Last Sunday we rolled down to Rotterdam to check out the Fashion Village expo thing. We were going there to meet up with Kjell from MESMO Clothing and do an interview (check for it in issue #7). But we also took the opportunity to check out the event.
The high point on the ride down was driving under a canal as a ship with a pirate flag sailed past overhead, so you can imagine we were expecting big things. Well, the wearthe was kinda off, and the turnout was rather low, but we made the most of it and did see some cool stuff.
One of the first tents we stopped in was selling shirts from Dstruct, who designed the centerfold for Brrrap! issue #3 (the photo below shows some his designs as well as designs from Flying Colours).
Unfortunately he wasn’t around, but the other people running the tent had some cool shit, and recognized our Brrrap! magazines. We got to chattin’ with Jelmer Noordeman was selling some cool scarf things that had interesting cartoonish handdrawn patterns on them, and tshirts and such with similar designs.
From there we walked around and saw a bunch of bored people in tents. One dude, Sir-Jo, was cool though, making some handpainted custom Nike’s, and actually talked to us as we came to his booth. It was surprising how uninterested a lot of people seemed, kinda looking up at you, then going back to their sketch book or iphone. One booth though was steps ahead of the rest. The label had some cool clothes, so I asked one of the girls working their if they sold clothes in Amsterdam. She said she didn’t know, but probably not. Then I asked if the sell clothes on the internet, to which she also said no. So finally I asked if the sell clothes around here (in Rotterdam) – Yea. Where? It’s like over that way. How do I get there? I don’t know. Wow, great spokesperson. I went from thinkin’ their stuff was dope to thinking they were fuckin’ idiots in like 2 minutes. Anyways, on the next spot.
We got some food and checked out the fashion show, which was a good attempt, and some people seemed to enjoy it. I though it was kind hoakey and not really interesting. We finished our food and checked out rolled over to MESMO.
Kjell was cool, down to earth, and busy handling the crazy wind that was blowing everyone’s stuff around all day at the event. Once things got taped up and weighed down, we sat down and had a chat and learned a thing or two about MESMO and Kjell, but you’ll have to wait ’til issue #7 to read all that. For now, just know the clothing is cool ( I personally dig the weird face design in the above picture), its not made in sweatshops, mesmo means “real” in Portuguese, and the tags ask you give to those in need.
