Register now for Lichting 2025!

Fashion 29 May 2025

Lichting celebrates the most promising fashion talent by featuring the best academy graduates of the year in one event. Lichting was founded in 2007 to bridge the gap between the academies and students on the one side and the talent-hungry fashion industry on the other. Ever since, Lichting has been opening the doors to a multidisciplinary interpretation of fashion, showing an innovative and contemporary interpretation of it. The participants of Lichting excel at what they do; whether they specialise in couture, digital design, performance, commercial product, innovative design or traditional design practices, provided that they are the best of their generation and assure a high standard of impressive work.

The Lichting 2025 Selection Procedure
Lichting 2025 follows a three-round selection process:

The process begins with the seven participating Dutch fashion academies, who each nominate one graduate. These seven are automatically selected for the Dutch jury pitch round.
Since 2022, Lichting has welcomed applicants via an open call. All graduates from the participating academies may apply. From these submissions, the Lichting team will select 25 candidates (including the seven academy picks) to proceed to the next round.
These 25 candidates will present their concept, process and work to a Dutch jury. From this group, ten finalists will be selected to join the Lichting 2025 trajectory. These ten will receive expert guidance and support to prepare for their pitch to an international jury during Amsterdam Fashion Week, and present their work in the Lichting show for a panel of industry experts, press and curated guests.

One winner will be selected by the international jury and awarded a cash prize of €5,000.

Participating academies: AMFI – Amsterdam Fashion Institute, ArtEZ University of the Arts, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, MAFAD – Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Royal Academy of Art, Utrecht School of the Arts, Willem de Kooning Academy. Students from AFA – Amsterdam Fashion Academy can apply via the open call.

Requirements
All Lichting participants: