DFA Nominee 2012: Anne de Grijff
November 30, 2012 by Jetty
Filed under Fashion, Featured Items
She is one of the five designers nominated for a Dutch Fashion Award and Anne de Grijff (1978) might just become this year’s big winner. To freshen up everyone’s memory we’ve summarized what Anne de Grijff stands for. So you know just a bit of what to expect tonight in De Grote Kerk in The Hague.
Fashion label
Anne de Grijff, womenswear. Founded in 2008.
Signature
Lots of folding and pleating, subtle, minimalistic, mysterious. Anne: “My work is about perfection and imperfection, symmetry and a symmetry, revealing and dissembling.”
Short bio
Anne de Grijff graduated at AMFI in 2003. She interned at Alexander van Slobbe and G + N. Anne started off working for Mart Visser as an assistant designer and worked as a freelance designer for Claudia Sträter, Mexx and Turnover. She also lectured at fashion and styling academy Artemis and currently is a teacher at the fashion department of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy.
Quote
“I see clothes as a line, a line I love to redivide and suspend. I never know which direction it will go. Yet by deranging unexpected turns and shapes appear. That unforeseen and unpredictable part is the most appealing to me.”
Collection
For tonight´s show Anne has been looking back on some of her older designs and has made some slight changes. She, for instance, has started working with color. “My Dutch Fashion Awards nomination coincides with a period in which reflection is very important to me. I found out my work is always about researching and questioning a straight line. All my designs begin with a straight structure. At the same time I try to interrupt and challenge that, which results in clothes with asymmetrical details, layers and pleats. By the movements of the persons wearing my designs unexpected openings and shapes appear. The last couple of months I have been looking back and asking myself questions about the process and the evolvement. For that reason I have been revising pieces from earlier collection. In my latest autumn/winter 2012 collection Hidden Colors I´ve slowly began working with color. This is visible in my vision on the paintings from the golden age. You´ll slowly see color finding it´s way in between all the black. I see it as an enlightenment, which I needed as a counterpart for all the black”, Anne explains.
Strengths
Though Anne is aware that as a fashion label she´s relatively new, she feels she´s right on track and therefore might just win one of the Dutch Fashion Awards. Anne: “In four years I have had a good focus and I´ve worked hard on getting where I want to be. I´ve invested in the quality of the product, network, productions and sales points, which all have been growing for the last two years. Concept/vision and communication are the main focus points of next year. I expect the collection to become stronger, with an extra menswear expansion.”
Plans
Anne: “Winning the Dutch Fashion Award would enable me to perfection my new Slow Forward collection and make some international steps with it. With Slow Forward I´m going to question the ´color´ black.”
Website
www.annedegrijff.com
