For three days, Maastricht was the stage where designers, performers, poets, filmmakers and soundscapers from all over the world came together to explore, question and celebrate fashion culture.
This year, the festival unfolds through seven archetypes created by ULKUHAN: the Writer, Performer, Filmmaker, Soundscaper, Designer, Poet and Print Designer. Each archetype represents a different perspective. From spoken word to performance, film, design, sound, print and poetry.
New Fashion Narratives | Bureau Europa
For this year’s exhibition programme, FASHIONCLASH invited four fashion makers to collaboratively develop the curatorial concept for New Fashion Narratives at Bureau Europa. Earlier this year, they took part in a residency week in Maastricht, which led to the creation of this year’s curatorial framework. The exhibition, titled “Collective Movements”, is curated by Jonas Zitter, Paula Dischinger, Rafael Kouto, and Tjerre Lucas Bijker, and explores how fashion can act as a tool for connection, resistance, and collective action —operating at the intersection of fashion design, activism, and communal practice. The curators aim to present works that transcend dominant systems by embracing cultural rituals, shared knowledge, and collaboration.
Fashion Makes Sense | Centre Céramique
Fashion Makes Sense is FASHIONCLASH’s ongoing participatory programme dedicated to social design, inclusion, and education. With this initiative FASHIONCLASH connects professionals and non-professionals —especially young people —in collaborative creative processes. The exhibition on the third floor of Centre Céramique presents results from several participatory projects.
The Class of 2025 | The social Hub
This year, FASHIONCLASH x The Social Hub Maastricht host an additional showcase highlighting a new generation of designers. Class of 2025 presents a selection of emerging designers graduating in 2025 from Dutch academies including AMFI, HKU, ArtEZ, Design Academy Eindhoven, Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts, WDKA, and Gerrit Rietveld Academie.
In parallel, Marlon Claessen curates the ESSENCE Exhibition, featuring international designers whose work embodies FASHIONCLASH’s mission: to foster intercultural dialogue, creative exchange, and socially engaged fashion narratives. The presentation also includes work by Toneelacademie Maastricht students.
FASHIONCLASH X Amarte | Jan van Eyck Academie
Once again, the Amarte Fund and FASHIONCLASH join forces to offer artists from different disciplines the opportunity to experiment with fashion and present new work. From an open call, three artists were selected and paired with fashion designers to collaboratively develop and present new creations. Discover three new installations /performances where fashion clashes with poetry, classical music and performance art.
CLASHLAB and The CLASH House | ENCI Peutzhal
This edition of The CLASH House takes place in the Peutz Hall on the ENCI site in Maastricht. The CLASH House serves as a showcase and development platform for designers working across fashion and performance disciplines. Through a creative coaching trajectory led by theatre-maker Nadîja Roza Broekhart and choreographer Laisvie Andrea Ochoa, and under the direction of Giovanni Brand, the designers explore alternative ways of making and presenting fashion.
CLASHLAB is a new interdisciplinary residency programme initiated by Musica Sacra, Nederlandse Dansdagen, Limburgs Museum, FASHIONCLASH, SALLY, and Via Zuid, offering space for experiment, encounter, and artistic growth.
Photography: Dutch Design Daily
