Inez Carmen van Kessel

This collection started with my fascination of the manufacturability of the human body.

If I did not went to study fashion design, I had chosen to become a hairdresser or cosmetic surgeon. The power to change someobody’s appearance is in their hands.

This fascination  made my collection grow more into a celebration of cosmetic surgery, instead of a protest against it, because there is a lot of hatred towards it.

It can frustrate me that we have started to see the human body as an object when somebody undergoes cosmetic surgery, instead of seeing the body as a tool to perceive the world.

People give a judgement right away when somebody got a liposuction or breast implants.

We have developed the power to change our bodies, why not embrace it and see each other for who they are, instead of what they look like.

This thought didn’t necessarily grow into a fashion collection, but more in visuals and dessins.

The past year I learned that I’m not a classical fashion designer, instead I am more a

storyteller for which I use my imagery. The pieces in my collection can be seen as the props for my video and photoshoot, they all have a function in it, through this technique I can show my visual world, which can be a bit absurd sometimes.   

In my graduation collection I showed the possibilities of cosmetic surgery in clothing, by expanding the hips, giving muscles and adding breast and ears. If things are a bit extreme, it can make you start to think.

The colours I used aren’t real skin toned colours, but I believe that is not even necessary when my concept is about cosmetic surgery.

Because maybe in the future we can even tone our own skin in poppin colours, who knows?