Amsterdam-based designers Ülkühan Akgül and Batuhan Demir are the winners of the Frans Molenaar Prize 2025. The duo are recognised for a practice that moves fluidly between fashion, performance and social research, with the body as both starting point and subject. Akgül previously presented his solo debut collection Etnisch Profiteren during Amsterdam Fashion Week 2025, marking an important first step on the AFW runway. Together with Demir, he now continues to build a shared and increasingly distinctive design language.
Yesterday, the prestigious Frans Molenaar Prize was awarded again following an eight-year hiatus. The prize was originally established in 1995 by Dutch couturier Frans Molenaar and grants €10,000 to a recently graduated designer on the threshold of launching their own label. With its return this year, the award reaffirms its original mission: to encourage and support emerging couture talent at the very beginning of their professional journey.
The prize was awarded to Amsterdam-based designers Ülkühan Akgül and Batuhan Demir, whose collaborative practice merges fashion, performance and social research into sculptural and emotionally charged work. Both of Turkish descent, they explore themes of migration, belonging and identities in transition. Through material experimentation and bold silhouettes, they translate cultural hybridity and psychological tension into garments that oscillate between strength and vulnerability.
Since graduating in 2023 from Amsterdam Fashion Institute and ArtEZ University of the Arts, their joint practice ÜLKÜHAN&BATUHAN has developed into a distinct and independent design language. Craftsmanship, performative presentation and narrative embodiment converge in their work, with the body positioned as a vessel of memory, cultural tension and lived experience.
One of their most striking recent projects, Down Low, confronts the fragile construction of hypermasculinity and explores the tension between public façade and private desire. Using straight-coded archetypes and familiar masculine branding as a starting point, the duo subverted these symbols through exposed bodies, contrasting materials and theatrical styling. Vulnerability, discomfort and liberation were deliberately staged side by side, opening up space for femininity, queerness and softness within rigid masculine codes.
Looking ahead, Akgül and Demir aim to further deepen their material research, develop their label and continue designing with social awareness and intention. They are currently working towards their official collective debut at Amsterdam Fashion Week 2026, where they will present their first full collection together as ÜLKÜHAN&BATUHAN.
Cover image by Dion Bal