Although conceptual fashion designer Marga Weimans has been around for a while, she made her debut on Amsterdam Fashion Week with a surprisingly wearable collection on Wednesday. The models came down the runway with huge ‘accessories’; frames that were made of steel confining their movements, as if they were trapped in some kind of minimalist architecture.

The installations worked incredibly well on the runway: despite the unexpected wearability of the beautifully printed garments, the show was the most experimental and interesting show we’ve seen so far (taking into account we’ve only had two days of shows yet, and three more to go). The contructions reminded of the early avant-garde minimalists who worked a lot with steel, such as Carl Andre. The hair and make up seemed to be slightly inspired by the musician Grimes, who was also part of the soundtrack.

The footwear for this collection was made in collaboration with the iconic shoe designer Jan Jansen, who sat opposite to me on the runway with his wife wearing similar shoes but with a lower platform. Nowadays all different types of platform shoes have taken the fashion world by storm, due to the likes of Lady Gaga, Iris van Herpen, Jeffrey Campbell and so on. Yet Jansen managed to show once again that he is never a slave to the trends, but rather fashion-forward or on-trend in his own way. The  unique designs echoed the architectural, yet also geisha-like feel of the garments.

When the models in frames left the runway, the light was dimmed and a model wearing a dress with a sheer black skirt appeared. The wide skirt had dozens of mobile phones attached to it. As the model walked down the runway, more and more phones started to ring and lit up the dress as the audience responded to the appeal ‘CALL ME NOW’ displayed on the screen behind the runway (Marga had left a note with a mobile phone number on the seats).

Although the dress was rather spectacular, it did not fit in with the rest of the collection particularly well. Yet it was a rather creative solution in response to the sponsorship of a big mobile phone provider, as Bas Kosters’ phone themed runway show was last season. Nowadays more and more designers are sponsored by big companies in order to raise enough money to be able to show at fashion week. The downside to this is usually that these companies tend to push their own name forward rather than the designer’s. So it’s nice to see a different solution instead of the usual big corporate logo’s on goodiebags and on screens surrounding the runway. All in all a very interesting show. Stay tuned for an interview with Marga soon!

Photos by Team Peter Stigter