Camiel Fortgens’ world is our world. Not one to hide behind dreamy facades or elaborate fantasy, the designer has built his eponymous brand around the refined veneration of the imperfect, and a genuine affection for the small absurdities of human behaviour. Following runway shows in lived-in apartments, on the terrace of a traditional Parisian bistro, and in a local Oud-West park, the SS27 presentation restaged a daily experience so quintessentially Dutch and intimately familiar to many in attendance that it is barely registered as a fashion intervention: a trip down the aisles of an Albert Heijn.
A familiar crackling of the supermarket intercom announced the beginning of the show. Pushing a full trolley, with blue baskets half-full, or still just browsing, the models drifted past the cheeses and wines, the snack-filled shelves, the vastness of the frozen section, the soft drinks and the alternative milks, seemingly absorbed in the mundane private worries of a regular shopper: the abundance and elusiveness of choice. Soundtracked by the noise of shopping emanating from portable speakers carried by each model, the strain of such contemplation compels a laid-back, intuitive approach to dressing, which Fortgens excels at time and time again. Casual classics such as cotton shirts, in-between-season layers of thin jumpers and bomber jackets, and everyday denim are subtly reworked through different washes and altered elements. Exposing construction details normally hidden from view, the interventions are impactful in their subtlety: contrasting stitching, raw hems and reversed facings reveal the act of making through the daily act of wear.
In reverence for the lived realities of a dresser on the go, the styling explored the layering of garments on top of each other at speed, until they merge into one single piece. A long-sleeve button-up tied over the shoulders on top of the short-sleeved shirt in the same pale, thin pink-striped cotton; worn over a white T-shirt, another staple Camiel Fortgens shirt is re-draped ever so slightly, with a worn-in crease stitched in permanently. Each model eventually returned for a second round of browsing the shelves with an extra layer on—a zip-up knit, a windbreaker, or a waxed fisherman’s jacket—as if pulled from the bottom of their bag, subtly signalling the passage of time, both seasonal and personal, and the looping of an experience that occurs in the shopping aisles and in one’s own microcosm of sartorial choice.
Cover image by Olivia Witmond
Images by Team Peter Stigter
