This was the 16th edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival

For the 16th time, Maastricht was all about the art and culture of fashion with the annual FASHIONCLASH Festival. More than 100 designers and artists from more than 20 countries were given a platform to present their work to an international audience.

Over 100 young people are actively involved in Fashion Makes Sense, FASHIONCLASH’s participation program, through workshops, co-creation projects or as performers.

Exhibitions, performances, workshops, lectures, films, a designer market, etc. were spread over 13 different locations. Even the festival Afterparty was transformed into a showcase of fashion, dance, spoken word, celebrating the diversity of identity expression

Save The Date for the 17th edition: 14 - 16 November 2025.

During this three-day festival, a new generation of designers and performing artists from all over the world are given the oppertunity to show their work to a broad (inter)national audience. The program showcases projects that explore, contextualize and celebrate contemporary fashion culture. FASHIONCLASH Festival is accessible to everyone through ticket sales and/or for free.

Opening Night
Sint-Annakerk

The festival opened spectacularly on Friday evening 15 November with the performance program The CLASH House at a very special location, namely the still consecrated St. Anne's Church (Sint-Annakerk) in Maastricht. Under the guidance of Aya Noël, it was a memorable evening where the art of fashion brought reflection and emotion. Speeches were held by FASHIONCLASH directors Branko Popovic and Els Petit-Carapiet, theatre director Noah Janssen and the Mayor of Maastricht, Wim Hillenaar.

During the opening, two performances were shown that were developed from the Amarte x FASHIONCLASH project. The first image of the opening was 'eight', the installation performance by Taiwanese drag artist and designer Naza Løtus and costume design duo The Nightmare Disorder. A performance that transforms costumes into narrative media, combining fashion and drag to create a unique blend of cultural stories and artistic expression. With 'I SEE YOU SEEING ME' by designer Katharina Spitz in collaboration with poet/artist Manka Menga, questions are asked about being a woman, the desire for rituals and the location of the physical body in space and time. Manka and Katharina are inspired by women who, through their resistance to societal norms, have earned a place in both the history books and in the hearts and minds of society.

The Sint-Annakerk location was a conceptual connection with and a preview of “Heiligdomsvaart” Maastricht (holy procession). FASHIONCLASH was asked to organise the main program of the procession in June 2025. Inspired by the theme of “Heiligdomsvaart” 2025: 'Be a bridge builder', a catwalk was built over the altar in the shape of a bridge. This is metaphorical for the various bridges or clashes that FASHIONCLASH is building between fashion, people, disciplines and society.

All photos: Laura Knipsael

Photo 1: Laura Knipsael, Photo 2: Ruben Hilkens

The CLASH House
Sint-Annakerk

The opening show of the 16th edition was dedicated to fashion performances with The CLASH House. This is a showcase and development program for designers who focus on crossovers between fashion and other art disciplines - especially the performing arts. These designers explore alternative ways of making and presenting fashion. This year’s participants: Megan van Engelen, Julia Burak, SHIFT Studio, bzrkna and Paula Dischinger, received a coaching program in which they were supported by theater maker Nadîja Roza Broekhart and dancer and choreographer Laisvie Andrea Ochoa. Theater maker Giovanni Brand was responsible for the overall direction of the evening.

Danata Shaikenova from bzrkna presented the performance “DID I”? an emotional journey through the fragmented landscape of personal experiences, where the body becomes both frame and fracture. In “Berry”, Megan van Engelen explored romanticized childhood memories through various fashion items and a blackberry bush that is related to a broken family. In addition to the performance, the fashion film for “Berry” also premiered. Under the name SHIFT studio, Ana Krgović explored the universal journey of personal transformation through five stages: life, pain, suffering, transformation and rebirth. Inspired by the philosophy of self-transformation, the performance “Pieces of You” explored how confronting and overcoming profound obstacles can lead to significant growth, self-discovery and ultimately wholeness. With "Human Herd”, Paula Dischinger asked whether man is a herd animal, and translated this into everyday human performativity through actions such as running, walking, and following each other. It highlighted the battle of the individual versus the group. On Sunday morning 17 November, the performance was repeated again in public space, where the group of performers moved like a flock of birds across Plein 1992. Polish Julia Burak concluded The CLASH House with 'Ate and left no crumbs', a celebration of body diversity and a statement against prejudices about how overweight and obese people are perceived.

