"I am not a Fries, I am an Italian."
Landed, home, I feel relieved, finally back on the ground. I’ve desired this for a long time now. Or is this all in my head? That can definitely be the case! As soon as the plain door opens I fill up my longs. The fragrance that I’ve desired for so long runs through my nose. The goosebumps on my arms, the butterflies in my abdomen, I can literally cry right now. I feel so relieved, I’m back, back home! I speed up my pass to the desk of costoms at the airport. Then I fire off my first Italian phrases to the officer. The second he starts chattering back is Italian, I’m in seventh heaven. I still got it! They don’t even notice that I’m not Italian. Euphoric and with a huge smile I leave the airport and get in a packed bus full of smelly tourist of to the city. During the ride I hang my had against the window, I cant stop scanning the view. Even though its night out and I can’t see a thing, I have the feeling I recognize everything.
There is this desire, that over the years becomes homesick, but it never dies.
Now days it is not about where your roots are. The everyday life is a stage on which we all perform. In this performance of identity, the importants from fashion is increasing everyday. Fashion provides us a way to experiment with our identity every day. It’s no longer important where you’re coming from, this means that it’s not necessarily for you to stay close to your roots. Take me for an example. I’m not behaving like a typical Fries, I rather behave like I’m an Italian. The thing of importants in society is the performance of your identity. As inspiration for my collection I used the aspect of the performance of your identity. My collection tells the story about the fact that I don’t feel Fries but Italian, even though my roots are in Friesland. With this as a base I started to build my collection. This resulted in a combination of the down to earth mentality that is so well-known in Friesland and the typical Italian elegance. The collection is based on the sprezzatura. Sprezzatura is the art of wearing something seemingly effortlessly, a studied nonchalance. It is all about the small details and how it is worn.
“Your dream of where or who you want to be is your biggest force.”
