Artistic director, Piet Paris, on shape: ‘form is the essence’
‘Fashion is a momentary snapshot. In recent years fashion has been dominated by an abundance of decoration. This was mirrored at the biennale in 2007. Today’s pioneering designers shine for the clarity of their work and their use of recognisable, archetypal forms. In the future forms will become simpler, drier, even severe. Form – SHAPE – is a fundamental aspect for a fashion designer and the point of departure for this biennale. Form is the essence. Form is also a pair of trousers with a plethora of pleats, the way a pair of trousers drapes, and how you look in them.’
ABOUT PIET PARIS
Piet Paris (b. 1962) studied fashion at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts and has garnered worldwide renown for his fashion illustrations. In 2008 he won the Grand Seigneur, the most important fashion prize in the Netherlands. Paris has been involved with Arnhem Mode Biënnale from the very start, as one of the event’s initiators and as its Artistic Director: ’My mainspring is to explain
to a wide-ranging public how fashion is created. I also want to clarify the function of fashion, while at the same time I want to surprise and inspire the professional audience.’