Judith van Vliet x Chris van den Elzen LAB Fashion Week Amsterdam SS16

Deep ocean diving is something we normally do under strict surveillance. But Dutch designers Judith van Vliet and Chris van den Elzen took us 14000 feet deep in just a split second. No wetsuit or snorkel needed. Just your eyes, to admire and explore life beneath the waves, with its mind-blowing creatures lightening up the darkest waters and also, hopefully, our feeling of responsibility. “With this collection we wanted to show people how incredibly beautiful the ocean is, with its colours and interesting creatures like jellyfish, plankton and algea. The oceans are the lungs of our world, so we should take good care of it. But we don’t seem to realize their importance, if you look at the heavy pollution that’s going these days. There’s not enough attention for this huge world problem.” So the designers took a good shot at it.
It was translated into a colour palette of different shades of blue, black, whites and coral tones. Liquid lines and light,transparant fabrics resembling the fluid water. We saw some skirts and vests with scaly structures. Simple plastic strokes were made into abstract coral-like adornment. The models’ faces were painted with bold blue tones and soft sparkles on their eyelids reaching over the eyebrows combined with a semi wet hair look. Normally ending rock bottom is something we would avoid by any chance. But this time it wouldn’t have been so bad to stay a little bit longer below the surface.