Petra Huisman

My name is Petra Huisman, a research-based fashion designer from the Netherlands. In my opinion, there is not enough emphasis on in-dept research that is done in the process of creating a fashion collection. In particular during the showcase on a catwalk. During my design process, questions as: 'Can I use this as inspiration?’ And ‘Can I choose this hairstyle for models?’, were on my mind often. I wanted to figure out the core of these questions and answer them during this graduation year.

Interests and confrontation

My drive was especially fuelled by an indirect accusation of cultural appropriation related to my third-year collection. As a white Dutch girl living a comfortable life, my interests in the life of others through listening to hip-hop music and traveling can be interpreted as the direct opposite. By starting with theoretical research on the history of colonialism and its relation to the current fashion industry I became aware of the origin of the systems we are living in today.

A digitalized human touch

This project was made in a world in which society started to become more aware of racial inequality via social media due to the murder of George Floyd. People tried to educate each other in particular through posts on Instagram. All during the COVID-19 pandemic, that led to lockdowns and turned our lives into a virtual and technological reality. The lockdowns have strengthened the expression of people's opinions online.

New perspectives

For me reaching out to people and ask if they were open to talk to me and collaborate, led to extremely mixed responses. After reading in books, listening to podcasts and watching documentaries in order to write my thesis. I decide to reach out to people of colour in the industry, girls that modelled for me, classmates, family and friends. Asking them if they were open to talk with me about identity & fashion, racism in the fashion industry, cancel culture, cultural appropriation, intersectionality and white allyship.

Open for the unknown

The installation shows six videos on multiple facets related to cultural appropriation in the fashion industry. The videos have anonymised visuals of the speaker. As subtitles, a handwritten-like typeface is used, to give it a human feel. The feelings and impact of the conversations are captured in photos of girls wearing see-through vibrant coloured silk panels. On which a drawing of a young naked woman is hand embroidered. Furthermore, handpicked quotes from the conversations that left a mark are graphically designed, laser cut on cotton fabric. Photos of this show the layered thoughts that came through in the conversations. Also, a personalised font was designed, making use of the white and negative spaces in the letters.

For the graduation show a wooden construction is presented that symbolises a head. In here the viewer gets confronted with perspectives on cultural appropriation, through sound, drawings, textile, text, videos and photos. The project is not finalised and never will be. There is not one answer to the questions I was asking myself. It is an on-going process that can only be tackled by working together.

For my graduation I wanted to investigate what my role as a graduating white Dutch fashion student could be in contributing to a more equal, fair and honest fashion industry. This is a very complex subject on which different opinions are expressed. Topics such as racism are complex and loaded, people often don’t talk about it with people outside of their comfort zone. Only by reaching out and talking to people you are not close to you can get to know the other perspective.