Amsterdam Fashion Week
donderdag, 19 januari 2012
It’s Time for Fashion!
A few more days and its time again for fashion, fashion and fashion. Yes, it might seem unlikely to hear this about Amsterdam, but its trying to firmly position itself on the international fashion and design market and fair schedule. The main cities are still London, Paris, and Milan for this, but Amsterdam is up and coming – and an added bonus, you could go to it while enjoying a short stay in Amsterdam.
Now why would you go to the Amsterdam Fashion Week 2011? A simple answer to this is location, fashion, and relaxation.
Location
The location for the Amsterdam Fashion Week is the Westergasfabriek. An area that was originally the home of a large coal-fired power plant, which supplied the city of Amsterdam with energy for the street lighting; however, after being opened in 1898 it closed its doors in 1969, and a few decades of decay awaited the location. The area was contaminated and not used until artists and adventurous business owners started using the location again in 1992. Now almost two decades later the site has found its energy and light once again, where all buildings have been renovated and a large park has been constructed on the site, and it has become THE location for creative and cultural activities.
Fashion
It is logical that the fashion industry has chosen the Westergasfabriek
as its venue, due to the creative and cultural background of the location. The Amsterdam Fashion Week will use the Machinegebouw (Machinebuilding), Zuiveringhal West (Purificationhall West), and the AFW Pavilion. The Amsterdam Fashion Week will open its doors with a grand opening on the 25th of January and will continue until the 29th of January. The week will have shows with Spijkers & Spijkers and also Marloes Blaas, both world-renown designers, but also lesser known designers – still aspiring to make it to the top. The aspiring designers will be able to showcase their talents during the Fashion Week Lab where they will be paired up with other designers to showcase their collection – or partial collection. There also will be Lighting, which is an initiative from the 7 fashion academies in the Netherlands to send two of their best to compete at the Amsterdam Fashion Week for a piece in the limelight. the aspiration to get more Green in Amsterdam and the world will be on stage during the Green Fashion Competition.
Relaxation
When you have time to go to the Amsterdam Fashion Week, this could be the ideal form of relaxation for the fashion passionado. The Uptown part of the show is only accessible for invited guests; however, the Downtown part is accessible to public, along with the possibility to join a Fashion Masterclass. But your relaxing break, from the work week should not end here, the Westergasfabriek is also the location of several art shops & galleries, a statue garden, a few ponds, a dock and several exercise fields – a perfect location to spend some time before, during, or after the Amsterdam Fashion Week.
We hope that you will have a chance to visit the Amsterdam Fashion Week or the Westergasfabriek area – and will enjoy it just as much as we do!
With kind regards,
Judith Huizing
