphasizes and embraces extreme femininity in form of modern-day ball gowns and statuesque skirts. Just wow.

Photos via Quinten’s Instagram / by Michaël Smits.

Sterling Ruby’s Calvin Klein

| Design & Culture by Ed

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Collages by Edward Kanarecki (the above featuring elements from Sterling Ruby’s art).

Raf Simons‘ take on Calvin Klein is the biggest momentum going on in New York’s fashion, whether we’re speaking of his brilliant autumn-winter 2017 show or the visionary advertising strategy. As if that wasn’t enough to make a dusty brand take-off right away, there’s also the Madison Avenue flagship re-designed by Ruby Sterling, which reopened last Saturday.

Raf and Ruby are long-time friends and have collaborated on many projects – from a capsule collection of parkas and sweatshirts at Simons’ eponymous menswear line to fabrics for Dior’s haute couture show in 2012 (the Belgian designer designed womenswear at the French house for three years). Simons and Sterling’s paths cross again, but this time in form of a three-floor store covered in glowing yellow paint and the artist’s custom-made installations. As Ruby described his work in the past issue of 032c, his art is something cartoonish and illustrative, yet contains dark gothic humor of it. Knowing Simons’ signature style, that’s quite a match. Also, the artist often uses motifs connected to Americana – a theme Raf frequently relates to while working at Calvin Klein, the all-American fashion powerhouse. It’s worth adding that aong the clothes and accessories with CK tag, you are able to buy vibrant Italian glassware, Homer Laughlin coffee mugs and Rose Cabat’s ceramics in Raf and Ruby’s brand new empire.

Calvin Klein; Location: New York NY;

But if you’re not planning New York in near future and have no chance to get hold of Simons’ Calvin Klein garments, better get hold of those yellow sleeves, this jacquard blouse or that very in-demand turtleneck. Just saying.

Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein