PRESENTATION
TEAM MAASTRICHT

Team Maastricht hosted a day full of workshops with the children of the ‘Manjefiek Malberg school’. Through a series of fashion-related workshops the designers stimulated the kids to talk about their emotions in a fun and playful way. 

How do they dress up to represent the emotions of ‘amazement’, ‘anger’ or ‘happiness’? What memories do some of their t-shirts recall and how can we exchange them? These and many more questions formed the foundation of the workshops. 

Below you’ll find a description and photos of the workshops as well as the VOELSTOF manifest.

VELCRO SUIT

During this workshop an emotion-suit is created through teamwork.

PATCHWORK

A workshop in which children literally make a connection using clothing as a non-verbal communication tool.

VOELSTOF
THE MANIFEST

Social development and emotional development are closely related. Children learn to be considerate, play by the rules, wait their turn, share, play together and many more social skills. In order to do so, children must learn to see, understand and deal with their own feelings as well as the feelings of others.

Good emotional development of a child stimulates self-knowledge, a positive self-image and self-confidence. An important foundation for the feeling of happiness that is formed during childhood, which determines the rest of their life. But not every child is taught to talk about their inner world or to empathize with the feelings of others.

The research of TFF Team Maastricht is about the next generation: how can we strengthen the resilience of children through fashion? How can fashion help them deal with and express their emotions?

With the help of the ultimate form of non-verbal communication –– fashion and textile –– we want to provide children with vehicles. Through play and collaboration, with elements such as clothing, texture, shape, color and their bodies, we want to stimulate them in a playful way to express their own emotions and to empathize with those of others.

Everyone wears clothes. And there is little more personal than clothing, because you wear it so close to your body. Therefore, clothing lends itself perfectly as a conversation-starter. 

The four VOELSTOF workshops are designed and developed with the aim of sparking the imagination of the children, creating an experience that temporarily takes them out of their comfort zone. To make them think about emotions in a playful way and without realizing it, just like the Trojan Horse. Reflection. And expressing emotions in front of their classmates. Connection.

The aim of the VOELSTOF workshops is to have a positive impact on the emotional development of a child on both a personal and collective level.

In the workshops we focus on the process. Emphasizing the outcome can lead to performance anxiety because something can be good or bad - whereas that doesn't matter. It's about someone continuing to try and develop something. The focus on effort teaches them the well known wisdom; practice makes perfect. Furthermore, it stimulates the child’s emotional resilience and their sense of self-worth. 

Many thanks to the students of group 8 and Miss Heleen Kerkhof of the primary school Manjefiek Malberg in Maastricht.

VOELSTOF is a collaboration between fashion designers Daisy van Loenhout, Esra Copur, Antoine Peters, Anouk van de Sande x Vera de Pont and Iris Desiree Claessens and team lead Branko Popovic. Photos by Laura Knipsaels.

PRESENTATION
TEAM TILBURG

Team Tilburg investigated how fashion can be a means of social intervention. By extending the concept of fashion beyond clothing alone, with an emphasis on personal style and identity, a community project was realised that has been created in collaboration with the people of the neighbourhood.

The team hosted a photoshoot on the power of diversity; diversity in people and in fashion styles. With the help of a local team, Team Tilburg portrayed the striking and diverse youth of Tilburg Noord. The results, more than 25 portraits, were presented during the pop-up photo exhibition ‘De Stijl van Noord’ in NS16. The exhibition put these authentic youngsters from underrated Tilburg Noord in a positive light.

“Fashion is more than the way you dress, it emphasises personal style and identity. No filter, no glamorisation, just a lot of style and personality. No professional models either, but future role models for sure.”

De Stijl van Noord is a collaboration between Taskforce Fashion - with fashion designers Jessica van Halteren, Marionella Hanley, Katja Ravina, Laura Luchtman, Gabriel Fontana and team leads Iris Ruisch and Branko Popovic -, Second Skin Tilburg, photographer Raoul Laisina and videographer Tristan-Tyrese Mac-Donald.

FINAL PRESENTATION
TEAM ROTTERDAM

Rotterdam is the second biggest city of the  Netherlands. With its skyscrapers, cultural highlights and bustling port on the one hand, and challenges such as poverty, segregation and polarization on the other, it can be considered a real metropole. Like most metropoles, Rotterdam is incredibly rich in diversity and hosts more than 173 nationalities. Yet, there is a huge divide between inhabitants with different backgrounds, education and incomes.  

The Municipality of Rotterdam invited 5 designers of Taskforce Fashion to investigate a neighborhood where this divide is rapidly emerging because of gentrification: the Oude Noorden.

How can fashion play a positive role in enhancing contact and social cohesion in this area?  

Instead of seeking for answers, the designers first researched the question at hand: who is asking the question and on what information is it based? If we pick different angles, methods and parameters to look at the neighborhood, do we still see a divide, a problem? Would we still ask the same question?  

Rather than focusing on overcoming the differences between inhabitants, the designers chose to focus their research on ways to find shared values and stories. Which dreams and superpowers do young people have in the neighborhood? How do people in the neighborhood feel about their own bodies? And how do they personally experience their surroundings? In this presentation, the designers show their intermediate results. They propose alternative, mostly visual research tools to the  Municipality, to encourage new conversations with inhabitants of all ages and backgrounds. With fashion & identity as a base, they seek for common ground and connections between longtime residents and  newcomers.

Through social experiment ‘Re-dress the body’, Bobbine Berden and Juris Efneris test how the residents of the Oude Noorden experience their bodies. By inviting inhabitants to answer two simple questions and to interact with their installation, they collect data on the body parts they’re proud of or insecure about. Do they relate to each other’s experience of the body? 

With their installation, Bobbine and Juris focused on how creative interaction can encourage emotional connection within a neighborhood. The result - a colorful overview of all participants who dared to be proud and vulnerable - is a true conversation starter.

For their project ‘Stof voor Gesprek’ (Fabric for Dialogue), Lena Winterink and Lisanne Janssen took a closer look at the Dutch governmental tool ‘Leefbaarometer’; a scale that measures the ‘livability’ of a neighbourhood. Neighbourhood the Oude Noorden in Rotterdam was evaluated by the tool as ‘weak’ based on a set of 100 indicators. But why?

According to the Leefbaarometer, anything that deviates from the norm constitutes a negative score on the quality of life. But what is the norm? And whose wishes and requirements are being taken into account? With this project, Lena and Lisanne provided insight into the indicators that inform the Leefbaarometer and simultaneously created a space for conversation about what is important (to local residents) for the quality of life in the Oude Noorden.

Visitors could join the dialogue and create their personal version of the Leefbarometer.

Team Rotterdam consists of Kalkidan Hoex, Bobbine Berden, Juris Efneris, Lena Winterink and Lisanne Janssen, as coached by Esther-Munoz Grootveld. The final presentation took place at De Wasserij in Rotterdam.