Day One @ Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Amsterdam - The Roadshow

The twentieth edition of Mercedes-Benz FashionWeek Amsterdam started with the opening of '10 Days of Downtown’ on Saturday, 18th January. The scoop of the day went to Bas Kosters, who spoke in the Amsterdam Museum about the inspiration he gets from the colourful and exuberant designs from Fong Leng, the ever popular 'grande dame' of the 70s and 80s fashion circuit.
So it was pretty clear how the new generation of fashion designers gain their inspiration from the long history of Dutch fashion.

Bas Kosters in Amsterdam

“Clothing tells the stories of people who live in the city”, said Paul Spies, director of the Amsterdam Museum to the crowd. “Therefor fashion exhibitions are a fixed part of programme of our museum.” Visitors then followed Bas Kosters and his models like the Pied Piper, through the exhibition which was free for the occasion.

The start of the anniversary edition of the fashion week has not gone unnoticed outside Amsterdam. On Saturday a convoy of ten Mercedes-Benz S-Class stretch cars departed from the Leidseplein, through the Buitenhof in The Hague and the Beurstraverse in Rotterdam to Utrecht’s Vredenburg.

Spotted in Amsterdam

The shoppers were unexpectedly surprised by a spectacular pop-up catwalk show with 15 models. The models showed garments from various Dutch fashion designers including Marga Weimans, Spijkers en Spijkers, Bas Kosters, dennis diem, Tony Cohen, Jeroen van Tuyl, MaryMe-Jimmy Paul, Edwin Oudshoorn, Aziz Bekkaoui, Dorhout Mees, Jan Boelo, People of the Labyrinths, Jef Montes, David Laport and Sjaak Hullekes.
No other than Piet Paris designed the complimentary 'fashion bag' which was handed out.

Spotted in The Hague

Spotted in Utrecht

Photos courtesy of AFW