Photo 1: Laura Knipsael, Photo 2: Ruben Hilkens

New Fashion Narratives
Bureau Europa

For this year's exhibition program, five fashion practitioners were invited by FASHIONCLASH to form a curatorial team and collaborate on the concept for the New Fashion Narratives exhibition. During the festival, the exhibition was presented at Bureau Europa. This year's curatorial team included Chaewon Kong, Karime Salame, Katharina Spitz, Simon Marsiglia and Teresa Carvalheira – a group of fashion makers with diverse backgrounds and practices within and beyond the fashion landscape. They first met during a physical Residency Week (22-26 April 2024) in Maastricht, where they got to know each other and worked on developing the concept. The exhibition was built around the idea of ​​the game Exquisite Corps. It served as a metaphor for presenting works that are the result of collaborative and/or transdisciplinary practices. The multidisciplinary selection included different artists, researchers, and designers.

New Fashion Narratives participants: 2mm, Agatha Prieto Jeanty, Rafael Kouto, Wataru Sato, Delia Rößer, Alyne Li, STUDIO ERASER YOU, Hongkai Li, Jiwoo Lee & Hankyul Jeong, Threads & Tits, Olivia Sahl Jensen, Sien Entius, Lee Kern, Studio Wievien, Romy Yedidia, DOMINIK, Knits and Notes, Zuzana Vrabelova, Chiel Lubbers, Dana Elmi Sarabi, Studio Frowijn, Souheila Chalabi, Jinwon Kim, Matti Paffen, Kushami 嚔(by Ayumi Kajiwara), Lara van der Poel, Wassim el Hodayebi.

Photos: Laura Knipsael

Decolonial Fashion Residency Installation
Bureau Europa

In the basement of Bureau Europa, visitors could experience an installation and video documentary, which was the result of the Decolonial Fashion Residency that took place in June 2024. 10 fashion practitioners were invited to Maastricht for a week of conversations and exchanges about the question 'What does decoloniality mean in fashion in the context of the Netherlands?'.

Decolonial Fashion Recidency participants: Tevin Blancheville, Angela Jansen, Catta Labeij Donkersloot, Lena Winterink, Gabrielle Swart, Kenza Vandeput, Agatha Prieto Jeanty, Robin Nimanong, Andrea Kristic, Kuiyu Kang'ari.

Photos: Laura Knipsael

Fashion Film Program
Lumière Cinema

The Fashion Film Program at Lumière Cinema offered a platform to designers and filmmakers who experiment with the (short) fashion film genre. The program consisted of a selection of 31 films from different countries in the world - thus showing a very diverse range of perspectives, disciplines, cultures and stories. 

On Thursday evening 14 November, the unparalleled documentary Queendom was shown as a support program of the festival. It tells the story of Gena, a 21-year-old, Russian, non-binary performance artist. The night ended with a Q&A with the director. It was the perfect introduction to the festival, also including a Queer Activity Program.

Saturday evening 16 November was all about the presentation of five finalists who were chosen from the total selection by a jury consisting of Esther Muñoz Grootveld, Sam Bassett, Pedro Oberto, Donald Gjoka and Marcel Schlutt. The FASHIONCLASH Festival 2024 Fashion Film Award, worth 1000 euros, went to 'Shame (عيب)' by the French/Lebanese filmmaker and artist Hadi Moussally. The KALTBLUT Magazine Award went to ‘Donkomi’ by the Ghanaian artist Sel Kofiga. On Saturday afternoon, there was also special screening and Artist Talk dedicated to Hadi. Branko Popovic hosted the conversation about Hadi’s work. Furthermore, they discussed fashion film as a an emerging film genre, and the representation of the queer Arab perspective within visual arts and film.

Fashion Film Program participants: Anke De Veirman, Alijah Johnson, Esteban Avilaa, Ximan Tan & Haowei Li, Lisa Konno, Maya Marzuki Peters, Delia Simonetti, Sel Kofiga, Zoë Zita & Filip Kwakkel, Yisong Huang, Katharina Spitz, Nicholas John Murphy, Dean Alexander, Corentin Kopp & Aaron Arnoldt Alexander, Jhenyfy Muller, Luuk Sieben & Peter Wertmann, Hadi Moussally, Ronita Awoonor-Gordon, Kutsal Taylanci, Asiah Essam Alsalem, Yu Chen, EV Zhang, Sophie Fabre & Roel Vissers, Nicola Martini, Dylan Eno, Desiree Brands & Joris Weerts, Thalia de Jong, Yangyang Wu, Michal-Zgierski.

