Looking through your eyelashes while walking on a street in the Netherlands, or any other western country, you will find that we all look very much alike! Not only because we’re all human beings, but also because we tend to follow the same daily routines and try to match each others’ appearances. We buy our clothes predominantly at the same big franchises that all follow the same general trends and we use hair styling and make-up only very subtly. In other words: we are all wearing the same western uniform.

In order to be part of our western society we do our utmost best to live up to its societal standards, fearing rejection and social isolation if we do not succeed. We walk in line and make sure our personalities do not overly stand out, restrained by our daily western uniform. However, we will never be completely the same, we are all born as unique individuals. Because of this, I find that we should in fact show more of who we are.

Illustrating this expression of personality, every uniform will in some way have a personality growing out, taking over the uniform. To represent the uniform I have chosen the suit. This is a general daily life outfit for a working western person.

The basic materials for the release are all organic (sedge, wood and cotton), since our personality has a natural origin. The personality, which differs per outfit, determines the choice for shape, placing, processing and colour of the material.

Photo: Michel Zoeter