Megan van Engelen

Berry

Fashion artist and HKU design alumnus Megan van Engelen looks for balance in making frivolous and socially impactful fashion pieces. Those pieces focus on personal stories, mental health among young people and activism. Her work plays with current affairs and is often described as extravagant and campy. She touches upon themes as family dynamics, taboos and the search for one’s identity. Megan believes that fashion can serve as a tool to open up a conversation on these subjects. It empowers oneself and plays with a sense of self-mockery.

In ‘Berry’ Megan van Engelen explores romanticized childhood memories through several fashion pieces and a blackberry bush that relates to a broken home. Her mother’s blackberry jam is an iconic token from Megan’s youth. When her mother moved, the blackberry bush got left behind, which significates the end of an era for Megan. No more blackberry jam, just the few pots left that preserved her childhood memories. In a search for nostalgia, she explores these memories, in which she encounters many fictional characters.  “It’s glamorous, colorful and so f*cking happy. Although, I suppose it is.”