Despite the transformation fashion is going through, it is of key importance that the development of creation and the support of creatives is maintained. Furthermore, this transformation is challenging us to reflect on the ways in which we want to put our creation out there. This, however, shouldn’t get in the way of our creativity.

The Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium was a tremendous boost at the right moment in the growth of our brand RVDK. A stimulus to show during Paris Couture Week as the first and only ethical couture house in the world, and to strongly position our brand next to the couture establishment.

The echoing when it comes to sustainability, working methods and inclusivity, that we are seeing at fellow designers, students and major brands, is indeed very promising!

The Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium was of huge support in venting our mantra; ’New Ethics in Luxury Fashion.’

Be the change you want to see in the (fashion) world!

SHORT BIO

For over 25 years Ronald van der Kemp worked as a designer and creative director for high-end international luxury brands such as Bill Blass, Barneys NY, Guy Laroche and Celine/Michael Kors before launching his eponymous brand RVDK.

Driven by a conviction that luxury fashion’s harmful practices were spinning out of control, he was determined to follow his own path making sustainability and inclusivity sexy.

Since 2014 RVDK is on a mission to reinvent the notion of a couture house, exploring creativity, eccentricity and playfulness with a feeling of nostalgia and a longing for the heydays of couture.

RVDK Ronald van der Kemp is the world’s first ethical couture brand, recognized by the federation de la haute couture et la mode in Paris.

The Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium has made a great difference; it allowed me to take some time to recalibrate and realize what exactly is my intrinsic drive. I have made quite some changes in my company and this investment is starting to pay off. Last season I started partnerships with a number of beautiful high-end stores such as Selfridges UK, Harvey Nichols HK, Gem Boutique Taiwan, Je Cherche Tokyo, Baerck Berlin and more…
Dutch high-end design brands deserve more investment to turn them into world class brands. We have the design talent, but the knowhow to build a high-end design brand lags behind. Finding the financial means for this is also quite complicated. It is a shame that our talent is largely invisible on the international stage.
A fashion fund would be great. A fund to finance the development of some of our finest labels into international brands, which would make The Netherlands one of the players on High-end Fashion level.

It was so meaningful that, for a change, the Mode Stipendium was granted to a social and inclusive label. A label that is committed to a crucial shift in mentality within the fashion industry, aiming for connection and responsibility, starting with our crowdfunding business structure. The Mode Stipendium allowed us the financial space to develop projects with an autonomous quality that critically respond to our fast-changing world.

When you start out for yourself it is very important to have some structural measures of support out there. The Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium gives you this support and with that a chance of success.

The Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium is of great importance to the Dutch fashion sector; with every new award ceremony it showcases where we stand as Dutch fashion designers and how we evolve as a sector. It gives a major boost to the actual practice of the respective designer and underscores the fact that Dutch fashion design still holds a prominent place in the international arena.

Receiving the Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium has been a great contribution to the development of my materials and techniques, a combination of new technologies and handwork. It was a push to seek out new collaborations in developing these new materials. I want to show that there are many ways to make something, that craftsmanship and handwork can be fused with new technology, that the future is one with history, and that fashion can be art.

It feels like a great appreciation of our work to receive the Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium. There is no bigger award for fashion in The Netherlands.