Wow, what a week. Only about ten days since Fashion Week ended but strangely enough it feels like years ago. Now the dust has settled and everyone has more or less recovered, we look back to an amazing week. I'd almost go so far as to say that it has been the best edition of Amsterdam Int'l Fashion Week so far.
We celebrated Amsterdam fashion for a full 9 days. We kicked off with the opening of the Red Light Fashion project, in which 20 up&coming labels have been given accommodation in former brothels in "That" famous part of town. Then the public program; 60 venues ranging from shops to museums and galleries - i'd especially like to mention the Vintage Hunt, the fan exhibition at the Bag Museum and the Jeans Expo in which 12 Haarlemmerdijk shops cooperated to show jeans customised by young Amsterdam designers, expressing the wonderful cultural diversity in our city and its influence on street fashion.
The shows, both on- and off site were of international standard. The best thing about the show program is that it is both growing and stabilising, with equal share of voice for couture, street fashion, conceptual design and pret-a-porter. We are proud to present young ambitious talent and established business side by side. It was very encouraging to receive professionals from Germany, Japan, Russia, France, the UK and USA who are reporting on the event - as well as celebrities like Kelly Rowland attending the shows.
So in summary: growth. The public program was co-organised with Amsterdam Fashion Institute students and we hope to continue that work for next season. We finalised an arrangement with the local city council AND landed a presenting sponsorship deal with long-standing friends FORTIS bank. There's a lot of work to do yet, but the outlook for summer is sunny. See you in Amsterdam from July 19th - 27th.
Thanks to all the designers, models, support teams, media, stylists, DJ's, technicians, builders, dressers, cleaners, caterers, Redken hair crew, Lancome make up crew, Heineken beer boys, photographers, AIFW crew and everyone else i should be mentioning but haven't (sorry) for making AIFW Jan 08 the big hit it was.
And an especial thank you to the AIFW newspaper & weblog team (powered by Anina.net and 360fashion) for their reports and you for being with us.
Mahalo - see you back in summer!
James - AIFW
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