PRESTAGE – the independent fashion stage

MOAM COLLECTIVE

After a surprising introduction of MOAM in 2012, there is a new initiative by Martijn Nekoui: MOAM collective. A collective in which eight design alumni combine their vision within one collection with the help of some experts and intellectuals of the Dutch fashion industry.

MOAM was founded to transfer the knowledge from the Dutch fashion industry to the new generation. Eight young designers receive practical tools from the top of the industry, which will be useful for the rest of their career. MOAM acts as a platform and incubator in which talent is shaped and developed.

The Dutch coaches are 25 connoisseurs, including couturiers Frans Molenaar and Mart Visser, designer Claes Iversen, men’s fashion designers Sjaak Hullekes and Dieter de Cock, journalists Georgette Koning and Milou van Rossum, entrepreneurs such as James Veenhoff (House of Denim), Caroline Krouwels (departmentstore De Bijenkorf), Remco de Nijs (G-star), magazine editors Martien Mellema (Vogue) and Gert Jonkers (Fantastic Man). These coaches will share their knowledge and specific expertise with the new generation, each and everyone from their own perspective or specialism.

The collective consists of designers selected on talent, knowledge and connecting specialism: Marja Bennenbroek (men’s fashion design), Hoi-Man Cheung (technical design), Brian Geradts (prints), Josine Heuts (textural arts), Nisha Rabiee (styling), Grietje Schelvis (tailoring), Niels Tol (women’s fashion design) and Xiomara van der Zon (collectionair).

The result of this collaboration will be presented in July, during Amsterdam Fashion Week.

PRESTAGE’S COPENHAGEN

Prestage went to Copenhagen and marveled at this lovely city with all the wonderfull things it has to offer.

Definitely one of the most impressive and beautiful design boutique hotels is ‘First Hotel Skt. Petri’. Originally created as a department store by architect Wilhelm Lauritzen, the building has undergone an extensive renovation by Danish architectural wonder Erik Møller. The hotel projects a design which is clean, modern and graphic, but still gives you a warm and embracing feeling. The colour scheme, chosen by artist Per Arnoldi, is based on the tricolour red, blue and white, while the materials include dark woods and brass. All the furnishing is custom made for this stunning hotel.

Hotel

First Hotel Skt. Petri takes its name from the neighboring church, Skt. Petri, the oldest preserved church in Copenhagen. Located in the heart of Copenhagen the hotel is in close range to several buildings of architectural interest, great museums, cool shops, lovely galleries, panache restaurants and Nørreport Station. Hotel Skt. Petri is an architectural pleasure where you feel at home with the beautiful designs, paintings and art surrounding you.

We also visited the oh-so-amazing showroom of Acne Studios. We immediately fell in love with the Autumn/Winter 2013 collection, where interesting layering, renewing proportion and strong silhouettes are the key words this season.

ACNE

To continue our travel on the path of creativity and inspiration we enjoyed a beautiful dinner at restaurant ‘Geist’. This restaurant serves finger licking good food, which is beautifully presented: it’s a true pampering for all your senses. Geist is a great restaurant where you can truly sense the art and passion, of master chef Bo Bech, for a modern twist on the Nordic cuisine.

GEIST

www.firsthotels.dk

www.acnestudios.com

www.restaurantgeist.dk

VIERI BY BIBI V/D VELDEN

Dutch jewellery designer Bibi van der Velden designed a Haute Joallerie collection in collaboration with panache Swiss jewellery house Vieri. A delicious fairylike-forest lunch we had at Bibi’s studio, White Space, to celebrate the launch of this amazing collaboration named after the world famous Shakespeareans play ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

Each piece out of the collection tells its very own story. All is inspired by both sides of nature: the warm light sight of nature against the dark and more edgy side of it. For the warm and light side of nature there is an extensive use of deep emerald greens and cream coloured baroque pearls, which are interwoven with branches of 18 carat rose gold wherein small animals find there hidden comfort among the leaves. For the dark and more edgy side of nature Bibi designed delicate movable cobwebs existing out of 18 carat white gold, set with brown and shimmering white diamonds. All is fairylike, but with an edgy elegance, a modern twist and an extraordinary rich feel. Details are sublime as beautiful ring-galleries and tiny creatures hidden in almost every stunning piece.

Guya Merkle, head of Vieri, asked Bibi to design a unique collection. Right from the start there was an incredible synergy between Guya and Bibi; they share the same beliefs and values about the origins of heritage of materials. Bibi is the ambassador of ‘Goed Goud’: an organization, part of ‘Solidardad’, dedicated to gold winning under good conditions for both humans and the environment. Vieri is one of the few jewellery houses is Swiss, which work with sustainable gold. It wasn’t the reason why Bibi and Vieri collaborated, but this match made it all even more special.

The ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ created by Bibi van der Velden for Vieri is a mouth dropping collection which takes you to another dimension. A dimension of beautiful fairies, forests greener as you can ever imagine, dark starry skied nights and hidden treasure under the biggest full moon.

www.bibivandervelden.com

www.vieri.com

THE WINDOWS OF PRESTAGE

On the 10th of April 2013 we launched our new issue ‘Disharmony’ with a booming party. Our Spring/Summer 2013 is out now, sold worldwide over 24 countries. Apart from the launch of our 6th issue, we also celebrated our 2nd anniversary, which meant a ‘double party’: an amazing ball we had!

To endure our celebration and to finish it off we decided to collaborate with some of our favourite leading stores in Amsterdam. We dressed the stores’ windows in Prestage’s theme, ‘Disharmony’, with clothing chosen out of their very own Spring/Summer 2013 collection. We collaborated with panache stores ‘Van Ravenstein’, ‘PS Atelier’, ‘ÉÉN’, ‘TWEE’ and ‘Blacksheeproad’. Each store has its own signature and distinctive style, but all fit the feel of Prestage. Curious what our ‘Disharmony Windows’ look like? Check it out below!

VAN RAVENSTEIN

window

www.van-ravenstein.nl

PS ATELIER

window

windows

www.ps-atelier.com

ÉÉN

windows

www.1-store.nl

TWEE

windows

www.1-store.nl

BLACKSHEEPROAD

window

www.blacksheeproad.com

So if you’re in Amsterdam this weekend, take a walk and visit these awesome stores. Not only because of our themed windows, but also because of the great collection hidden behind the ‘Disharmony’ themed windows: from Topman to Chanel, from Dries van Noten to Norse Projects and from Balenciaga to Filling Pieces.

LYNN’S LEVI’S 501

On Friday the 19th of April Levi’s sent Lynn Downy, the one and only Historian at Levi Strauss & Co., to Amsterdam to talk about the history of the iconic Levi’s 501 jeans, which celebrates its 140th anniversary this year.

At the top floor of Foam, Downy guided us through 140 years of Levi’s. It wasn’t the typical kind of history class as you may imagine, but one with real pieces of art in front of the small group of invitees and Historian Lynn telling us vivaciously about the everlasting 501 jeans. Centuries of the the iconic 501 had been spread down at Foam: from the oldest 501 jeans ever found, worth a mouth dropping 150K dollars, to a piece with Mick Jagger’s signature. Lynn Downy showed us all.

In her role, Downey oversees the preservation and documentation of the company’s revered archival collection, which includes the world’s oldest pair of jeans; 10 other pairs of jeans from the 19th century; denim jackets decorated by Elton John, Yves St. Laurent and Elizabeth Taylor; and more than 7,500 garments and other treasures. She established the company’s archives in 1989 when she became the company’s first Historian. In her role, Downey frequently partners with brand management and product development teams who use the company’s ‘living archives’ as a source of inspiration. She also serves as a media spokesperson, has published numerous books, articles and book reviews about the Levi Strauss & Co. history and has appeared, among others, on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’, NBC’s ‘Today Show’ and ABC’s ‘Nightline’.

Let’s name this denim get together history class ‘Lynn’s Levi’s 501 Tour’. We should all know the history of the jeans of jeans: the Levi’s 501. It’s part of fashion’s history.

AMES FOR WEEKDAY

To celebrate the release of Weekday’s new collaboration with New York based designer Matthew Ames, we recently had an intimate dinner at one of Amsterdam’s hotspots REM-eiland. Apart from some cool bloggers, great journalists and cool stylists, the designer himself was there as well to show us his brand new collection, named ‘Prairie’, for Weekday and explain where he got his inspiration from.

Matthew Ames’ style is American post-minimalistic, which you can discover by simply looking at his flawless collections. Ames started his own brand in 2005 and opened a studio in Brooklyn, New York, and from there on his fashion star rose.

Weekday

Matthew is a well-known fashion designer who designs clothes we love, with a clean and minimalistic feel. For his collaboration with Weekday Ames brought us a quiet yet powerful range of essential pieces focusing on what is integral design. With the ‘Prairie’ collection Ames designed for Weekday, he created a denim based collection where all garments can easily be mixed and combined. A collection perfectly suitable for Spring and Summer and lovely to layer with a distinctive and signature feel.

MOAM COLLECTIVE

PRESTAGE’S COPENHAGEN

VIERI BY BIBI V/D VELDEN

THE WINDOWS OF PRESTAGE

LYNN’S LEVI’S 501

AMES FOR WEEKDAY

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