Amsterdam Fashion Week welcomed a new tide as OHIM debuted on 2 September at De Hallen Studios. The Ways of Water honoured the stories of Black Amsterdam fashion professionals through a collection by Noukhey Forster, a film by Florian Joahn and a night of music, performance and community led by The Gang Is Beautiful.
OHIM positioned itself as a space of amplification, giving visibility to voices too often ignored or erased. Through fashion, film and performance, it explored memory, identity and resistance, celebrating underexposed narratives and championing fashion professionals of colour. This vision carried through every element of the evening, from the silhouettes on the runway to the five personal stories at the heart of the film.
The stage was set before the first model appeared. A shallow pool of water cast shifting light across the ceiling while two musicians urged the audience to free their minds and remember that change begins with the self.
Forster’s collection unfolded in sculptural silhouettes, high-gloss fabrics and flashes of sheer red that caught the water’s reflection. The closing look, a long-sleeved top with rising shoulders and fabric draping to conceal the hands, suspended the body between strength and limitation as Tyler’s Water filled the space.
The runway gave way to film, with three screens telling five stories from Amsterdam-based fashion professionals with roots in Africa or the diaspora. Together, their voices formed the soul of the project. “As a woman of colour, I’ve faced my fair share of people telling me what I can’t do,” explained journalist and editor Susan Zijp. “But there’s a stubbornness inside me that drives me… to prove to myself that I can do it.”
Red returned as a central motif, binding collection and cinema. Dancers moved against its backdrop, doors shattered, water cleansed. Over it all, the question echoed: “Who is telling their stories? What happens to all the things I have done?”
The models returned to close the show as the audience rose in recognition. What began as a fashion show became a collective act of storytelling.
Words by Inês Lopes
