The Amsterdam Fashion Institute is always producing designers who push boundaries and create really dynamic collections that bring something new to the fashion industry. This has been demonstrated once again this year, and one of the stand out collections has to be that of Tess Van Zalinge. Tess studied Fashion Technology and her collection really conveys how much importance she places on both the design silhouettes and patterns that they contain through showing each garment in both white and printed versions within the collection.
           
The inspiration for the collection comes from a combination of styles from centuries ago combined with cultural influences from African tribes. The prints demonstrate this perfectly as they have delicate, floral and lace elements combined with bright, bold patterns that are typical of prints inspired by tropical countries. This is recurrent within the silhouettes of the collection themselves that play with the layering of intricate lace and bold prints. The collection features some lingerie style elements which give the whole collection a more modern feel with contemporary trends of underwear as outerwear or other similar trends. One of the most striking and interesting elements is the use of lace in bright colours which combines both of the sources of inspiration into one. It is fascinating to see how Tess has combined two very different styles into one; the almost gothic style of the lace and traditional Victorian patterns and the African style prints that are in many ways totally opposite. I also love the contrast between the skin-tight elements of the outfits with the soft, flowing silk skirts. The current trends of panelling have been developed for SS13 within the collection into panelling that considers both the combination of different fabrics, patterns and styles.
           
The fact that Tess Van Zalinge clearly considers every part of the design process within her work shows how very talented she is and how forward thinking her designs are. She has taken current popular trends and transformed them into something even more contemporary and modern whilst still looking to the past for inspiration – we expect to see a lot more from Tess! 

Images: Artsthread.com   Fashionising.com