Lucas Straetmans

Lucas Straetmans is currently studying fashion at KASK in Ghent, Belgium. In june he completed his bachelor education with distinction. He is now persuing his master's degree.​ In June of 2013 he finished and p​resented his graduation collection. With this collection he won the FFI/Movex-award. Now he will focus on internschips and his thesis. The world of fashion is one where it is said everything has already been seen and done. Therefore, new things are a matter of reinventing. Starting from something that probably isnt new but doing your own personal thing with it, making it fresh by adding an unique personal touch. It is about, so agrees Straetmans, not doing the ordinary thing. He believes the key lies in the stories youre choosing to tell.​ Straetmans is very much against stereotypical thinking. He doesnt like the division between man and woman. He believes in the individual. He likes to work with stereotypical images and react to behaviour prescribed by society. They way this relates to fashion is this: The way we dress plays a significant role in the way strangers will see us and the prejudices they will form. Trough fashion, trough the way we dress, we project our inner selves to the world. Whether or not this projection is truthful does not matter because an dishonest projection would tell just as much about the individual, and would therefore be as or even more interesting. Not only this but also the power this gives the individual to deceive and manipulate is what Straetmans finds very interesting. Straetmans is fascinated by the sociological playfield that is put up when people interact. That is what he aims to explore in his work. His field is that of fashion because of the role it plays in the interaction.