Yesterday night, July 12th, Yvonne Kwok, graduate of AMFI Amsterdam Fashion Institute, won Lichting 2012 supported by G-Star RAW. In a spectacular catwalk show, 14 fashion graduates presented their collection to national and international fashion experts. These experts elected Kwok to be the upcoming fashion talent of the Netherlands. The G-Star RAW Talent Award was presented by Remco de Nijs, G-Star PR Manager and Collection Stylist. Yvonne Kwok received a monetary prize of € 10,000 and the opportunity to contribute her talents in the international catwalk show of G-Star in Berlin.

Yvonne Kwok’s winning collection is about the battle with mental disorder caused by the restrictions within the fashion system where pressure plays a major role. Therefore she mocks in her collection the marionette, a person who’s in service of someone else. For inspiration she used elements of the carnival, which lead to a bombastic use of color. Kwok combined warm tones with bright accents and pastels. The result is a positive, eclectic remix.

The winner was chosen by a varied group of fashion experts and an internationally renowned panel. This year, the panel is formed by Margareta van den Bosch (creative advisor H&M), Orsola de Castro (founder From Somewhere, showroom for sustainable fashion), Marieke van Dongen (senior designer at Raf Simons) and Corinna Springer (founder Nouveau pr New York).

The panel was positive about the quality of the collections. Orsola de Castro: “Tonight I saw a beautiful balance of old and new, of high-tech and artisanal. All collections were very fresh”. For Corinna Springer the Lichting show was a breath of fresh air compared to the more commercial fashion industry in New York: “the collections were conceptually very strong, a great combination of fashion and art, amazing!” Also Margaretha van den Bosch was positive about the quality of the collection and the different individual talents on the catwalk. Marieke van Dongen advised the designers “to continue learning about fashion and do a master if possible”. Also she advised them to prepare for a lot of hard work.