Receiving the Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium in the middle of the corona pandemic presented a ‘double dip’ opportunity for Claes Iversen; while making the best possible use of the lockdowns by investing both in deepening the couture label’s design and artisanal qualities as well as developing a new branch for the brand, bridal fashion. To approach bridal fashion as a proper (semi) ready to wear label rather than the occasional couture assignment meant entering an entirely different industry with its own rhythm, rules, and rituals. A particularly traditional market within which Claes Iversen manages to offer a distinctive alternative: beautiful contemporary clothes, and yet answering to that romantic notion of ’the most beautiful day in a woman’s life’, in all-white.

Claes Iversen has ultimately managed to set up his company in such a way that he and his team can properly enjoy what they do. They present the couture collections when they are ready – not more than once a year – and make sure to have space for occasional collaborations varying from interior to corporate clothing to capsules for other brands, such as his recent collaboration with POM Amsterdam. With photography being another one of Claes’ passions, he bravely entered the Dutch tv show ‘Het Perfecte Plaatje’, which will air weekly on RTL4, starting from October 16, 2024.

Receiving the Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium ‘bought’ Frenken the time to thoroughly rethink his label. He decided to proceed with 2 collections a year instead of 4, but at a higher level of design and quality, and thus a higher price point. Although he and his Portuguese production partner first had to overcome the considerable set back that corona was to fashion retail, by now this new direction is bearing fruit.

The digital b2b platform JOOR and a carefully targeted Instagram account are the post-pandemic tools of choice for the perfect high-end retailers to discover and team up with FRENKEN. The switch brought about by the Mode Stipendium has landed Erik where he wants to be, nurturing and aiming at continuity for his brand’s strong position in the global high end womenswear market.

The Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium was instrumental for bringing the Francisco van Benthum label to a next level, with a stronger international presence and a brand store in Amsterdam. Facing the reality of this growth as a ‘one man show’ business, along with a growing awareness of systemic issues in the fashion industry, became the prelude to a major transformation. In 2014 Francisco decided to discontinue his label and start the HACKED by_ project with fellow designer Alexander van Slobbe, collaborating with fashion partners ranging from boutique stores to big fast fashion retailers, redesigning and upcycling their access stock into new covetable designs. Pioneering sustainable fashion practices has been Van Benthum’s new ‘tightrope’ to balance ever since.

Francisco strengthened this vision in 2022 with RE_EDITIONED, a circular fashion brand that creates contemporary fashion by re-editing overstock from the fashion industry. These series of unique products are sold in limited editions. Next to that Francisco van Benthum specialized in sustainable corporate fashion for hotels and theaters, for example, working with re-design, reuse, and ecological and recycled materials.

Being able to enjoy your solution-specialized design practice by controlling its scale is also an important form of sustainability in this regard.

After years of working within the realm of the rules of fashion and trying to bend the boundaries as much as possible, Joris Suk and Tessa de Boer of Maison the Faux felt a deep desire to explore new territory. In 2019 they decided to transform their ‘product focus’ from consumer goods to experiences: an investigation into what fashion and fashion shows can be as an art-form.

Receiving the Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium was an instrumental boost in this transition. Maison the Faux teamed up with the MU in Eindhoven to work on their autonomous project TIMELESSTIME, a multi-disciplinary installation involving fashion, performance, scenography, and audiovisual elements, which drew an especially large and diverse crowd during Dutch Design Week.

Moving into new realms of collaboration, such as theatre, opera, dance and museum exhibitions, means that as fashion designers, they now reach audiences beyond the familiar bubble of fashion lovers.

In September 2024 Maison the Faux re-launched the Boutique as a platform to release small concept collections and campaigns “to step back on to the fashion terrain fully on our own terms.” The first capsule titled I Love Me More is a made-to-order bridal collection consisting of four looks deconstructing and celebrating bridal clichés: the dress, bridal lingerie, the reception look and the morning after hang-over.

Ronald van der Kemp founded the world’s first sustainable couture label RVDK back in 2014, and it has been impactful ever since. Referring to his team as ‘fashion alchemists’, he insists on his believe that ‘a form of art can change behaviour which leads to a bigger change in the industry’. His website states that one essential truth: “The world is full of beautiful things we can’t see anymore… because we are too busy to consider them, or too rookie to appreciate them.” RVDK simply numbers his serial releases as wardrobes to oppose the idea of his creations becoming inevitably outdated.

Working with leftover and discarded materials and turning them into the spunky joyful (demi-) couture level creations that are Ronald van der Kemp’s signature, has evolved beyond a fashion experiment and into a leading laboratory for future design practices and collaborations. Meanwhile enthusing new generations of designers to join in this mission, this is the true force of creativity right here: to be a guiding light.

To underscore his positive and progressive message RVDK launched a sustainable fragrance in collaboration with ‘rockstar nose’ Isaac Sinclair and Salle Privée called The Mind Vaccine in the summer of 2023.

In September 2024 RVDK celebrated 10 years of ‘positive circular couture realness’ with a spectacular public show in Amsterdam’s highstreets as well as in his beloved New York City.

For Spijkers en Spijkers receiving the Mode Stipendium could not have come at a better time, as in 2013 they were ready to spread their wings across the Dutch border. They partnered with agents in Milan, and in China for the Asian market, where their highly ‘Instagramable’ ready-to-wear label was very well received, indeed. Alas, as we are all too aware, corona made all that growth grind to a sudden halt.

Truus and Riet Spijkers, running a relatively small company and being creative at their core, have the agility and power to move with the times. Instead of international wholesale and runway shows during Fashion Weeks from Amsterdam to Shanghai, they now have their own brand store in Arnhem catering directly to consumers. And instead of doing collaborations with major fashion partners – designing glasses for Specsavers, shoes for Van Dale, and a capsule for Claudia Sträter, corporate clothing for Citizen M, to name a few – Spijkers en Spijkers now choose to collaborate with other disciplines, such as visual art and jazz music. New perspectives, new audiences, and forever new inspiration to work with.