BLUEDENÎMES is the name of my menswear graduation collection. Every piece in this collection is blue. It’s no secret that I am a real denimlover, therefore the whole collection has a denim feeling in colour, styling and finishing.

The collection is inspired by knights from the Middle Ages. I studied a lot of different knights from different countries throughout the whole Middle Ages. I was intrigued by the fact that knights wore dresses and skirts, yet they were a symbol of Fierceness, courage and masculinity.

Nowadays, besides the usual skirts now and then on the catwalk you hardly find a man in a skirt. Men haven’t got much of a choice though. Where can they buy a real cool men’s skirt? People directly link the skirt to feminity.

That is just the thing that I wanted to get rid of. My goal for this collection was to create a new kind of garment for men. I wanted to prove that a man can definitely look masculine in a skirt.

I started making skirt trousers. They had to be comfortable and easy and they had to have a straight silhouette and straight lines. Those were very important guidelines for me to create masculinity.

The inspiration for the tops comes from concepts and replica’s of Knight’s costumes from the Middle Ages. For example; the coat of mail, I translated the iron ring structure into a knit.  I always get my inspiration from clothing from earlier times. It intrigues me how people lived in the past and why they dressed that way. I love clothing with function and most of all, I love stories about them.

When it comes to my way of designing, it could be called commercial. But I think it is not just commercial, it’s one step higher.

People really want to have it.

Photos:

Photography: Tyson Ernste

Stylin/gart direction: Karen van Binsbergen

MUA: Berry Ruijsch

Model: Felix Sagmal