Amsterdam’s Red-Light Runway

Young fashion designers put cities from Amsterdam to Toronto on the style map
By Jean-François Légaré
Photos by Wendelien Daan
Enroute Air Canada September 2009

Move over, Paris and New York. How cities from Amsterdam to Toronto are putting themselves on the map by backing young fashion designers.

Gerrit Uittenbogaard has a sexy take on fashion… literally. The Dutch designer’s funky atelier is as close as I’ll ever get to one of the brothels Amsterdam is so famous for. Not long ago, his front room, whose large windows look out onto Oudezijds Achterburgwal street, was a spot where working girls “advertised” their services. Nowadays it serves as a display window for his no-sew jeans. (Uittenbogaard and his associate, Natasja Martens, use coloured glue instead of thread – hence, the name of their collection, Gluejeans http://www.gluejeans.com).)

In an effort to revitalize its infamous red-light district, Amsterdam has agreed to let a dozen or so young fashion designers temporarily use the storefronts of old brothels to display their creations – substituting window dressing for window undressing, if you will. The project, dubbed Redlight Fashion Amsterdam (http://www.redlightfashionamsterdam.com), is one of many initiatives put forward by the Dutch capital to invest in the next generation of clothing designers. And though I’ll admit it isn’t a city that had ever beeped on my fashion radar, it’s making a concerted effort to reinvent itself as a bona fide fashion destination (http://enroute.aircanada.com/en/articles/turkey-tonight/page:2).

If Uittenbogaard’s Gluejeans are any indication, there’s cause for excitement, particularly since Amsterdam isn’t the only city using its young designers as branding tools. All over the world, cities are looking to the next generation of style makers as the ticket to becoming fashion mini-capitals, a.k.a. shopping paradises for those like me who would trade in their own mother for Anna Wintour faster than you can say “Prada.” In France, for instance, the cities of Lille and Roubaix have launched a project called Maisons de mode (http://www.maisonsdemode.com/en/), similar to Amsterdam’s in that it offers affordable workshops to designers. The idea is to help young talent resist the pull of a fashion mecca like Paris, just two hours away.

“It’s a good return on investment for a city,” explains Susan Langdon, executive director of Toronto Fashion Incubator (TFI) (http://www.fashionincubator.com/), a non-profit organization that mentors new entrepreneurs by providing them with competitively priced workspaces and advice for launching their businesses. “In Toronto (http://enroute.aircanada.com/en/destinations/toronto), these young designers are helping brand our city as a serious fashion capital.” I don’t need convincing. Several of Toronto’s top fashion ambassadors have been recipients of TFI’s assistance, including David Dixon, Greta Constantine and even Todd Lynn, a Canadian stylist everyone in London is dying to get their hands on. In fact, so successful is Toronto’s model that it’s been the inspiration for a number of other cities.

That influence is obvious as I arrive at the World Fashion Centre (http://www.worldfashioncentre.nl/) , a three-tower complex 45 minutes outside downtown Amsterdam. Home to more than 400 businesses, it’s one of the nerve centres of the Dutch fashion industry. After making my way to floor 13, tower 1, I’m greeted by fashion TV icon Angelique Westerhof, the Netherlands’ answer to Jeanne Beker. Today Westerhof heads the Dutch Fashion Foundation (DFF) (http://www.dutchfashionfoundation.com/), dedicated to the promotion of her country’s homegrown designers. “We wanted fashion to become a promotional tool for Amsterdam,” she explains as she leads me through DFF’s window-lined offices. One of the organization’s current projects involves assisting a dozen designers by providing them with affordable workspaces and help in getting their businesses started.

Wandering through the DFF’s halls suddenly makes me feel like I’m on an episode of Project Runway. Down one hallway is the studio of Mada van Gaans, a talented designer who introduces me to her collection, which includes a stunning black tunic, complete with plunging neckline and bird-inspired embroidery detailing. A few doors down, we enter the workshop of the eccentric Bas Kosters (http://www.baskosters.com/). Husky, with platinum hair and a face full of piercings, Kosters already has brand-name status among Amsterdam’s trendsetters. In addition to managing his own label, he’s famous for having customized a limited-edition stroller for Bugaboo and refreshed Heineken’s image by creating a collection inspired by the legendary Dutch brewery’s colours. How’s that for the perfect branding initiative?

When I mention this to Westerhof, she can’t help but smile. “We had to get rid of the traditional windmills, wooden shoes and tulips imagery. And that’s exactly what our designers are trying to do.”