Anne van den Boogaard with model. Photo © Jen Gilpin
Pom-pom embellished, baby blue motorcycle jackets, enormous golden hoop earrings, prints coyly referencing anarchy and deconstructed bridal dresses fused with cheerleader elements – seeing Anne van den Boogaard’s graduate collection for AMFI (Amsterdam Fashion Institute) will completely throw you. Have you just landed on the set of a satirical Americana horror movie or have been warped back through time to a fantastical version of the Nineties, which seem closer now than ever? All we know know is that the picture-postcard Amsterdam we just drove through to meet van den Boogard seem light years away from this crazy fashion mashup. “I’m searching for the border of ugliness,” explains Anne, who herself can’t quite believe how ridiculous her graduate collection really is. It’s daring to create something so far removed from the wearable aesthetic norm but it seems as if Anne couldn’t have tackled her graduate collection any other way: “I’m obsessed with the ugly. I love enormous, tacky Christmas trees. I love golden hoop earrings, cheerleaders and anything that is kitsch.”
Read more about Anne van den Boogaard and other fresh design talents Sleek met between Amsterdam, Antwerp and London in the next issue of the magazine, publishing September.