Three new films premiered

As a result from the Fashion Film Project, three fashion films were produced by FASHIONCLASH. This was made possible by the Meester Koetsier Foundation and Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie. These films also premiered during the festival.

• In ‘m i k’, a film by Pablo Salvador Willemars, Klaar Straatman and Lianca van der Merwe, the story follows m i k on a journey through a world in which she encounters different characters who embody different forms of non-verbal communication.

• In ‘A Breathe Moment’, a film by Jodie Cranen, Leda Spiranec, Povilas Gegevicius and Hsin Min Chan, a group of workers are trapped in a vicious circle of labor and trying to take control of their own efforts within a system that is motionless.

• ‘Purification', a film by Tobias Van Nieuwenhove, Coco Simons and Tyna Le, depicts a dystopian representation of the journey where present and future merge in a macro-dynamic world. The journey of both characters symbolizes the contrast between destruction, effort and burning desire for liberation.

Photos: Mitch van Schijndel

Amarte x FASHIONCLASH
Marres, Mariastraat 13 & De Meldkamer

Amarte Fonds and FASHIONCLASH joined forces to offer artists from different disciplines the opportunity to experiment with fashion and present new work during the festival. Five artists have been selected via an Open Call, with an intrinsic desire to collaborate with a fashion designer and to relate to the fashion context. They were then paired with a fashion designer and invited to experiment.

Manka Menga X Katharina Spitz and Naza Løtus x The Nightmare Disorder showed their installation/performance at the Opening Night and at Marres. Here, one could also discover WEEF.collective X Roumans who explore new dimensions of transience with their 'Atelier of Transcience'. Through their significant vision, they magnify the delicate interplay of time: accelerating processes, questioning the life cycle of textiles and exploring the essence of sustainability.

With 'Building a House or Digging a Hole', Mira Verhoeve x Dirk Vaessen transformed De Meldkamer into an interdisciplinary, physical and disorienting work that borders between design and performance.Inspired by mazes, negative space and the strong but vulnerable nature of paper, Dirk and Mira present a study that asks questions about the search for identity and the feasibility of a utopia.

ULKAAN, which stands for the collaboration between Kaan Hiçyilmaz & Ulkuhan Akgul, presented their installation 'cid' at Mariastraat 13. At set moments, the installation was activated by performers Famil Zaman and Aidan Bay. With a focus on disrupting conventional identity classifications, this collaboration combined fashion and digital technology to explore the semiotics of the human body beyond binary structures. Their approach to fashion becomes a plea for the manifestation of self-expression(s) against restrictions imposed on individuals.

Photo 1: Laura Knipsael, Photo 2: Mitch van Schijndel

FASHIONCLASH
Marres

Marres, House for Contemporary Culture, was entirely dedicated to FASHIONCLASH for three days, with various performances, installations and crossovers between fashion, visual arts and theater. You could admire exhibitions by recently graduated designers and artists from various Dutch art academies, including Arva Bustin, buccia, Iza van den Baar, UNCOMMON RAGE and Valentijn Schmitz. Work by Esra Westerburgen was on display, and thanks to the collaboration with Das Leben am Haverkamp from The Hague, beautiful creations by Jose Marie Sta. Iglesia were also exhibited. Boris Kollar presented his poetry performance ‘Soirée of Seams’. In a co-production with Via Zuid and in collaboration with House of Rubber, theater maker laila claessen took the audience on a honeymoon through the human body with her multidisciplinary performance ‘SOMA & SKELETON’.

Photo 1: Laura Knipsael, Photo 2: Mitch van Schijndel

Pop-up Sales
SNS Expertisecentrum

The space of the SNS Expertisecentrum in the Sphinxkwartier was transformed into a designer market where you could discover different designers and their unique clothing, jewelry and accessories.

Pop-up Sales participants: Aurélie Defez, C.Pouki, NNAEJ STUDIO, LINFIN, De Deugd, Julie Menuge, STUDIO ERASER YOU, POViS, Matti Paffen, LIQUID LEMN, SHIFT studio, FIASCO!, DOMINIK, Studio SUFI, ALIET MOES • SILVY TEN BROEKE • ZOË ZITA

Photos: Laura Knipsael

Fashion Makes Sense
Centre Céramique

Fashion Makes Sense is the ongoing participatory program of FASHIONCLASH from which projects are developed focused on social design, inclusion, education and collaboration between professionals and semi-professionals/amateurs, especially involving teenagers and young adults. During the festival, the results of a number of projects were presented at Centre Céramique, such as FASHION x Crafts and TexTiles. In addition, there were workshops, a presentation of the Kunstbende Fashion winner, and the exhibition ‘Handmade’ of Schone Kleren Campagne (Clean Clothes Campaign).

As a festive ending, visitors could witness a fashion show and performance by Dictator of Art (D.O.A). Under this name, Maastricht Theater Academy student Yorvique Macaay presented his graduation performance ‘MUSES’. This collection celebrates the transformative power of fashion as a medium for self-expression and identity. With an impressive cast of more than 40 performers and models, Yorvique closed the 16th edition entirely in line with the vision of FASHIONCLASH, by placing fashion in a social context. It celebrated values of co-creation, community building, and served as a crossover between fashion and other art forms.

Photos: Laura Knipsael

Afterparty
Dans- & Partycentrum Bernaards

Exclusively on the night of 16 November, the FASHIONCLASH Festival Afterparty was not just a regular party. It was an interdisciplinary program and platform, part of FASHIONCLASH's Queer Activity Program. The program aims to give more visibility to the queer community in the region of (South) Limburg and consisted of talks, workshops, a podcast series (in collaboration with Ons Limburg Museum), and dance and fashion making workshops. In cooperation with theater maker Samuel Valor Reyes, a program for the Afterparty was put together. It included fashion shows by designers NNAEJ STUDIO, Tessa van den Eeden and Max Niereisel, as well as performances. There was plenty of time to dance along the music by the fantastic DJ Frandy Perez of House of Vineyard. Samuel invited artist and performers Mikael De Geyter, Jento Schaf, Renzo Pepers, Aurora Mesropyan and Nata Mandaria to express the concept for the night: “Come a little closer and see me for who I am.”

All photos: Mitch van Schijndel

Photos: Mitch van Schijndel

But there was so much more!

At Mariastraat 13, in the heart of Maastricht, Sofie Kramer, in collaboration with designer Batuhan Demir, showed the work-in-progress of the project ‘Monolith’. The show also included performative research visualizations of second year performance students of Toneelacademie Maastricht (Institute of Performative Arts) from the project ‘Orlando’: The New Chapter project supervised by Branko Popović. In addition to ULKAAN, by Kaan Hiçyilmaz & Ulkuhan Akgul, one could get acquainted with the recently founded The Body Collective. There were also exhibitions, talks, shops and performances spread across various locations in Maastricht at ATTIC* curated thrifting store, The Green Elephant, Townhouse Hotel and Limestone Books.

Photos: Mitch van Schijndel

Campaign image

The campaign, consisting of a series of photos and a short fashion film, is developed in collaboration with Maastricht-based art director Ruben Hilkens. It included local performers and students of Toneelacademie Maastricht (Institute of Performative Arts), wearing designs by Dirk Vaessen, Peter Wertmann, and Batuhan Demir, amongst others.

FASHIONCLASH Festival 2024 campaign by Ruben Hilkens

Team
Camera Operator: Tim Guiking
Assistent: Bart van der Peijl
Styling: Team FASHIONCLASH, with Dirk Vaessen, Peter Wertmann, Batuhan Demir
Hair & Make-up: Perrone Villanueva

Models Keba Fye (The CCC Agency), Mira Verhoeve, Dorothé Hofstede, Hedzer Seffinga

Rental Movie Factory, Studio Fotostudio G2

About FASHIONCLASH Festival

FASHIONCLASH Festival is all about discovering and supporting talent, encouraging and helping to shape current developments in the fashion (world), making these developments accessible to a wide audience and initiating active public participation. Participants of the festival belong to a generation of designers and artists who explore and question the boundaries of their discipline. With their works, they move between the transdisciplinary domains of fashion, social design, performing arts and visual arts.

The multi-voiced and multimedia program is a composite selection from various open calls and from projects initiated by FASHIONCLASH itself and developed in co-production with various organizations and makers. For FASHIONCLASH, the annual festival is a vehicle for disclosing the results of all projects and talent development trajectories that happen throughout the year as part of their ongoing annual program.

Save The Date for the 17th edition: 14 - 16 November 2025.

About FASHIONCLASH

FASHIONCLASH is a development and presentation platform for fashion (culture) that, through crossovers, contributes to, on the one hand, the individual talent development of the new generation of fashion makers and, on the other hand, to general awareness of the role of fashion in the world. FASHIONCLASH believes in the positive contribution that the art of fashion can make to people, culture, planet, environment and economy. With its own (multimedia) language, fashion can help people to establish relationships with themselves, each other, the environment, a world view, and the future.